https://youtu.be/dElVXyfbOpE?si=zMqSo4qrlWL2DJgQ
11 November, 2025
The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (16:49): I rise to indicate my opposition to this bill on behalf of the Greens. The bill before us today is yet another example of the Malinauskas government politicising the so-called youth crime epidemic, an epidemic that we know has been confected by the media. This bill seeks to treat children like adults by removing the presumption against bail for serious repeat offending. While the government offers a 'special circumstances threshold', it will be a high bar to reach, resulting in more kids being locked up. This is a costly and ineffective approach to crime prevention.
They have yet again been tone-deaf to the many voices on this issue. There were numerous submissions that were made in opposition to this bill, including from the Law Society of South Australia, SACOSS, the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement, the Youth Affairs Council of South Australia, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, the Guardian for Children and Young People and many other community sector organisations.
Indeed, data released by the Attorney-General's own department this year has revealed that South Australia has the second lowest rate of youth offenders across Australia after the ACT. The Attorney-General's Department states on its website:
…over the past financial year, 20 young people were responsible for roughly 11 per cent of all matters before the Youth court, and responsible for a disproportionate rate of offending.
Yet again, there is disconnect between the evidence and these proposed laws which will remove the presumption of bail for young people. If enacted, this will set many more kids down the path of adult offending without addressing the underlying causes that could help prevent a child or a young person who has been in the youth justice system from becoming a serious repeat offender.
This is the fundamental problem with Labor's approach to this issue over many years now. I started my working life working in the youth affairs sector, at YACSA. One of the issues that we were dealing with at that time was the then Rann government's approach to youth crime. Well, fast-forward nearly 20 years, and the spokesperson has changed—the Premier, might I say, looks a lot better in a pair of bathers than Mike Rann ever did—but the politics are equally as toxic when it comes to this issue. The spokesperson has changed, but it is the same disappointing, populist, rack 'em, pack 'em, stack 'em approach from the Labor government, rather than them actually getting serious about the causes of crime, having a serious conversation about what leads these young people into offending.
Why are we not talking about the causes of this criminality—social exclusion, disadvantage, economic inequality, lack of affordable housing, lack of affordable food, poor employment opportunities? But no, instead we have this ridiculous populist politics that is being aided and abetted by the opposition. I share the concerns of the Hon. Connie Bonaros about the ludicrous 'break bail, go to jail'—what a fail! That is really a ridiculous policy proposition. It does nothing to advance the nature of the political debate in our state. Instead, it just drags those further down into this race to the bottom, which is not based on any evidence at all. So shame on the Malinauskas government for following the Liberal Party down in the ditch in their approach to this issue.
I would like to quote from the submission provided by SACOSS to the Attorney-General, dated August 2025:
SACOSS has repeatedly identified that offending behaviour by young people is not typically caused by a 'weak approach to law and order' but rather the failure of our youth justice, child protection and social service systems to properly address the fundamental drivers of social challenges, including household and youth poverty; housing insecurity; domestic, family and sexual violence; the impacts of alcohol and drug use; irregular engagement in education; lack of attention to disability, neurodevelopmental conditions, mental health challenges, unemployment, cost of living pressures, alienation and a lack of belonging, and limited social and recreational activities for young people to engage in. The causes of offending behaviours must be given proper attention, and children and young people should not be targeted, labelled 'recidivists', apprehended or treated under the proposed provisions of this Bill.
I entirely agree. Where is the serious attention of those from the Malinauskas government? I am bitterly disappointed that, despite the fact that I introduced my private members' bill to raise the age of criminal responsibility in line with the recommendations of the United Nations, that bill has languished on the Notice Paper in this parliament, and the Labor government has lacked the political will to do anything serious in this regard.
There was a discussion paper with a series of submissions that were kept under lock and key and this seems to have just gone into the never-never. It is bitterly disappointing. Instead of moving us down that path, what we have from Labor is this draconian law and order policy, which is going to do nothing to improve the lives of vulnerable young people in our community. It is based on false evidence and false assumptions because we know we are not facing a youth crime crisis. I urge the government to think again.
This is not about being soft on crime. To the contrary, it is about actually advancing policies that would work, and that means an evidence-based approach to law and order and something that actually addresses the causes of crime. The Greens cannot support a bill that puts kids on a path that they cannot get out of, and of course we know that once young people move into the criminal justice system it is very, very difficult to get them out.
I urge the government to think again and to stop listening to the bleating opposition and their populist law and order drum, and actually start to engage with people who work with young people and understand the needs of that sector. Evidence-based policy is what will work, not the sort of populist fearmongering we see from the Liberal Party.