A petition is circulating in Western Australia (WA) urging the state Labor government to take immediate action on “extremely high” crime rates across the northern Kimberley region.
Nearly one thousand WA residents have signed the e-petition for the remote area that has a 17 times greater per capita rate of domestic violence than metropolitan Perth.
Reports of police being rammed and hospitalised by stolen cars, home invasions, attacks on tourists, and even an attack on a pilot mid-flight by a detained juvenile have dominated local media.
“The epidemic of crime in the north is obviously of grave concern to the citizens. It’s also part of a broader national discussion in relation to youth crime across our country,” says WA Liberal Shadow Minister for Planning Neil Thomson, who facilitated the petition, in an interview with The Epoch Times.
To combat the crime epidemic in the Kimberley region, extra police have been flown in as a part of the state’s ‘Operation Regional Shield’ initiative.
“This targeted crackdown on youth crime is having real results apprehending offenders, bringing them to justice, and helping to keep the community safe,” Police Minister Paul Papalia said in a media release. “This funding boost will see regional WA continue to benefit from additional police resources.”
However, Mr. Thomson says there’s “an appalling lack of coordination between government services and non-government services and not-for-profit organisations” to tackle the issue.
He’s calling for a more centralised approach from the state government around child protection.
“The Department of Communities plays a key role, and we need a stand-alone department of child protection reinstated in West Australia,” Mr. Thomson said.
“We don’t have enough interventions with parents who are not doing their job properly. We do—obviously—have a need for rehabilitation of young people."
The WA government does have plans for an “on-country diversion facility” to rehabilitate at-risk youth as an alternative to the state’s youth justice system. However, delays have blown out the 2023 deadline.
Amid pressure to deal with the issue, the Labor government has committed to a review of the juvenile justice system.
A Complicated Issue
Poor living conditions for youth in remote Indigenous communities are often pointed to as one of the drivers of youth crime.A perpetuating cycle of self-harm, crowded living conditions and intergenerational trauma are among a long list of social issues plaguing youth across the country.
Dr. Tanveer Ahmed, a psychiatrist, and author of Fragile Nation and The Exotic Rissole, says the issue of youth crime is obviously more prevalent in disadvantaged communities.
He says it is often linked to impulse and peer groups mixed with a hint of tribalism.
“Drug use—such as amphetamines—has an obvious negative effect when it comes to disinhibition and impulsivity and can change the dynamic of some of the youth crimes,” Dr. Ahmed told The Epoch Times.
A lack of deterrence and relaxed penalties regarding youth crime is also another factor.
“They’re more easily let out; it’s harder to imprison them amid community pressure. Youth should be treated differently, but sometimes deterrence isn’t applied appropriately,” he said.
At the heart of the issue are often broken families, Dr. Ahmed explains.
“Part of it is fatherlessness. It’s certainly a factor. A lot of boys, in particular, lack a male authority figure. That’s not just at home; it’s often at school as well. Males are often better at setting strong boundaries with teenage boys. I think that’s a strong social factor,” he said.
Another contributor he points to is a concentration of disadvantage and misbehaviour in a lot of lower socioeconomic school systems. He also says public housing commissions can concentrate deviant behaviour in crowded estates.
“People (are) struggling to get up the ladder of achievement of acquiring skills in the modern economy. So that’s no different to any other phase of history,” he explains about the need for youth to stay in school.
However, what has changed is social media.
“It has a performative element that is relatively new,” he said.
Youth crime across the country, and particularly the Kimberley, have seen kids take to platforms like TikTok to broadcast their crimes.
Fighting Crime in the Kimberly ‘Simply Not Working’
As for the situation in WA, Mr. Thomson doesn’t have faith in the governing Labor party, which he says is arrogant. He says the government is more focused on political spin and process rather than focusing on outcomes.“Unfortunately, the chances of bipartisan support with this government are very low,” he said.
“We need to address the problem at the heart … the dysfunction in the family unit” he notes along with overcrowded housing.
“It’s vital that we have therapeutic responses,” he said.
The online petition started by Troy Gibson in Broome titled “Kimberley Crime” is for WA residents only and closes on Sept. 20.
