Premier Chris Minns is visiting Tamworth today to announce a $23 million investment aimed at tackling youth crime and improving safety in regional New South Wales.
The new funding will focus on breaking the cycle of reoffending among young people on bail and preventing at-risk youth from entering the justice system. It will include significant support for communities in Tamworth, Moree, and Kempsey, which continue to experience higher-than-average rates of youth crime.
“This package is about giving local people the tools they need to turn things around for their young people,” Mr Minns said.
“These are complex issues that won’t be solved overnight, but we are in this for the long haul. What we don’t want to see is young people wrapped up in the justice system again and again, which is why this package is a balance of intervention, prevention and wrap around support measures.”
Tamworth will be one of three regional centres to receive funding as part of the $12 million continuation and expansion of place-based responses to youth offending. The NSW Government will work with local communities to co-design prevention and diversion programs such as youth hubs, after-hours activities, family support, intervention programs, and alternative education pathways.
“These towns have strong communities and appetite to support their young people and tackle youth crime – the place-based NSW Government funding will look to capitalise on this,” the release said.
Another $6.3 million will go toward intensive bail supervision and support for young people. This will include five caseworkers—two based in Tamworth, two in Kempsey, and one continuing in Moree—to help young people comply with bail conditions and connect to positive supports.
The investment will also fund the completion of the Moree Bail Accommodation Service, providing supervised accommodation and structured programs for vulnerable youth.
A further $5 million will establish a new Community Safety Investment Fund, open to community and non-government organisations across NSW. The fund will back innovative, local initiatives that prevent or respond to youth offending, strengthen families, and build safer communities.
Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism Yasmin Catley said the government is backing police efforts with programs that address the root causes of offending.
“The NSW Police are working day in, day out to address youth crime and steer kids towards making better choices – they are doing everything the police can do,” Ms Catley said.
“We know we can’t arrest our way out of this which is why the Government is working to help break the cycle by implementing targeted diversionary programs and addressing the root drivers of this offending.”
Minister for Youth Justice Jihad Dib said the funding will aim to stop offending before it starts.
“This funding package reflects how we are working to help young people not to commit a crime in the first place, by funding locally based programs co-developed with local people, that can make a real difference by offering viable alternative pathways within communities,” he said.
Attorney General Michael Daley said the government’s legislative reforms, including tougher bail laws and stronger knife laws, are already helping to reduce offending but more work remains.
“But we know there is more to do, which is why we’re continuing to consider a review of doli incapax which presumes children under 14 cannot be held criminally responsible,” he said.
The review of doli incapax was delivered on October 25, and does not recommend lowering the age of criminal responsibility. It found very few children under 14 are engaged in criminal acts, and diversion and support would be a more effective way to break that cycle than exposing a child to the justice system.
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