The NSW Country Mayors Association (CMA) has welcomed the release of the Legislative Assembly Committee on Law and Safety’s Interim Report on Community Safety in Regional and Rural Communities addressing the drivers of youth crime through early intervention.

The Report is the first of two reports the Committee intends to publish with the second focusing on policing and legislative reform.

Youth crime has been a plight for regional and rural communities, especially in Western NSW with 21,287 young offenders reported between April last year and March this year, according to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOSCAR).

The Committee received almost 200 submissions and says there is an urgent need for early intervention to deal with complex social drivers of youth crime in regional and rural NSW.

Chairman of the CMA Mayor Rick Firman said the Board and its members are very concerned about the rising level of youth crime in remote, rural and regional areas.

“The Committee’s report makes 11 findings, most of which echo the concerns that our members have about the underlying issues that must be addressed if the problems are to be solved,” he explained.

“The Committee has made 19 recommendations to address those findings, many of which require better and more coordinated, long-term investment in services and infrastructure that better support young people who live in country NSW.”

The Committee has recommended that the state government prioritise sustained investment in targeted, place-based early intervention programs, increase investment in youth hubs to divert young people from crime, and that the Department of Education collaborate with schools in disadvantaged communities to identify and implement programs that support the school community.

Committee Chair and Member for Mount Druitt, Edmond Atalla, said a holistic and evidence based approach to addressing underlying factors of youth crime is the way to move forward.

“Tough-on-crime responses might seem appealing, but they don’t deliver long-term change,” he said.

“We need to invest in what works and that means supporting vulnerable young people early, before they come into contact with the justice system.”

However, Member for Dubbo Dugald Saunders said the NSW government is not doing enough to address the youth crime crisis.

“All we’ve seen in the past two years is young ringleaders wreaking havoc on our communities, breaking into people’s homes, stealing cars, hurting loved ones and costing lives,” Mr Saunders explained.

There has been a 2 per cent increase in the number of youth offenders in the last 10 years to March 2025, according to BOSCAR.