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Aboriginal Legal Service ACT/NSW chief executive Karly Warner welcomed the announcement and called on other jurisdictions to follow the ACT's lead. "While this change will only affect a small number of children in the ACT, it has the potential to profoundly change those children's lives for the better," Ms Carroll said. Raising the age to 14 would bring it in line with United Nations standards, ACT Law Society president Elizabeth Carroll said. Aboriginal children are disproportionately affected, with those between 10 and 13 being imprisoned at eight times the rates of non-Indigenous children in the ACT. Many will wait for the final legislation to ensure it prevents all children under 14 from being locked up. "I think it's at least a year if not a little bit longer depending on the policy work to reach consensus." Advocates say it is a promising step to change "damaging" and "unacceptable" laws which allow children as young as 10 to be arrested, face court and kept in youth detention. it would probably have a committee referral. "We'll need to consider the various issues, legislation would take some time to draft. "This is something we foreshadowed in the last parliamentary term," he said. Chief Minister Andrew Barr said it would likely take more than one year before it would come into effect. Raising the age has now been included as a priority area of reform in the ACT Labor-Greens parliamentary and governing agreement, released on Monday. A motion brought forward by the Greens to support the change was passed in the ACT Legislative Assembly months before the election.
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The ACT government became the first jurisdiction in the country to support raising the age to 14 in August, after local advocates warned of the harm young children kept in detention could face in the long-term. Advocates have labelled the move a historic step in their fight for a nationwide change to the law which currently allows children as young as 10 to be locked-up, and hope others will follow suit. An ACT Labor-Greens government will prioritise raising the age of criminal responsibility in the next parliamentary term.