CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY —
AGE
1556. Hon ALISON XAMON to the Leader of the House
representing the Attorney General:
(1) Does the
Attorney General support calls to raise the age of criminal responsibility?
(2) If no to (1),
why not?
(3) Given recent reporting that the federal
Attorney-General is ''not overly enthusiastic'' about raising the
age, will the McGowan government move to increase the age of criminal
responsibility in WA in the absence of Council of Australian Governments
agreement on this issue?
(4) If no to (3),
why not?
Hon SUE ELLERY replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1)–(4) The Attorney General placed the issue of the age
of criminal responsibility on the agenda of the Council of
Attorneys-General in November last year following the recommendations of a royal
commission in the Northern Territory and the Northern Territory government's
commitment to raise the age to 12 years. A working group led by the WA
Department of Justice was formed and reported to the most recent CAG in
Adelaide last week. The working group will shortly commence public consultation
and report back to the Council of Attorneys-General in 2020. The results of
that consultation will inform the position of the McGowan government on the
issue. The communique from last week's Council of Attorneys-General
noted that there was ''strong interest in the review of the age of
criminal responsibility''.