Youth Voice in Parliament: Senator Fatima Payman amplifies Tara's voice on raising the age

Joining the Youth Voice in Parliament campaign, Senator Fatima Payman (WA) amplified the voice of 20 year old Tara on the need to raise the age of criminal responsibility. Speech transcript is below -
I'm Tara, a 20-year-old resident of the Tangey electorate in Western Australia, a state that still sends children as young as 10 to prison.
What better way to create a brighter future for Australia's upcoming generations than by preventing their entry into the prison system?
Children are exceptionally vulnerable to harm, and their interactions with the criminal justice system can inflict lifelong developmental trauma, especially given that their brains are still in the crucial stages of growth. Shockingly, nearly 90% of our incarcerated children in WA have severe mental impairments that only worsen in the prison environment.
Despite an abundance of evidence, recommendations, and viable alternatives, Australian states and territories persist in convicting children as young as 10. The current system lacks support for rehabilitation, with approximately 55% of incarcerated children in WA returning to prison within a year, perpetuating a vicious cycle of crime.
It's clear that prisons do more harm than good! We urgently need to commit to raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14 nationwide. Let's redirect young people towards meaningful rehabilitation rather than detention.