Crimes Amendment (Prohibiting the Strip Searching of Children) Bill 2026
Senator THORPE (Victoria—Independent VIC Whip) (16:43): I move: That this bill be now read a second time. I seek leave to table an explanatory memorandum relating to the bill. Leave granted.
Senator THORPE: I table an explanatory memorandum and seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. The speech read as follows— The Crimes Amendment (Prohibiting the Strip Searching of Children) Bill 2026 ends the strip searching of children under the age of 18.
Strip searching is a harmful and unnecessary practice that happens every day across this country. The trauma it causes children in particular cannot be overstated. The evidence shows that strip searching is ineffective.
In Western Australia, 900,000 strip searches conducted in adult prisons between 2014-2019 detected contraband at a rate of 0.28 per cent and, of that proportion, almost no instances were identified of dangerous items, including weapons or drugs. Several other studies conducted in other jurisdictions found zero instances of contraband over the periods examined.
Data on the strip searching of children is more scant, but according to NSW data from April 2022, 127 strip searches were conducted on children at two New South Wales youth prisons. Of these 127, three searches identified items. Further monitoring—largely in adult custodial settings—has shown that reducing strip searching did not lead to an influx of drugs, weapons or other contraband.
The evidence shows that strip searching in general is not an effective way to detect weapons or drugs, nor an effective deterrent to prevent them from being taken into custodial settings. Strip searching is extremely traumatising for children, and trauma in children leads to a higher rate of social and emotional problems later in life. Trauma affects children's brain development, and can affect their long-term identity formation and wellbeing.
For children who are already traumatised—of which there is a disproportionate number in custodial settings—strip searching can be retraumatising, in particular for survivors of sexual assault. Children from vulnerable and/or disenfranchised groups, such as children with disability (including physical, cognitive and mental disability) and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are also at increased risk of harm from strip searching.
These harms are also drivers of future contact with the justice system—drivers which we must seek to counteract and replace with protective factors: safety, stability, health. Strip searching is a degrading and humiliating practice that creates shame, stress, fear and guilt. In 1991, the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody recommended that violent or rough treatment of Aboriginal persons, including women and young people by police officers, be eliminated (Recommendation 60); and that police services, corrective services, and authorities recognise that they owe a legal duty of care to young people in their custody (Recommendation 122.a.).
In 1997, Recommendation 47 of the Bringing Them Home report called for national standards legislation to provide that the best interest of the child must be the paramount consideration for any judicial or administrative decision that affects their care and protection. These recommendations were never fully implemented. Strip searching children also contravenes human rights and children's rights under a number of UN conventions and treaties to which this country is a signatory.
These include children's rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, specifically the rights to liberty, privacy, dignity and respect; the UN Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules), which mandate the development of alternative screening methods to replace strip searches and invasive body searches; and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
New Zealand has already banned strip searching of all children in custody. Children are the most vulnerable group in custodial settings; the group that can be most harmed by strip searching; and the group that we must make particular efforts to protect and keep out of the justice system. This bill ends the harmful practice for all children.
Senator THORPE: I seek leave to continue my remarks later. Leave granted; debate adjourned.