The New South Wales government has announced a major package of proposed laws targeting organised crime and the recruitment of young people by gangs following two Sydney murders believed to have involved mistaken identity. The reforms would create tougher penalties for conspiracy and attempted murder, potentially extending to life imprisonment in the most serious cases, while some juveniles involved in public shootings, arson and organised violence could be dealt with in higher courts and face adult-level sentences.
The New South Wales government is preparing a significant tightening of laws aimed at organised criminal groups operating across Sydney, with a particular focus on gangs recruiting teenagers to carry out violent offences.
The proposed reforms follow two recent killings authorities believe may have been cases of mistaken identity, intensifying concern about contract violence, gang rivalries and the use of young offenders to carry out shootings and other attacks.
The package is expected to strengthen both criminal penalties and police investigative powers.
Tougher penalties for conspiracy and attempted murder
Under the proposed changes, offences linked to organised criminal activity would attract substantially more severe consequences.
New aggravating provisions are planned for conspiracy and attempted murder, with penalties in the most serious circumstances potentially reaching life imprisonment.
The government’s aim is to ensure that those who organise, commission or coordinate serious violence can face penalties closer to those imposed when an attack results in death.
The reforms would also target people operating behind the scenes, not only those physically carrying out an offence.
Young offenders could face adult-level penalties
A central part of the proposal concerns juveniles allegedly recruited by criminal groups.
Young people involved in serious offences including public shootings, deliberate arson and organised acts of violencecould, under the proposed framework, be dealt with in higher courts rather than solely within the youth justice system.
That could expose some offenders to adult-level sentencing provisions.
The government argues that organised crime groups deliberately exploit younger people because they believe juveniles will face lighter penalties if caught.
The reforms are designed to reduce that incentive and increase the consequences for involvement in serious gang-related violence.
Recruitment of minors increasingly under scrutiny
Police and governments have become increasingly concerned about the use of young people by organised criminal networks.
In some cases, teenagers may be offered money to carry out attacks, transport weapons, torch vehicles or act as intermediaries between more senior figures.
The proposed laws seek to address both sides of that relationship: the young person committing the offence and those who recruit or direct them.
The broader policy question remains how to combine tougher enforcement with prevention, particularly for teenagers vulnerable to criminal recruitment.
$15 million to target encrypted communications
The NSW government also plans to provide $15 million in additional funding to strengthen police capabilities to access encrypted devices and communications platforms.
Encrypted messaging has become increasingly important in organised crime investigations, with criminal networks using secure applications and locked devices to coordinate activity and conceal evidence.
The additional funding is intended to improve the ability of investigators to penetrate or extract information from those systems where legally authorised.
For police, access to digital evidence can be crucial in establishing who ordered an attack, who supplied weapons, how offenders were recruited and whether violence formed part of a wider organised operation.
A response to public shootings
The reforms come amid renewed concern over violent incidents in Sydney linked to criminal networks.
The government’s response reflects a shift towards targeting not simply individual offences but the structure behind them — including recruitment, planning, financing, encrypted communication and the commissioning of violence.
Public shootings are particularly significant because of the risk to bystanders and the potential for mistaken identity.
The two murders that helped prompt the latest package have increased pressure on the government to demonstrate that current penalties and investigative tools are sufficient to deal with increasingly sophisticated criminal networks.
The laws are not yet in force
The proposed measures have not yet become law.
They must still be formally introduced into the New South Wales Parliament, debated and approved before they can take effect.
The final wording will therefore be critical.
Questions are likely to focus on how adult sentencing provisions would apply to minors, what safeguards would remain within the youth justice system, how aggravating circumstances would be defined and how police powers involving encrypted communications would be regulated.
The political objective is clear: make it harder for criminal groups to use young offenders as disposable intermediaries and increase the consequences for those who plan serious violence.
The practical impact, however, will depend on the legislation ultimately passed by Parliament and on whether tougher penalties can be combined with measures that reduce the pool of young people available for recruitment by organised crime.
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