MEDIA RELEASE: New video from community leaders including Just Reinvest NSW’s tell the NSW Government: do better for children and communities
15/04/2026 REDFERN, Sydney: New videos from NSW community leaders and frontline workers, including the Rev. Bill Crews; representatives from the Aboriginal Legal Service NSW and Just Reinvest NSW; and CEOs from St Vincent de Paul Society NSW and Youth Off The Streets are sending a powerful message to the NSW Government.
The leaders say the Government can do better for children and communities by raising the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 and investing in community-led support services.
The message comes as the NSW Select Committee on Youth Justice holds their first hearings for the Youth Justice Inquiry.
“Just Reinvest NSW calls on Chris Minns to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14, without exception. The recent wave of tougher bail laws and punitive policies is driving more children into detention, not making communities safer. Aboriginal children, just 4.5% of the population, now make up around 60% of those locked up. That is not justice, it is a systemic failure that demands urgent reform.
“There is a better way: investing in Aboriginal community-led solutions like justice reinvestment, which address the drivers of offending and keep children supported in their communities, not behind bars.” said Geoff Scott, CEO Just Reinvest NSW.
Raise the Age NSW is supported by UnLtd and their partners in the media and advertising industry, who have donated the production of the videos offering hopeful alternatives to locking up and harming kids, which has failed to prevent or reduce crime.
“In NSW, ten-year-olds can be sent to prison. That is too young,” said Emily Mayo, Raise the Age NSW Campaign Coordinator.
“The evidence is in. The younger a child is when failing systems force them into contact with police, handcuffs, courts and prison cells, the more likely it is they will have further contact across their lifetime. We can and should do better.”
About Raise the Age NSW
Raise the Age NSW is a coalition of Aboriginal Controlled Community Organisations, peak bodies, non-government organisations, unions and community groups working to raise the age of criminal responsibility in NSW.
In their submission to the Youth Justice Inquiry, they say the single most effective way to keep children out of the criminal legal system is to stop criminalising them in the first place.
Raise the Age NSW is urging the Select Committee to recommend the NSW Government raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 and invest in local services, as a catalyst to delivering better outcomes for children, communities and the budget bottom-line.
Featured in this video is Julie Williams, JRNSW’s Community Engagement Coordinator in Mt Druitt with Mounty Aboriginal Youth & Community Services.