Senate inquiry slams 'false narrative' youth crime wave gripping Australia

A federal inquiry into Australia's youth justice systems has urged the government to adopt national minimum standards for how states and territories manage young people in contact with the law.

It is also called on the government to run a national education campaign to counter what it called "incomplete and inaccurate" media reporting and "the false narrative that the country is in the grip of a youth crime wave."

The inquiry — authored by Liberal, Labor and Greens party members — found youth justice laws and practices were "fragmented" across states and territories, which meant young people had vastly different levels of support, protections and treatment.

It also noted that 56 per cent of the children under youth justice supervision nationally were First Nations, despite making up just under 4 per cent of the population.

"[First Nations kid's] criminalisation is linked with a lack of support for their basic needs: before being locked up, many needed a safe place to call home, enough food, inclusive education, health supports and access to family and community," the report said.

"Instead of reinforcing systems that police, surveil, and incarcerate children, the inquiry must centre the leadership of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in shaping youth justice policies."

The inquiry also called for a national taskforce of child justice, police and other agencies to ensure reforms were consistent across states and territories, and a further inquiry on the factors driving youth incarceration.

It said "poverty, housing insecurity, exclusion from education, racial discrimination, and systemic neglect" were the root causes of youth crime.

Australia 'behind the rest of the world'

The committee heard Australia was failing to meet its international obligations under the Rights of the Child and human rights conventions.

It said a wide coalition of groups had called for states and territories to prioritise rehabilitation and diversion over "increasingly punitive" approaches.

Nick Espie from NATSILS, the national peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, welcomed the call for national minimum standards.

"What we're talking about is best practice minimum standards that respond to the therapeutic needs of children," he told ABC.

"It's been a consistent race to the bottom by different jurisdictions which are really competing to have the toughest and most ill-informed approach to addressing youth justice."

The sector is currently guided by the Australasian Youth Justice Administrators' national standards, but the committee heard these were "aspirational" instead of "mandatory".

The final report stopped short of calling for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised to 14 years old nationally in line with UN recommendations.

Only three senators – the Liberals' Andrew McLachlan, the Greens' David Shoebridge and independent senator Lidia Thorpe — supported the push to raise the age.

Lidia Thorpe said it was a missed opportunity and Australia remained "behind the rest of the world."

"Every sector has talked about […] raising the age of criminal responsibility," she said.

"We know that the evidence is that these children should not be incarcerated."

Calls for community education campaign

The committee recommended the government fund a community education campaign highlighting "the benefits of alternatives to the incarceration of children to community safety and wellbeing."

It said media coverage suggested youth crime was on the rise when in fact it has been decreasing in every jurisdiction since 2008-09, "suggesting there is no 'youth justice crisis' in Australia."

The report cited ABS data that showed in 2024-25 there was a decrease of 5 per cent in the number of offenders aged between 10–17 years proceeded against by police from 2023–24.

But Senator Thorpe, who did not support the recommendation, urged caution about any public messaging that could "exacerbate the problem."

"What does that look like? Who's speaking? There needs to be free, prior and informed consent about this," she said.

"It can't be politicians making decisions on an educational campaign. There's too many elections coming up and politicians and parties scrape the bottom of the barrel."

A spokesperson for the federal Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said it was committed to addressing youth over-representation, especially among First Nations young people, in the criminal justice system.

It pointed to the $100m it had invested in justice reinvestment programs, half of which targeted young people.

"While state and territory governments are responsible for their child protection, justice and detention systems, all levels of government need to do more to reduce the number of young people in detention," they said.