Youth crime in parts of the Barwon electorate has dropped by as much as 42 per cent, but local MP Roy Butler says more must be done to ensure the trend continues.

The latest NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics & Research (BOSCAR) figures show a 12 per cent reduction in regional youth crime over the past two years to June 2025, including a 42 per cent drop across the Far West and Orana regions, which encompass Broken Hill and Bourke.

While welcoming the figures, Mr Butler said crime rates in Barwon remain high in several key categories.

“Barwon communities have become gradually safer over the last 20 years, but there is still a long way to go until residents can live free from the fear of crime,” he said.

Out of the ten local government areas across NSW with the highest levels of domestic violence, eight are in the Barwon electorate, as well as seven of the top 10 for sexual offences, break and enter, motor vehicle theft and malicious damage to property.

Mr Butler credited police operations for the recent drop but warned of the cost and limited impact of youth incarceration.

“The community expects people to be jailed for serious crimes, but we also know that it costs $1.2 million a year to keep a young person in Juvenile Justice and more than 80 per cent will commit more serious crimes once they’re released,” he said.

He called for magistrates to be required to send young offenders involved in lower-level crimes to country-based residential diversion programs led by elders, funded in this year’s NSW Budget.

“These programs show young people an alternative path, with the potential to improve their own lives while also bringing down local crime rates," he said.