Senator Lidia Thorpe has strongly condemned the Allan government’s decision to introduce harsher custodial sentences for children.

Thorpe is calling on Federal Minister Malarndirri McCarthy to follow through on her commitment to impose sanctions on states and territories that intentionally undermine Closing the Gap targets, saying Victoria must be put on notice over the move. 

Key information

• The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service has warned these reforms will have devastating impacts on young people, pointing to recent bail changes in Victoria that have seen a 46% bail refusal rate for Aboriginal people, compared to a 6% rate for non-Indigenous people, and a 233% increase of bail being refused for Aboriginal young people.
• Evidence shows that harsher sentences do not deter criminal activity; instead, they increase the likelihood of reoffending and undermine community safety.
• According to the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, this move will breach the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. This is an agreement that the federal government has signed up to, and has the responsibility and power to enforce, including by limiting states ability to breach this convention.
• Victoria already spends more per child incarcerated than any other state — over $2 million per year per child according to the Productivity Commission. Yet community programs remain underfunded or face cuts in Victoria. Thorpe says this prison spending must be reinvested into proven community solutions.

Quotes attributable to Lidia Thorpe, Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung independent Victorian Senator:

"The Premier wants to lock up 14-year-olds for life and pretend that’s leadership. It’s unfathomably cruel and the most shameful attempt to cling to power.

"This isn’t about safety, it’s about the looming state election, appeasing white Herald-Sun-reading swing voters, and keeping Labor in power by hurting black and brown children.

"While people in this country look with horror at the abuse happening to children in Queensland and the NT, Jacinta Allan sees a political lifeline. Allan is willing to destroy children's lives to stay in power.

"We know that First Nations Children and children from migrant backgrounds, particularly African and Pasifka backgrounds, will be targeted.

"The Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians has said she will crack down on states and territories undermining their Closing the Gap commitments. 

"She must make good on that promise and pull the Premier into line immediately. The federal minister should be picking up the phone today to tell Premier Allan that Victoria will face consequences for this.

"We need penalties for Victoria and other states intentionally breaching Closing the Gap targets, and urgent National Cabinet action on youth incarceration and deaths in custody.

"Children’s rights are protected under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This move breaches those rights. We know the federal government has the power to set standards on states and territories to keep them in line, but is choosing not to. 

"Allowing 14-year-olds to be jailed for life makes the federal government complicit.

"Every child Labor locks up is a child the government has already failed — in housing, mental health, disability support, education and care. 

"Victoria’s child prisons are already overwhelmed. Sending children to adult courts denies them their right to see magistrates trained in child development, and recent bail changes have already seen more than a 200% increase in Aboriginal children refused bail.

"Prison makes children more traumatised, more disconnected, and more likely to reoffend. It is harmful and does not make anyone’s communities safer.

"The Premier often talks about keeping people safe, but this is clearly racially coded. She is only talking to white communities.

"She is not speaking to black and brown communities, whose children she is willing to harm to win over white voters. Prison is not safe. It is abuse that damages children and communities, and creates more crime long term.

"For the billions Labor plans to spend jailing children, we could be building safety: stable homes, community-led crisis response, healthcare, culture, belonging, and justice reinvestment. Instead, the Premier is again choosing cages.

"The federal government must act now. We need national leadership, national standards, and a national commitment to keeping our children safe.

"And if we continue to see inaction and abuse, I’ll be taking this to the UN."