NSW Police want tougher penalties for parents who let kids carry knives
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Published April 19, 2024
Sydney Morning Herald, 19 April 2024
NSW Police have asked for tougher knife-crime penalties, including sanctions for parents who allow their children to possess them, despite data showing that the overall rate of violent crimes involving blades has steadily fallen over the last decade.
At the same time, the powerful NSW Health Services Union boss Gerard Hayes has added to calls for increased knife penalties amid a spate of high-profile attacks in Sydney, saying Premier Chris Minns should follow Queensland in allowing police to use metal detectors to search people without a warrant.
In a submission to an ongoing NSW Sentencing Council review, police urged the government to consider further toughening penalties for knife crimes by making it an indictable offence for any parent who allows their child to illegally possess a blade.
The police have also called for a separate category of offences for people caught carrying knives on public transport, calling it a “high risk” activity when “considering the mass of people concentrated in these areas and potential vulnerability of people using public transport”.
After the horrific killing in Bondi Junction on Saturday in which Joel Cauchi murdered six people, and a separate terror attack in western Sydney on Monday in which a teenager allegedly stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, the Minns government has faced questions over whether it will move to toughen knife laws.
On Thursday, Minns said the “very serious criminal attacks” in Sydney meant the government “would look at the existing legislation and see whether potential changes could help prevent a similar attack”.
“You’re not going to get an exact attack in the future, but it’s important that we look at how they’re applied in practice, and whether we can make changes to prevent it from happening again,” he said.
Minns declined to detail any specific changes he is considering, but police want the government to amend the law to increase penalties for parents who knowingly allow their children to have knives by making it an indictable rather than summary offence.
Indictable offences are a more serious category of crime which can attract higher sentences and potential prison terms.
In its submission to the Sentencing Council’s review of firearm and knife penalties, police also said a separate offence for carrying a knife in, on, or around public transport should be considered, saying it “could provide a more useful deterrent to offending than increasing the current penalties”.
The NSW government last year introduced laws which doubled penalties for some knife offences. It means the maximum penalty for possessing a knife in a public place or school doubled to four years in prison, a $4400 fine, or both.
But data provided by the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research reveals only 131 people were convicted for knife possession or wielding offences in the first few months of the new penalties being enacted. The data shows that between October, when the new penalties were introduced, and December last year, most offenders received fines, with only one jail sentence imposed.
That compared to 960 people convicted for the same crimes under the Summary Offences Act during the same period in 2022. Of those, 15 received custodial sentences. While that change is likely due in part to a lag in charges finding their way to court, it follows a broader fall in violent knife offences in NSW.
In 2010, there 1034 assault and robbery charges in NSW involving a knife. That figure had dropped to 545 by 2023. Similarly, the number of children who committed assaults using a knife fell from 96 in 2010 to 37 in 2023.
Still, the government faces increased pressure to introduce further penalties as concerns grow about the prevalence of young people carrying knives. This week the parents of a teenager whose 2019 death in a knife attack led to the introduction of so-called “wanding” laws in Queensland called for NSW to follow suit.
The death of 17-year-old stabbing victim Jack Beasley outside a Surfers Paradise convenience store led to what’s known as “Jack’s Law”, which allows police to use hand-held metal detectors to search people on public transport and at some night spots without a warrant.
The NSW Health Services Union has also called for Minns to follow Queensland. One year after the stabbing death of paramedic Steven Tougher in Campbelltown, Gerard Hayes, the union’s secretary and an influential figure within the NSW Labor Party, said knives had become an increasing issue.
“There have always been issues with young men, but it seems to become a rite of passage now that you put your jeans on, you put your running shoes on, and you slip your knife into your back pocket. It has got to stop,” he said.
“Paramedics work in a fluid situation and to ensure they are as safe as possible, particularly when on the streets, I think these laws are really important. You’re not going to eradicate every risk but if you can minimise it you should.”
Police Minister Yasmin Catley, who met Jack’s father Brett Beasley last year, said it was “early days” for the laws in Queensland but that she would seek an “evaluation” from the government on the laws.