New NT government moves quickly to lower age of criminal responsibility after
'crime crisis' election campaign
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The Northern Territory government has followed through on an election
commitment to tackle a "crime crisis" by urgently introducing laws to lower
the age of criminal responsibility and create new offences and tougher
penalties including mandatory sentencing for assaults on emergency workers.

The laws have been widely criticised for the troubling impact they will have,
particularly on Aboriginal children. But the Country Liberal party government
has maintained it was given a mandate for overhauling the justice system after
campaigning heavily on crime in the lead up to the August election.

The bills were introduced in parliament on Wednesday morning, the second
sitting day of the new legislative assembly. It was expected the laws would be
debated later on Wednesday.

Under the laws, the age of criminal responsibility would be lowered from 12 to
10 years old. Under the same bill, two new criminal offences would be
introduced.

The bill would create an offence for ram-raiding with a specific property
offence "targeting the conduct of a person who intentionally uses a vehicle to
cause damage to property" and an offence for "posting and boasting which
criminalises behaviour where a person posts about criminal conduct on social
media or other publication platforms to glorify the criminal conduct or
increase their notoriety".

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The laws also include reinstating the breach of bail as an offence for youth,
establishing a single bail presumption regime that applies to adults and youth
alike, and introducing a presumption against bail for all alleged serious
violence offences, regardless of whether a weapon is used.

Other laws would "simplify and broaden" the powers for police to use handheld
scanners to detect and deter knife crime in public places, on public transport
vehicles and in schools.

Another law was introduced to crack down on public drinking that would include
the option for mandatory alcohol rehabilitation.

Marie-Clare Boothby, the attorney general, told parliament that mandatory
sentencing laws that would mean someone found guilty of assaulting an
emergency worker spent at least three months in prison were necessary to
prevent the "downright unnecessary" attacks on people such as police who were
"trying to maintain public peace and respond to emergencies".

"It's not a get out of jail free card," she said.

The opposition leader, Selena Uibo, welcomed the government "mostly staying to
convention" on establishing committees to scrutinise legislation, but
questioned why the government had given itself a majority on them.

Chansey Paech, the Labor MP for Gwoja, was more critical, saying the
government was going against its own claims that it would promote a new era of
transparency in parliament.

"The only inquiries that will get up in this parliament are the ones that are
picked ... by this government," he said.

Gerard Maley, the deputy chief minister, repeatedly claimed the reforms would
help Territorians restore their "lifestyle" and blamed failures of the former
Labor government for people "literally dying in the streets".

In an emotional speech, Maley spoke of a clear mandate his government had been
given to overcome the "crime crisis".

"This crisis situation requires a crisis solution," he said.

"This is a serious matter, caused by you, and we're going to fix it, because
that's what Territorians want."

Maley referred to the family members of those killed by criminals and spoke of
a phrase he had heard recently in the territory from people speaking about
their homes that "it's not your castle, it's your fortress now".

"That is just disgraceful," he said.

The national children's commissioner, Anne Hollonds, said on Friday that moves
to lower the age of criminal responsibility should be resisted as it would be
counterproductive.

"We all want to live in safe communities, but this plan by the NT government
goes against what all the evidence has shown we need to do to achieve that. It
is absolutely critical that they reconsider.

"The younger a child comes into contact with the criminal justice system, the
more likely they will go on to commit more serious and violent crimes.

"Lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 10 years will not make
communities safer, it will only see rates of child offending increase. These
are primary school age children, and harsh, punitive responses are not the
answer."



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