A new campaign is urging Australian governments to change what health experts describe as one of the world’s harshest youth justice systems. States are reversing reforms and expanding punitive measures against children.
Amnesty International Australia launched its Kids Need Better campaign, calling for national standards for children in custody, an end to solitary confinement and spit hoods, and a minimum age of 14 for criminal responsibility. The effort precedes a Senate inquiry report on youth incarceration, particularly involving First Nations children, due later this month.
Reforms reversed, harm continues
The Northern Territory recently lowered the age of criminal responsibility from 12 back to 10, while Victoria abandoned plans to raise it from 12 to 14. Both decisions ignore international evidence that younger children in the justice system are more likely to reoffend, former National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds said at the campaign launch.
“Crime by children reflects unmet needs and underlying issues that remain unaddressed,” she said. Australia’s health and education systems, designed to support vulnerable children, are fragmented and ineffective.
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Hollonds, speaking from Finland—where the minimum age is 15—noted Australia has moved backward during her five-year term. The NT has reintroduced restraint chairs and spit hoods, reversing recommendations from the 2016 Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children. “We have returned to the same conditions as before,” she said.
In Queensland, the government is considering a police union proposal to collect DNA from child suspects without a court order. Meanwhile, changes to NT bail laws have left children from Alice Springs detained for up to two months in Darwin, far from family and community. The Tangentyere Council’s Domestic Violence Specialist Children’s Services called the practice damaging to wellbeing and rehabilitation.
The campaign highlights the inconsistent treatment of children in the justice system. Outcomes depend entirely on where a child lives.
Hollonds recounted seeing children held in solitary confinement in concrete police watchhouses without windows, fresh air, or family visits. Some remained there for weeks or months due to overcrowding. At one NT facility, staff admitted using restraint chairs for children experiencing psychological distress.
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Decades of ignored recommendations
Health experts, including Indigenous researchers Professor Pat Dudgeon and Dr. Hannah McGlade, told the Senate inquiry they were outraged by the cycle of reports with identical recommendations—all disregarded. In a joint submission with non-Indigenous researchers like Professor Fiona Stanley, they wrote, “We doubt this inquiry will lead to change.”
Hollonds said Australia has abandoned detention as a last resort for children, yet policy inaction has left 3,000 recommendations from the past 15 years unimplemented. “Using taxpayer funds on proven, effective approaches is neither radical nor unreasonable,” she said. “It is a practical response to longstanding problems.”
A recent tour by international experts revealed that countries reducing youth incarceration shared key strategies: political will, honesty about crime prevention, and prioritizing children’s wellbeing through health, education, and therapeutic services.
Wiradjuri researcher Professor Megan Williams said Amnesty’s independence from government funding might achieve more than Closing the Gap, which promised to reduce youth incarceration but saw rates increase in some areas. “More state intervention signals a failing system,” she said. “Fixing the root causes is the real challenge.”
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The campaign calls for enforceable national standards for children in custody, sustained investment in community-led programs for First Nations youth, and an end to practices like solitary confinement. A survey found 91% of Australians support minimum standards for children in detention, while 88% say abuse is never acceptable.
Nearly 70% agreed that community-led solutions help young people feel they belong and stay connected. By early August, over 33,000 people had signed Amnesty’s petition demanding an end to harmful practices and raising the age of criminal responsibility.
Hollonds said the public understands children need better, unlike governments. “The work is unfinished,” she said. “Far from finished.”