Bourke Shire Council has written to Australia’s most important politicians about an issue it has a very particular point view on - changing the criminal age of responsibility.

At the last Council meeting it resolved it would write to the Prime Minister, the Hon Anthony Albanese MP, Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians, the Hon Linda Burney MP, the NSW Premier, the Hon Chris Minns MP, the NSW Attorney General – the Hon Michael Daley MP, the NSW Leader of the Opposition, the NSW Shadow Attorney-General, the Member for Barwon – Mr Roy Butler MP, and the Alliance of Western Councils, expressing “Councils absolute opposition to an increase in the age of criminal responsibility from ten years to fourteen years”.

In December, the Standing Council of Attorneys-General, chaired by Commonwealth Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, KC, released a previously secret report from 2020 recommending that the age of criminal responsibility be raised to 14 without exception.

The report asserts that “the major risk factors for youth criminality include poverty, homelessness, abuse and neglect, mental illness, intellectual impairment and having one or more parents with a criminal record”.

“Studies have shown that the younger the child is when first having contact with the justice system, the more likely they are to go on to reoffend,” it said.

Mayor of Bourke Shire Councillor Barry Holman said “Letters have now been provided to the various leaders identified in Councils resolution in respect of this important issue for our community”.

“Should a change to the Age of Criminal Responsibility be legislated in NSW, it could well be that the legislation is amended such that it ‘shall be conclusively presumed that no child who is under the age of 14 years can be guilty of an offence’, as is currently the case in respect of children under 10 years.

"If this was to be the case, the liveability of residents in Bourke, and for that matter many Western NSW towns, would be in serious jeopardy.”

The Mayor claimed that over the years, Bourke has been at the “coalface” of youth violence and crime, experiencing many unfortunate incidents of such violence and crime.

Bourke's main street with courthouse at right. Image: Flickr

“Bourke experiences periods of peaks and troughs in terms of youth criminal behaviour. These peaks and troughs would often appear to be aligned to which of the town’s recalcitrant eight-to-sixteen-year old’s are either out and about in the community or are unfortunately incarcerated, respectively,” the Mayor said.

The township of Bourke has long had a serious juvenile crime problem. The town has trialled many programs some of which have had the effect of reducing crime in the short-term including the Maranguka project, Justice Re-invest, Operation Safe, and Boys to the Bush.

The Mayor noted that Council was not wanting to see young people in gaol but in calling for the “age of criminal responsibility” not to be increased, was asking for youths be held to account for their actions. 

“Increasing the age of criminal responsibility will only exacerbate the many existing problems with the situation regarding youth crime in Bourke, and like towns. Criminal behaviour is already difficult enough for the community to endure.”