ACT NPM before the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee

On Friday 3 July the ACT National Preventive Mechanism (NPM), represented by its three member heads of agency, appeared before the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee as part of its inquiry into Australia's youth justice and incarceration system.

The ACT NPM gave evidence on the importance of its work oversighting youth justice within the ACT and more broadly on the OPCAT implementation concerns across all Australian jurisdictions.

The ACT NPM emphasised that detention of children and young people should always be a measure of last resort and that if detained, children and young people need to be provided with meaningful activity, education and better health and mental health support, within a therapeutic model of care.

States and Territories should avoid isolation practices, work to reduce the number of unsentenced children and young people in detention, and increase transparency through the provision of robust data.

The ACT NPM also argued that more diversionary options should be available to keep children out of detention and to support them in the community and that independent oversight should be strengthened through the full implementation and resourcing of NPMs across the country.

The ACT NPM's supplementary submission can be found here:

The Australian NPM's submission to the previous inquiry can be found here: