A New Reform Announced to Crackdown on the Youth Crime Wave

The NSW Government has today announced a $26.2 million package of reforms and initiatives to support community safety and wellbeing, particularly in regional NSW, with a focus on strengthening early intervention and prevention programs for young people.

Following the NSW Premiers, visit to Moree last month, Chris Minns has delivered new ways to trial intervention methods, making Moree a pilot for the project.

Mayor, Mark Johnson is open to having Moree a pilot for the trial of these diversion strategies. “Crime is not the future, and a positive life should be the life they choose to lead”, stated Mayor Johnson.

The announcement aims to address the increased rate of offending and community safety through.

The NSW Government will invest $13.4 million for a targeted response in Moree to address crime, support young people and improve community safety.

This will act as a pilot program, and if the approach proves successful will inform actions to address similar concerns in other regional communities.

Initiatives will include: • Additional judicial resources for Local (and Children’s) Court jurisdictions (including associated Legal Aid, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and Police costs) for 6 months and additional Aboriginal Legal Service funding.

• A new $8.75 million bail accommodation and support service in Moree for young people, to be co-designed by Government and community stakeholders. This will provide police and courts with more options to put a young person on bail with higher confidence that they will not reoffend.

• Young Aboriginal people would be linked to Indigenous organisations, elders, cultural and family supports from their own communities with skilled, qualified, trained and consistent staff on site 24/7 providing child-safe care.

• An Action Plan within 6 months to optimise service delivery in Moree to ensure that services provide maximum benefit to the Moree community, including much better coordination, accountability and improving the availability of night-time and out of hours services and youth places.

• Out of hours activities, to be delivered in partnership with the Moree Plains Shire Council and Aboriginal community controlled organisations– including potential subsidised entry and extended hours at facilities such as the Moree LGA pools, the Moree Sports Health Arts and Education Academy (SHAE) and the PCYC.

Continuing NSW Police Force (NSWPF) operations in the Moree area to meet community needs. This includes continuing to surge operational resources. In addition, the Youth Command will continue Operation Youth Safe which combines education and early intervention to at risk children.

The NSW Government will introduce considered legislative changes to strengthen bail laws and introduce a new offence for disseminating material to advertise an offender’s involvement in or the commission of targeted serious offences.

• Amending the Bail Act: The NSW Government will amend the Bail Act 2013 to include a temporary additional bail test for young people between 14 and 18 charged with committing certain serious break and enter offences or motor vehicle theft offences while on bail for the same offences.

This means that a bail authority such as police, magistrates and judges will need to have a high degree of confidence that the young person will not commit a further serious indictable offence while on bail.

This approach is a targeted and measured change that is designed to stop specific offending behaviour by certain young people who repeatedly engage in serious break and enter and motor theft offences.

The amendments will be subject to a 12-month sunset clause so that any future action or changes can be made with evidence to assess the efficacy of the new laws.

The NSW Government will invest $12.9 million to fund a new range of state-wide regional crime prevention initiatives including:

• Expansion of Youth Action Meetings (YAMs) in nine Police Districts.

• Expansion of the Safe Aboriginal Youth Patrol Program (SAY) to an additional five Closing the Gap (CTG) priority locations (to be determined in consultation with communities), reducing the risk of young Aboriginal people being victims of crime, and the risk they will become persons of interest in relation to a crime.

• The Government will also continue the roll out of $7.5 million in Justice Reinvestment grants with grant funding available to recipients as early as June 2024.

These reforms will help protect the community and significantly lift support for young people and disadvantaged communities and were informed by months of engagement with regional communities across NSW.