🛡️ Petition to the NSW Government: Hold Parents Legally Accountable for Youth Crime

About this petition

Tamworth, NSW  and the Whole of New South Wales— we're facing a disturbing rise in youth crime: teens roaming streets late at night, stealing cars, setting vehicles alight, carrying firearms, and attacking community members. Time and again, these young offenders are released back into our streets with minimal consequence—and parents face no real accountability. It's time that changes.

I myself have been a victim to this at 3.30am this morning! A stolen car was dumped in an access way behind my house and set on fire. If it had not been for my dogs being so persistent in alerting us to it our house my have burnt to the ground with us in it! 

Apparently the police have arrested an offender and the offender is a juvenile!

I dont feel that the police in this town or any town for that fact are interested in convicting these offenders because as they have said in the past " we lock them up and the courts let them out" !

This mentality of the police needs to stop because it is us the people that are being harmed.

📍 Why this matters in Tamworth and every where in New South Wales

In May 2025, two teens aged 14 and 15 allegedly stabbed a 51‑year‑old man at Coles on Kathleen Street after he confronted them for shoplifting. They were charged but released on conditional bail .

In September 2024, three boys as young as 13–15 stole two cars and seven guns from a Tamworth home at 4:30 am .

A group of teens sparked a three-day crime spree across NSW including arson in Tamworth—one car ended up ablaze .

A shocking assault on a five-year-old with a golf club in Tamworth raised community alarm over the lack of consequences for violent youth .

🔍 Local crime data that paints the picture

In Tamworth Regional (postcode 2340), your chance of being a violent crime victim is 1 in 43, compared to NSW overall at 1 in 84 .

Chances of being a victim of property crime in our region is 1 in 23, while NSW average is 1 in 41 .

Statewide, youth offenders increased for offences like weapons use, assault, and property crime. The NSW youth offender rate in 2023–24 was 2,211 per 100,000 aged 10–17, with acts intended to cause injury being the most common youth crime 

.🗣️ Community voices & police action

NBN News reported “residents have taken a stand” in Tamworth, calling for stronger measures and police ramping up charges against teens .

Deputy Commissioner Paul Pisanos launched Operation Soteria in March 2025, warning that regional towns like Tamworth are seeing violent youth offenders as young as 10 involved in “serious, young, violent... crime” .

🎯 Our Petition Requests

We, the undersigned, urge the NSW Government to:

1. Amend legislation to allow NSW Police and courts to charge parents for crimes committed by their children where evidence shows negligence, lack of supervision, or failure to take corrective action.

2. Introduce penalties (fines, mandated parenting programs, loss of certain benefits) for parents whose children repeatedly offend or commit serious crimes.

3. Launch preventative measures—including early intervention, parenting support, and monitoring of at-risk families—backed by the certainty of legal consequences for chronic neglect or inaction.

4. Reinforce community safety by ensuring parents share responsibility—not just NSW Police—when children’s actions threaten public security.

5. No bail for juvenile offenders, especially when it is a serious crime.

6. Add legislation to be able to name and shame these offenders,  if they are old enough to commit a crime they are old enough to be publicly identified.

✍️ Add your voice

We believe parents will act more responsibly when there are real, enforceable consequences tied to their children’s criminal behavior. This isn't about punishment for innocent families—it's about encouraging caring responsibility and preventing harm before it starts.

Sign below if you support:

Holding parents legally accountable for their children's serious or repeat offences

Giving police and courts the tools to act when negligence contributes to crime

Protecting our Tamworth community now, before more lives and livelihoods are disrupted

→ Sign this petition and share it with friends, neighbours and local businesses. Let’s make it a wake-up call to Parliament.

Tamworth residents are under siege. Our community has suffered petrol bombings, car fires, armed home invasions and violent stabbings by youths—and time and again the offenders are released, with no real accountability for their parents.

Data shows violent crime risk here is nearly double regional and state averages. Teens are acting brazenly—stabbing a man at Coles, stealing cars and guns, setting fires across NSW. Reports indicate parents are too often oblivious or unresponsive.

We call on the NSW Government to pass laws empowering police and courts to charge parents whose children repeatedly commit serious crimes or show harmful behaviour.

we also call on the NSW Government, the NSW Police and the NSW courts not to grant bail to these young offenders 

This is not about punishing every parent—it’s about protecting families and our streets by ensuring parents take responsibility for raising safe, law-abiding children.

If you care about safety in Tamworth and all of New South Wales, sign now.
Together, we can push for legislation that makes parents a part of the solution—not part of the problem.