Indigenous advocacy groups including the Aboriginal Legal Service of NSW/ACT warn that the New South Wales government's planned changes to bail laws for children will fail to reduce crime and end in disaster for youth engagement in regional communities.
ALS NSW/ACT chief executive Karly Warner said on Tuesday that confirmation the NSW government would go ahead with the changes is a betrayal of Closing the Gap.
"This is a devastating betrayal of Aboriginal children in NSW," Ms Warner said.
"Throwing our children in jail will actually make crime worse, not better. Locking up children has never worked and will lead to devastating outcomes for communities, families and those children.
"We are pleading with the Premier and NSW Labor not to let their government agenda be driven by fear but instead fast track the community-based services and supports they promised under Closing the Gap."
Indigenous children are significantly over-represented in the youth justice system in New South Wales.
On Monday, a coalition of 12 groups including the ALS, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and NSW Aboriginal Land Council revealed that multiple government sources had "indicated off the record that a proposal to introduce punitive law and order measures – including changes to bail laws that will result in more children going to jail – may be considered as early as this week".
On Tuesday morning the Daily Telegraph reported that NSW Cabinet ministers had signed off on a "sweeping package designed to stop a youth crime" wave, including bail changes and new "intervention" measures.
Ms Warner said changes to bail laws that lock more children up is "a short-term political stunt that won't fix a thing on the ground in communities".
"NSW needs more youth engagement and supports because that stops crime from happening. We don't need more short-sighted political fixes like this, that will make communities more dangerous," she said.
"You don't make communities safer by locking up children. Tightening bail laws to keep children locked up hasn't worked in a single place it's been tried. You only have to look at what's happening in Queensland to see that it will be an unmitigated disaster."
Ms Warner said the positive and proactive solutions that could prevent youth crime are being ignored.
"Regional communities should be furious that the government is not prepared to invest in services that will make them safer," she said.
The alliance of advocacy organisations proposed an "urgent three-point youth crime prevention plan that could get results quickly and without putting children in jail", involving: resources allocated for local communities to support after-school, evening and weekend activities that engage at-risk young people; intensive and targeted programs and responses for at-risk children with appropriate referral services; and formal community partnerships between police and Aboriginal controlled services.
The coalition is made up of Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT); Aboriginal Health & Medical Research Council of NSW (AH&MRC); Public Interest Advocacy Centre; First People's Disability Network (FPDN); NSW Child, Family and Community Peak Aboriginal Corporation (AbSec); New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council; Link-Up NSW; BlaQ Aboriginal Corporation; The Aboriginal Culture, Heritage & Arts Association Inc (ACHAA); New South Wales Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Inc (AECG); The Shopfront Youth Legal Centre; and the Redfern Legal Centre.
