In short:
The Northern Territory has passed new laws that lower the age of criminal responsibility to 10, about two years after the previous government raised the age to 12.
It comes a day after the Country Liberal Party government pushed through tougher bail legislation and extra powers for police as part of a suite of law and order changes.
What’s next?
New laws on public drinking and assaults on workers are expected to pass when parliament resumes next week.
Using gaol to try and improve outcomes for 10 year olds is like using a machine gun to hammer in nails.
The criminal justice system is absolutely not correct tool for the job. It is a massive problem in our country that there’s massive amounts of money to spend on someone in gaol once they’ve broken some laws but very little before that point.