CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY —
MINIMUM AGE
409. Hon Dr BRIAN WALKER to the parliamentary secretary
representing the Attorney General:
I refer the parliamentary secretary
to previous responses that he has given in the chamber on proposals to raise
the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years and the McGowan government's
position on that issue, most notably its response to question without notice
472.
(1) What time frame, if any, is the
Attorney General working to in relation to this matter?
(2) What, if anything, is stopping the McGowan
government from acting unilaterally in this matter and allowing Western Australia
to lead the way amongst the various states and territories of the Federation as
the first jurisdiction to make such a groundbreaking move?
Hon
MATTHEW SWINBOURN replied:
I thank the member for some notice
of the question. I provide the following response based on the information
provided to me by the Attorney General.
(1)–(2) At
the meeting of Attorneys General held on 12 November 2021, all state Attorneys
General supported the development of a proposal to increase the minimum age of
criminal responsibility from 10 years to 12
years, including with regard to carve outs, timing and discussion of
implementation requirements. It was agreed
by all Attorneys General that a national approach was needed. Any changes would
require resources and careful consideration to ensure that the small
number of children who exhibit serious offending at a young age can be properly
managed outside the criminal justice system. The WA government already diverts
young people away from the criminal justice system when reasonable.