What is a Child? Developing and Testing the Methodology for Comparative Research on Legal Age Limits: The Australian Model Advancing an International Study

This paper forms part of a larger international project on understanding the rights of the child and developing functional comparative methodologies for assessing approaches recognising the autonomy of a child. As a starting point, it trials a method across the Australian states and territories. The paper will explore the divergence in approaches to the legal recognition of the autonomy of the child. Although the method is ultimately intended for international application in a larger ongoing/future study, it has been adapted for use in the Australian state/federal systems as an initial methodological trial. The method as adopted for this analysis will compare a range of legal age-based distinctions such as the age of criminal responsibility, minimum school leaving age, minimum age for the consumption of alcohol, tobacco and obtaining a driver’s licence, the age for sexual consent both with age- based peers and adults, and the ability to independently receive medical treatment and legal counsel, as well as assessments of the extent of children’s rights, such as legal involvement and consultation rights. The article will analyse the utility of the proposed methodology for international comparisons of the legal autonomy of the child. It will also comment upon the challenges in understanding and recognising the legal autonomy of the child in a federal jurisdiction with distinctions between internal jurisdictions. It will conclude with observations on the function of a yardstick for the comparison of rights of a child generally, as well as observations on the results of the applied method in Australia.