100 signatures reached
To: Minister Kyam Maher, Attorney-General and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs
Petition: Stop the SA Government’s Plan to Criminalise Children
We call on Minister Kyam Maher, South Australia's Attorney-General and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, to:
1. Withdraw the “Bikie Gangs” legislation - Serious and Organised Crime (Control) Amendment Bill
This Bill would allow police Control Orders on children as young as 10 years old - based solely on what they wear, who they associate with, or unproven allegations, without the need for a charge or conviction.
This Bill would allow police Control Orders on children as young as 10 years old - based solely on what they wear, who they associate with, or unproven allegations, without the need for a charge or conviction.
2. Halt the proposed amendments to the Bail Act, Sentencing Act, and Young Offenders Act, which would:
- Reverse the presumption in favour of bail for children;
- Introduce mandatory sentencing pathways through automatic “recidivist” labels; and
- Remove the focus on rehabilitation, development, and community restoration from the youth justice system.
3. Commit to genuine co-designing youth justice responses
With Aboriginal communities, CALD communities, children and young people, families, legal experts, medical professionals, and child development specialists, to ensure reforms are culturally safe, trauma-informed, and evidence-based.
4. Invest in care, not control
Redirect funding toward prevention, early intervention, diversion, therapeutic care, and Aboriginal and CALD community-led solutions — not more policing, surveillance, and punishment.
Why is this important?
EVERY child is valued and worthy - and deserve care, love, dignity, and the right to grow up strong in safe families, communities and systems. But a new suite of proposed youth justice laws in South Australia threatens to punish, traumatise, and criminalise children — not protect and grow them.
If passed, these laws will:
- Criminalise identity and connection — targeting children based on who they spend time with, what they wear, or what community they belong to.
- Disproportionately harm Aboriginal children — directly undermining the state’s commitments to Closing the Gap, Reconciliation, and Voice, Treaty, Truth.
- Overturn core legal protections — including the presumption of innocence, the right to bail, and the principle that imprisonment should only be used as a last resort.
- Perpetuate stigma and disadvantage — labelling children as “recidivist offenders” before they’ve had the chance to grow, heal, or access support.
- Punish vulnerable children — including those with disability, trauma, care experience or poverty — who are already over-surveilled and under-served.
- Advancing the destruction of cultural pride and community trust — turning kinship, culture, and connection into risk factors for state control - instead of connection and culture as a protective factor.
- Sanction unchecked police powers — including ‘super’ surveillance on children and their communities, and secretive control orders based on intelligence that children cannot challenge in court.
There is no credible evidence these laws will reduce youth crime. But there is overwhelming evidence that these laws will increase harm, trauma, and incarceration — especially for Aboriginal children.
South Australia already has one of the lowest youth crime rates in the country. Yet the South Australian Government is choosing to respond to fear mongering, sensational headlines, and political gain — not facts, evidence, or what keeps children and communities safe.
The experts are sounding the alarm. Organisations including SACOSS, the Guardian for Children and Young People, and Wakwakurna Kanyini have warned these reforms will:
The experts are sounding the alarm. Organisations including SACOSS, the Guardian for Children and Young People, and Wakwakurna Kanyini have warned these reforms will:
- Disproportionately target children from already marginalised communities;
- Breach Australia’s international obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child;
- Undermine decades of progress in child justice reform and community safety.
This is not the future we want for our children and communities.
This is the line in the sand.
Add your name to stop these laws and protect our children’s futures - our future leaders.
This is the line in the sand.
Add your name to stop these laws and protect our children’s futures - our future leaders.
How it will be delivered
Directly to Minister Kyam Maher and members of the South Australian Parliament