Events

The changing landscape of criminal responsibility of children in Australia

2026 Peter Brett Memorial Lecture

The criminal responsibility of children is a highly charged and tangled issue.

Debates about the age at which children should be able to be held criminally responsible and on what basis such a determination can be made have intensified in recent years throughout Australia.

This lecture will delve into these debates concerning what the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) should be and whether there should continue to be a rebuttable presumption that older children are not criminally responsible (at common law called the presumption of doli incapax). This will include issues such as:

• how the MACR and presumption of doli incapax developed in Australia;
• what changes have been made to the MACR in recent years;
• what the implications are of different MACRs (and ‘carve-outs’) applying across Australia;
• how the presumption of doli incapax currently operates in practice;
• why the presumption of doli incapax is subject to criticism;
• what changes have been made to the presumption of doli incapax in Victoria and New South Wales, and;
• what the future holds for the criminal responsibility of children.

About the lecture series

Peter Brett (1918-1975), appointed Senior Lecturer at the Law School in 1955, Reader in 1961, Hearn Professor of Law at the University of Melbourne from 1963 to 1964 and Professor of Jurisprudence from 1964 until his death, was distinguished by both his scholarship in criminal law and legal philosophy, and his determination to contest injustice in the courts. He was one of the group of lawyers who stopped the hanging of Paul Tait in 1962, creating a landmark in the history of capital punishment in Australia.

Join tenor Michael Petruccelli, pianist Andrea Katz, and horn player Carla Blackwood as they mark the 50th anniversary of Benjamin Britten’s passing.

This special program pairs Britten’s deeply expressive 20th-century masterpieces with the timeless lyricism of his favorite composer, Franz Schubert. The performance features Britten’s profound Canticles, a selection of Schubert’s most celebrated lieder, and the epic, sweeping Auf dem Strom.

This recital is presented as part of the Hanson Dyer Hall Concert Series. All concerts in this series can also be streamed live via our website.

PROGRAM

Britten
Canticle I, My beloved is mine and I am his, op 40

Schubert
Ganymed D 544

Britten
Canticle III: Still falls the rain, op 55

Schubert
Auf dem Wasser zu singen D 774

Schubert
Ständchen D 889

Schubert
Impromptu D 899 #3

Britten
The Choirmaster’s burial, from Winter Words op 52

Schubert
Auf dem Strom D 943

CREDITS

Michael Petruccelli - tenor
Carla Blackwood - horn
Andrea Katz - piano