Mr GREG WARREN (Campbelltown) (13:05): I am delighted to make a brief contribution to the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Youth Crime) Bill 2025, which, of course, the Government does not support. I will go through some of the reasons in more detail in a moment. However, I begin by saying that I understand the many serious crime issues in New South Wales committed by offenders of all ages. That said, I do not believe in the broad conviction of, and overlaying blanket over, young people in our society. Let us not forget that, by and large—and I cannot put a percentage on it—there are many wonderful young people in our communities who contribute to society and do the right thing. I urge my colleagues to make sure that this is noted during their contributions to this debate. I agree with the member for Bathurst when he says that the bill is not about politics. He should take heed of this message, because I felt that much of his contribution was politically, rather than pragmatically, motivated to achieve a preferred outcome.

My wonderful electorate of Campbelltown is home to Reiby detention centre, which has been there for some time. It disturbs me deeply when I visit and see the young people incarcerated there. I note that my good friend the Minister for Corrections is in the Chamber. While his portfolio does not have oversight over this centre, as a local he understands Reiby very well. For anyone who is incarcerated, time in detention should be about rehabilitation, particularly for young people. If they have gone off the rails, we need to get them back on. But that will not happen if members in this place kick young people around and put them down.

I believe that the best path to rehabilitate young people and get them back on track is to provide them with the positive support they need. Clearly, somewhere along the line they have taken a wrong turn. I often say to the many organisations, young people and students in my community, as well as to those across Western Sydney and south-west Sydney who fall under my additional responsibilities, that young people are born as a blank book and society then writes the paragraphs and chapters on the pages that begin their lives. But, at times, young people reach an intersection where they can turn left or right and take either the good path or the bad path.

One of the most important things that communities, and we as parliamentarians, must do is ensure that when young people reach that T intersection, they take the turn down the good path. In this moment they have ultimately become disengaged from society, their community or their family unit and they can then either be engaged by good or bad. Sadly, in many cases—particularly in the more socio-economically challenged areas in our great State, our country and, indeed, societies everywhere—most people who become disengaged then become engaged by bad.

The high‑level key to this is, of course, prevention. But where there is not prevention success, we must make sure that these young people are engaged by good. We know that good things come from positivity, and from the leadership of adults leading by example and doing the right thing. In many cases, sadly, we do not see that. Tragically, we see young people and children falling into criminal activity and being incarcerated, which changes the course of their lives and affects them for the rest of their lives. We hear so much about the triangle of correlation between mental health, substance abuse and violence. Whatever the flow of cause and effect may be, the sad relationship between those things results in people not getting back on track.

The Opposition's proposed changes to section 22C of the Bail Act are extremely costly, poorly targeted and contrary to ordinary justice principles. Undoubtedly they would result in larger cohorts of young people being placed on remand for longer periods of time, and they offer no long-term solutions to tackle reoffending or reduce crime in the community. The result of the proposal would be that a young person who was accused of committing a serious indictable offence while on bail for any other serious indictable offence would be subject to the temporary additional bail test. It would apply the temporary bail test to a large number of additional children committing a much wider range of offences.

The member for Bathurst referred specifically to the imposition of mandatory curfews on accused young people as a bail condition. Under the Opposition's bill, bail could be granted to young people captured by section 22C of the Bail Act only if the court imposes a mandatory curfew between 8.00 p.m. and 6.00 a.m. on the young person, unless varied to allow the young person to participate in a therapeutic activity. In fact, the Bail Act already empowers bail authorities to impose curfews as part of bail conditions. The Children's Court bail guidelines refer to curfews as one of the "commonly seen bail conditions" and provides guidance on relevant considerations. However, imposing mandatory curfew conditions would also be likely to prevent young people from participating in beneficial activities such as after-hours school events, community sport and family activities. In those ways, it would be unduly punitive and undermine positive connections that a young person may otherwise have with their community.

To conclude, I acknowledge the serious issues we have with crime, particularly with young people in specific areas in rural and regional areas of the State. Many in this place know that I am proud to be a product of regional New South Wales, having been born and raised in Dubbo. I never forget where I am from. Campbelltown is now my home, but I am a product of the Central West. My mum and dad, my brother, and friends and family still live there. I know the issues. I am not discounting them, and nor is the Government. But this Government is doing what good governments should do. It is collaborating, consulting and providing a balanced solution to a serious issue. Is there an immediate solution? I do not believe so. Is immediate attention being given? I do believe so. But we must work together to provide leadership and support for our young people in a preventive manner, to get them back on track. Yes, where laws are broken, there is a judicial process. We must allow that to take its course.