Australian youth crime, conversion laws pass in late-night sitting

Attorney General Michael Daley said the laws were designed to address repeat offending by people aged 14 to 18. Photo / Getty Images

Laws that legal experts and an outspoken government MP say will “send more indigenous kids to jail” have passed the New South Wales Parliament’s upper house.

The tougher bail laws will make it harder for older children to be released if charged for certain serious offences while similar charges are pending.

The legislation was passed before MPs sat into Friday morning to pass a long-sought-after ban on gay conversion therapy.

While youth crime has been trending down for the past 15 years, recent violent break-ins in regional areas have ignited community demands for action.

State Premier Chris Minns said the last things the government wanted to do was lock up children, but there was a “massive issue” in regional areas that needed action.

“I think it’s the right decision,” he told Sydney radio 2GB.

“Something needed to change and we listened to regional communities in particular.”

Attorney General Michael Daley said the laws were designed to address repeat offending by people aged 14 to 18 who are charged with serious break and enter, and motor vehicle theft, while on bail for another offence of that type.

“The government is aware of concerns about tightening bail laws for young people and it has approached this change cautiously in light of the potentially serious consequences for young people and, in particular, Aboriginal young people,” Daley said.

“This is why the change is time limited and relates to young people who are already alleged to have committed at least one offence while on bail for another relevant offence.”

The bail laws expire after a year while a new criminal offence has been created to stamp out so-called posting and boasting on social media about car thefts or break-ins.

Minns last week said there was strong circumstantial evidence from police that exhibitionist behaviour was encouraging further and repeated criminal offences.

But the bail changes were panned by progressive MPs as “abhorrent and racist”, “wicked” and “grossly conceived”, while legal experts say they are a “devastating betrayal of Aboriginal children”.

The Nationals backed the bill while calling out the “dire need” for genuine community engagement and a long-term strategy to address regional crime.

Their repeated calls for an inquiry into regional crime finally won government support on Wednesday when a parliamentary inquiry was called.

Meanwhile, NSW has now joined Queensland and Victoria in banning gay conversion therapy, after a bill was passed in the upper house.

NSW wakes up a safer place for LGBTQIA+ people with the passage of the Conversion Practices Ban Bill 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 pic.twitter.com/zXhr829TpQ

— Alex Greenwich MP (@AlexGreenwich) March 21, 2024

A new criminal offence of delivering a conversion practice will carry a penalty of up to five years in jail.

Religious leaders will still be able to tell a group that their faith believes being homosexual or queer is wrong, but directing any acts to change a person’s sexuality or gender identity could result in arrest.

“I’m grateful to the Minns Labor Government for delivering a prohibition on LGBTQ conversion practices, and working with me and so many stakeholders to get the balance right on this historic legislation,” Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich said on Friday.

Faith communities have been broadly supportive of the bill, although Christian Schools Australia has aired concerns about the civil scheme leading to activist litigation against religious beliefs.