THE State Government is working to create safer communities across New South Wales by addressing the concerning rates of youth crime, with millions of dollars to support place-based efforts in rural and regional areas.
Government support for place-based initiatives reflects the fact that a one size fits all approach does not work for issues like youth crime in regional communities.
Funding will support the existing successful local teams in each community who work in tandem with Government to develop and implement projects to address identified issues.
The funding also means local communities are empowered to make decisions, develop strategies, design programs and decide how resources are used to address local needs, using local knowledge.
The fun is part of the Minns Labor Government’s work to crackdown on crime across the state, which has included:
Amending the Bail Act to include an additional bail test for young people between 14 and 18 charged with committing a ‘serious break and enter offence’ or motor vehicle offence while on bail for a similar offence;
Creating a new ‘post and boast’ offence under the Crimes Act, criminalising the filming and disseminating of footage of certain serious offences to publicise or advertise the commission of that offence;
Paying recruits to attend the Goulburn Police Academy and welcoming 294 probational constables to the NSWPF ranks in December, the largest class to graduate in a decade;
Passing and enacting ‘Jacks Law’ which provides NSW Police with powers to scan people for knives without a warrant and raised the age from 16 to 18 for the sale of knives to young people;
Doubling the maximum penalty for certain knife crimes;
Introducing new offences for repeated and serious breaches of Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders;
Introducing Serious Domestic Abuse Prevention Orders;
Modernising the definition of ‘stalking’ to include monitoring a person online; and
Making it harder than ever for alleged domestic violence offenders to get bail.
“We know that what works in the middle of Sydney won’t work for our regional communities, which is why we are making this long-term investment to ensure local knowledge informs the action we take to address local issues,” Premier Minns said.
“We know there is no easy solution to address the issue of crime in our regional communities, but that is why we are pulling every lever possible from law reform to investing in local organisations.”
Throwing money at this problem won’t help until the parents or guardians are held accountable for their childrens actions.