BOY: My name's Dujuan. I am 12 years old.
I'm from Arrernte and Garrwa Country.
I came here to speak with you
because the Australian government is not listening.
Adults never listen to kids like me, but we have important things to say.
JACK: Last year, Dujuan, his father and his grandmother
travelled all the way from Central Australia
to Geneva in Switzerland.
There, Dujuan spoke to the United Nations Assembly
about some of the things he and his family
want to see changed.
I want my school to be run by Aboriginal people.
I want adults to stop cruelling 10-year-old kids in jail.
WOMAN: We want to see the age limit raised from 10 to 14
'cause it's not right that 10-year-olds are in jail.
It makes me feel sad 'cause no child should be in jail,
especially at 10.
They're just babies at the moment.
That's something a lot of people have been talking about lately.
Children as young as 10 shouldn't be...shouldn't be in jail.
Prison is no place for a child. We need to raise the age.
You see, here in Australia,
if you commit a serious crime and you're over 10,
you can end up
in a youth detention centre.
It's sort of like a prison, but it's designed for young people.
Kids in youth detention centres still have the chance
to take school classes or practise other job skills,
but some say that 10 is too young for anyone to be locked up.
WOMAN: The medical evidence is really clear
that, um, prisons are really harmful for young people,
um, and it has a huge impact on kids for the rest of their lives.
Roxanne is a lawyer who has been working on a campaign
to raise the minimum age a kid can be placed in youth detention to 14.
Governments should be looking at what supports kids need
in order to have happy and healthy lives.
Last week, the government council in charge of changing laws met,
but decided to not raise the age.
They say they need more time to work out
what would replace the current system if the age was lifted.
While it's an issue that could affect any Aussie kid,
more than half of kids younger than 14
in youth detention are Indigenous.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids
are pushed into the criminal justice system
because of racism and because of disadvantage,
and lots of them are missing the kind of key supports
in their lives - things like having a house
or, um, having culturally appropriate education,
um, or having support around mental health, for example.
These were the sorts of issues
that Dujuan wanted to draw the world's attention to.
I was always worried about being taken away from my family.
I was nearly locked up in jail.
Recently, he starred in a documentary called In My Blood It Runs,
which showed what it's like growing up in Australia
for some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids.
WOMAN: What happened at school?
The history that we're told at school,
that was for white people.
Dujuan says he'd like to travel to Parliament House
to show his film to the prime minister
and ask him for help.
I'm going to ask him if he could change the law
and if he could make things better in life for us kids,
and to ask him if he could make a school out on my homeland,
and ask him if he could change
the juvenile detention centre age from age 10 to 14,
and if he could...
..stop the racism in Australia.