Northern Territory Country Liberal Party Will Not Raise Age of Criminal Responsibility

The Northern Territory Supreme Court Building in Darwin, Australia is pictured on April 8, 2018. (Brook Mitchell/Getty Images)

Northern Territory (NT) Country Liberal Party (CLP) Leader Lia Finocchiaro has stated that her party will not raise the age of criminal responsibility if they are elected to Government in 2024.

In a social media post on Sunday, Finocchiaro said that the CLP is committed to putting the rights of victims before those of offenders.

This comes after Chief Minister Michael Gunner recently confirmed to the ABC that the Territory Government is intent on raising the age of criminal responsibility, which currently stands at 10, and Families Minister Kate Worden told NT news that work is already in progress to make it happen.

“We have supported in-principle the recommendations of the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the NT, including the approach to the age of criminal responsibility,” she said.

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has already moved up the age to 14, a change that will come into effect in 2022, and the Territory Government plans to follow suit. However, it has not yet been determined which age the NT will adopt.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), in the 2020-21 financial year, youth offenders aged 10 to 17 accounted for 7 percent of all offenders in the Northern Territory, with 663 youngsters being prosecuted.

However, Minister Finocchiaro said the current system is appropriate, allowing Judges to use discretion when dealing with offenders aged between 10 and 14.

She added that Under section 43AQ of the Criminal Code Act 1983, children between 10 and 14 “can only be criminally responsible for an offence if the child knows that his or her conduct is wrong.”

Finocchiaro said the severity of crimes committed amongst the 10 to 14 age group is alarming. and Territorians, especially those suffering through the crime crisis in Central Australia, are pleading with the Chief Minister to take action.

“Yet, Michael Gunner is busy working out how to let more teenage criminals go free,” she said.

“No one wants to see kids locked up,” she added. “But offenders who deliberately break the law and commit crimes as serious as aggravated robbery, theft and assault should face appropriate punishment.”

The Opposition leader also feels that early intervention for children at risk of entering the youth justice system needs to be a primary focus and that not enough is being done in this area.

“A CLP Government would hand youth justice back to Corrections so Territory Families can focus on its core business–the care and protection of children,” Finocchiaro said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Gunner made it clear that there was an alternative program in place aimed at reforming young offenders and that he was waiting to hear back on the extent of its effectiveness.

Named the Back on Track reform, this initiative doesn’t rely on detention. Instead, it focuses on risk behaviour, consequences and restitution, life skills, cultural connection, as well as family capacity and responsibility.

“So we want to run that program, prove that change exists and that gives us the confidence to be able to lift the age knowing that there is an alternative in place,” he said.

According to a Territory Families spokesperson, early evidence from the 69 people who have completed the program looks promising.

“Sixty per cent of young people who have completed Back on Track have not committed an offence,” the spokesperson said, reported NT News.

“Within the three months prior to young people exiting Back on Track, the number of apprehensions begins to decrease—this indicates that engagement in the program is having a positive impact in the young people’s behaviour.”