An about-face on lifting the age a child can be charged with a crime in Victoria has sparked concerns on treaty and truth promises with Aboriginal people.
The Victorian government has reneged on a commitment to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 by 2027, with some exceptions for serious offences.
The promise was made by former premier Daniel Andrews in 2023 but has been broken by his successor Jacinta Allan.
She argued the decision was "made at a different time by a different government with a different premier" when unveiling extra changes to youth justice legislation on Tuesday.
Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive Nerita Waight said Mr Andrews made an evidence-based commitment only for his successor to "bend the knee to a scare campaign run by Victoria Police and the Herald Sun".
"The youth crime wave is a media narrative. It's not reality," she told AAP.
"Youth crime rates remain at historical lows despite a post-COVID rebound and the medical evidence remains the same.
"The younger the child is at first contact with the legal system the higher the rate of recidivism so how does that equate to a safer community?"
The justification used by the premier to go back on the government's word raises "concerns for important reforms and transformative processes moving forward".
"Especially for me the treaty process," Ms Waight said.
"Many of the ministers that made this decision in the cabinet room appeared at the Yoorrook Justice Commission and apologised for the racist policies of the past and promised to do better.
"The premier, the attorney-general, the youth justice minister ... have certainly failed to keep that promise."
Aboriginal children aged 10 to 17 were more than 10 times more likely to be imprisoned in Victoria in 2022/23 than non-Indigenous children, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
In July, the First People's Assembly of Victoria declared it was ready to begin talks on a statewide treaty with the Victorian government as early as November.
Assembly co-chair Rueben Berg is deeply concerned the decision was made without properly consulting Indigenous groups or leading health and legal experts, given the laws disproportionately affect Aboriginal children.
"The premier has previously demonstrated she can work in good faith with First Peoples, but the decision taken yesterday is in stark contrast to this," he said.
As Australia's first truth-telling inquiry, Yoorrook confirmed it would recall key government witnesses in October to provide an update on progress, or lack thereof, on implementing criminal justice system recommendations.
"This decision is so contrary to the evidence it is difficult to comprehend - evidence heard by Yoorrook and countless other inquiries, commissions and coronial inquests over a period of decades," its chair Eleanor Bourke said.
"Victoria's current laws not only exacerbate existing inequalities, they fail to address the root causes of offending behaviour - poverty, trauma, and lack of access to support services."
The Aboriginal Justice Caucus said the Labor government could no longer claim to be progressive.
"It's very hard for our communities to trust governments that don't deliver what they promise," its co-chairs Marion Hansen and Chris Harrison said in a joint statement.
