Making the justice system harsher and more punitive doesn't deter children from committing crimes but more likely to commit more serious crimes, a senate inquiry has been told.
National Children's Commissioner Anne Hollonds told the Senate Inquiry into Australia's Youth Justice and Incarceration System criminalising young people with complex or unmet needs makes it more likely they will go on to commit more serious crimes.
While working on the 'Help Way Earlier' report, released in 2024 Ms Hollonds spoke to young people who had been incarcerated across the country.
"The most chilling thing was where the kids had no hope," she told the inquiry.
"They had lost all hope of anything other than progressing to the adult jail."
Queensland Family and Child Commissioner Natalie Lewis said the Commonwealth should be alarmed at what is happening in the state, with children being kept in watch houses, sometimes for extended periods.
"That should be unlawful, that is cruel," she said.
"We are seeing children, young people, coming into contact, being placed in watch houses when it is their first interaction with the system because of the presumption against bail.
"It is not that the laws are playing out and focusing on serious repeat offenders, which is how a lot of those things are marketed."
Ms Hollonds told the inquiry she had visited a number of Queensland's watch house during her work for the 'Help Way Earlier' report and was appalled at the conditions.
"I was told some Queensland watch houses do not even have shower facilities," she said.
"The thing that worried me the most was that the police who are meant to be looking after these kids, they have no training to care for children, let alone children with complex needs."
Ms Lewis told the inquiry in Queensland, children in custody have less protections than adults do after the state's human rights act was overridden multiple times to reform youth justice policy.
In the Northern Territory, the age of criminal responsibility has recently been reduced to 10 years old, the presumption of bail removed and a ban on using spit hoods reversed.
The NT Children's Commissioner Shahleena Musk said she's deeply concerned by these reforms and the politicisation of youth crime.
"The Northern Territory, particularly in the lead up to election cycles, focuses on tough on crime responses, rules and policies which win votes rather than acts on the evidence," she said.
"It is the responsibility of the Commonwealth government to ensure states and territories protect and promote human rights."
A representative from the Attorney-General's department Esther Bogaart said the Commonwealth "will work constructively" with states and territories over matters including bail legislation.
"As with minimum age, it is a matter for each jurisdiction how they ultimately legislate," she said.
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services deputy chair Nerita Waight said oversight of states and territories was long overdue.
"States such as Queensland acting with impunity, it's not surprising, it's an every day occurrence in the justice space," she said.
Ms Waight told the inquiry when First Nations organisations try to work effectively with governments often they are confronted with "slamming doors, dwindling funds and endless tough on crime narratives".
"With the absence of political will and genuine partnership and the disregard for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander expertise in favour of short-term electoral gains and problematic policy platforms, we continue to face hurdle after hurdle," she said.
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