State politicians heard firsthand in Bourke this week how community leaders think youth crime should be tackled in their shire.

The chair of the parliament's Law & Safety Committee, Member for Mount Druitt Edmond Atalla, was at the hearing at Back o’ Bourke Information and Exhibition Centre on Tuesday 1 October as part of an inquiry probing the causes of youth crime in the regions.

Bourke PCYC manager Rozaria Suckling told the hearing that young people are running into trouble because they consider jail safer than home.

"There's a lot of youth in our community that have gone through a lot of sexual assault, domestic violence, drug and alcohol, and when they're home they just don't feel safe," Ms Suckling told Western Plains App after the hearing.

 "They get asked to leave, their parents are drunk and don't want them around.

"That's why they go out all hours of the morning and commit the crime, because they believe juvie's a better place."

Back o’ Bourke Information and Exhibition Centre. PHOTO: Bourke Shire Council

The hearing ran from 11am into the mid-afternoon and heard from invited witnesses including case workers, Council representatives and local Indigenous and community groups. 

The committee held discussion on topics including services performance, diversion programs and policing. 

Ms Suckling, who was born and raised Bourke, said she felt heard at the inquiry.

She also said that youth services and programs are not the full solution.

"Everyone tries to put the pressure on youth services to keep running a ridiculous amount of programs, thinking that it's the only way it's going to work," she said.

"They are good and they are beneficial, but it's not going to stop the crime.

"A lot of kids in our community do attend these programs. It's just that the percentage that are doing the crime, they do not.

"It was nice to be heard and to have outsiders to have a better understanding of what the problem is in our community."

SOURCE: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research

Break and enters into dwellings in the Bourke Local Government Area (LGA) have remained largely stable in the five year trend from July 2019, according to data from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOSCAR).

However, reports more than doubled to 171 between July 2023 and June 2024 compared the previous 12 month period.

Reports of domestic violence related assault in the shire also rose 3.6 per cent over the ten-years to June 2024.

There were 174 reports of that offence in the 12 months to June 2024.

Lachlan Ford has served as a Bourke councillor for 14 years, eight as Deputy Mayor, and spoke at the hearing.

The former juvenile justice worker said the inquiry should consider recommending mandatory attendance to diversionary programs as a sentencing option for youth offenders.

"Current they've got bail or juvenile detention," Cr Ford said.

"We feel like there needs to be another option, whether that's somewhere on country where kids can go and have a bit more of a holistic approach, a bit of education and mental health, some work experience, some general life experience."

"A lot of the kids that are in these situations, they don't have some very basic life skills."

The inquiry also held a hearing in Broken Hill on 2 October and had been expected to report back in February next year.

However, it will now table a first report in May 2025, with a final one by due 30 November 2025. 

Further hearing dates are yet to be set, with towns across the state calling for their stories and suggestions to be heard by the Committee.