New report proposes transforming Australia’s approach to child justice and wellbeing

In a major new report, Australia’s National Children’s Commissioner is calling for significant changes to how our federal, state and territory governments approach child justice and the wellbeing of children who are or who are at risk of being caught up in the criminal justice system.

Tabled in Federal Parliament today, the report – titled ‘Help way earlier!’: How Australia can transform child justice to improve safety and wellbeing – sets out a suite of recommendations designed to help vulnerable children thrive and keep the community safe. 

The focus of the report’s 24 recommendations is on elevating child justice and wellbeing to be a national priority, coordinating action across Australia’s federation, and ensuring reform of our child justice systems is based on evidence and human rights.

The report calls for coordinated action across the federation through measures such as a National Taskforce for reform of child justice, a federal Minister for Children, a Ministerial Council for Child Wellbeing and a National Children’s Act.

The report’s findings and recommendations are based on submissions, interviews and consultations with hundreds of stakeholders and experts across Australia. Importantly, this included more than 150 children and young people who have been or are at risk of being in contact with police, criminal justice systems or youth detention regimes.

National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds: “We all want to live in communities where kids can flourish and where everyone is safe, especially children. But our findings show that our current responses to offending by children are not working, and that our state and territory justice systems alone cannot fix these problems. We need to turn our attention and our resources to addressing the underlying causes, and to the barriers that stop us taking national action on evidence-based systemic reform.

“In heartbreaking detail, children and young people have told us about the challenges they and their families face, emphasising that they need ‘help way earlier’. 

“Like everyone else, children have a right to housing, food, healthcare and education, and to live in safety, but the failures in our health, education and social services systems have created an ‘epidemic’ of unmet needs. 

“Our communities will not be safer if we just keep punishing and locking up children who have complex needs caused by poverty, homelessness, disability, health and mental health issues, domestic, family and sexual violence, systemic racism and intergenerational trauma. 

“This report builds on decades of Australian and international evidence about what actually works to reduce child offending, and that’s culturally appropriate support for vulnerable children and their families that’s delivered in a coordinated way by suitably trained professionals. 

“Instead, our governments – swayed by populist ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric fanned by sensationalist media reporting of child offending – are taking the opposite approach with children being traumatised, brutalised and criminalised. 

“It costs over $1 million every year to lock up a child, and most will continue to reoffend because their basic needs are not being met. This money could instead be spent on redesigning the service systems that are meant to help children and their families.

“So, it’s not a lack of knowledge that’s the problem, it’s a lack of accountability for evidence-based action and a lack of urgency for reform.

“If we want safe communities where children can get the best start in life, then we need to transform our approach to child justice and wellbeing. We need national leadership from the federal government working together with our state and territory governments.

“There should be bipartisan commitment to make child safety and wellbeing a priority for National Cabinet, and to build the necessary accountability mechanisms to make sure our most vulnerable children do not continue to be victims of ‘federation failure’.

“The Prime Minister has said many times that he wants ‘no-one left behind’. These vulnerable children who end up in the justice systems told me they feel shunned by society, and currently we are leaving them behind every single day.

“What I saw and heard is evidence of the most egregious breaches of human rights in this country. I want this report to be a catalyst for evidence-based reform of child justice and wellbeing systems across Australia.”

Access the report.  

Report summary Word (88.68KB)

ENDS | Media contact: media@humanrights.gov.au or +61 457 281 897 

Report artwork copyright Bernard Singleton and Saltwater People 2024.