Five years after he led the Northern Territory's groundbreaking Royal Commission into Youth Detention, Mick Gooda is fed up.
"We thought when we did this report, if we got it right, it would be a thought leader across Australia, how we deal with youth and youth justice," he told NITV's The Point program.
"But when I look around the country now...I still see a whole lot of punishment happening."
The Disability Royal Commission sitting in Perth yesterday heard harrowing accounts of people who said they've been left "broken" by their time inside Western Australia's youth detention facility at Banksia Hill.
And children are currently inside the state's adult Casuarina prison, where there have been cases of self-harm.
For me, the frustration's white hot at the moment, when I look around the country and what's happening with youth detention.Mick Gooda
His joint NT Royal Commission report recommended a therapeutic approach, with smaller facilities that can provide specialised services for children, with appropriately qualified staff.
"I don't see any of that (today)," he said.
"I know they aren't going to like this, but I think we've got to show our young people a bit of love.
"They've been traumatised, that's why they are there.
"The system seems to want to traumatise them even more."
Mick Gooda was one of the Royal Commissioners on the groundbreaking NT inquiry into youth detention. Source: AAP
Raise the age
Mr Gooda also said he would continue lobbying governments to raise the age of criminal responsibility, saying future Australians would look back at the "barbaric" imprisonment of children.
"They would think it is so barbaric to do that," he said.
"We now have choices on what side of history do we want to be on. I've picked my side.
"I want to pick the side that's going to treat our kids decently and understand that children as young as 10 cannot functionally make decisions about right and wrong.
"We know that. That's why it's so important that things like raising the age of criminal responsibility stays on the agenda and we're not going to give up on it."
Mick Gooda says the age of criminal responsibility should be raised and he's not going to stop fighting for it. Source: NITV / NITV
