Premier Chris Minns made a last-minute trip to Moree last month amid concerns about serious property crime being committed predominantly by young people. Minns has committed to a regional crime package and the Police Minister Yasmin Catley has also acknowledged a worsening problem in regional NSW.
A range of groups – which include the Aboriginal Legal Service, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and NSW Aboriginal Land Council – say they have been told by several sources within the Minns government that new ‘punitive law and order measures’ are likely to include tougher bail laws for minors.
They fear that NSW could follow the lead of Queensland, which last year passed controversial new laws where the Palaszczuk government overrode the state’s Human Rights Act to introduce legislation that made breach of bail an offence for children.