NSW Opposition Leader Peter Debnam today slammed Labor’s scare campaign on the NSW Liberal/Nationals policy of focusing on early intervention to break the youth crime. 

“Labor and civil liberties groups are not listening to the community about youth crime,” Mr Debnam said.

“They should speak as I do to local shopkeepers, pensioners and parents who put up with youth crime in their neighbourhoods virtually every day,” he said.

“Unlike Labor, the community knows that youths aged between 10 and 14 who are repeatedly committing crimes understand the difference between right and wrong.

“Labor’s current laws say they don’t. That’s why Labor’s system is not working. This is what we need to change.

“Labor is seeking to scare the public with outrageous lies about 10 year olds going to gaol, rather than admit we need to change the system.

“In this campaign, Labor would rather run scare campaigns about the changes we need to fix NSW, rather than defend their own 12 year record of failure.

“We want a system where we can intervene early to get young people back on track.

“Labor’s plan is to look the other way, pretend these young people are not responsible for their actions and send them back to commit more crimes.  That is how you make criminals.