Failure to learn from ‘African gangs’ furore puts community at risk, Victoria’s children’s commissioner says

The Victorian commissioner for children and young people, Liana Buchanan, says young South-Sudanese Australians feel that they and their families are being increasingly targeted by police. Photograph: Ellen Smith/The Guardian

The Victorian commissioner for children and young people says African-Australian youth are again the subject of “intense” media and police focus as the state responds to perceptions of a crime wave without working harder to identify the causes of offending.

Liana Buchanan, the principal commissioner of Victoria’s Commission for Children and Young People, said she was concerned that it did not appear any lessons had been learned from the “African gangs” furore, and implored the state government, police and the youth justice system not to respond in ways that would make the community less safe.