The State Government has been accused of ignoring the Central Coast’s calls for action to tackle youth crime by Shadow Minister for the Central Coast and Member for Terrigal Adam Crouch.
The accusation comes after the Government voted down the NSW Opposition’s proposed amendments to the Bail Amendment (Extension of Limitation on Bail in Certain Circumstances) Bill 2025.
The proposed amendments included enforcing a curfew of 8pm to 6am for repeat youth offenders on bail, introduction of electronic monitoring to assist in enforcement of the curfew and requiring the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) to report youth crime data every three months, acting as a key performance indicator of the Bill.
Crouch said the rejection of the amendments was an example of the State Government and Central Coast Labor MPs ignoring the needs and expectations of people of the Central Coast.
“What we saw in Parliament last week was the Minns Labor Government ignoring the cries for help from the people of the Central Coast, voting down proposed amendments to strengthen bail reform across our state,” he said.
“Our region expects better.
“They expect strong, swift and decisive action on youth crime, and this was highlighted at the recent youth crime forum held at Erina, which attracted hundreds of attendees concerned about their safety.”
Crouch also called out the Government’s failure to include the Central Coast in the newly announced Operation Soteria, saying that the region was being forgotten and left behind.
Operation Soteria, announced by NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Paul Pisanos last week, is a high-level youth strategy including 60 new dedicated police and rapid response units to tackle juvenile crime across NSW.
It aims to address an escalation of violence in offenders aged between 11 and 16 across western and northern parts of the state, focusing on aggravated break, enter and steal offences, stealing motor vehicles and ‘post and boast’ offences where kids use social media to gain notoriety for their crimes.
“Despite a public forum where hundreds of people voiced their concerns directly to government members, including the police minister, our region was still excluded from the recently announced youth crime operation,” Crouch said.
“This is simply not good enough.”
We most certainly need to tackle youth crime but we also must be holding their parents accountable for these actions.
It’s a generational problem!!