Politicians, police, community groups and leaders have come together to take a stand against crime in the Macleay Valley.
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Leader of the NSW National Party Dugald Saunders and Member for Oxley Michael Kemp met with local community groups and organisations as part of a regional crime round table on Thursday, June 27.
It was a chance to hear from the community about the action they want to respond to local crime particularly in regards to youth crime.
"We've heard from on the ground that people in our communities- they want some action with respect to crime," Mr Kemp said.
![Leader of the NSW National Party Dugald Saunders and Member for Oxley Michael Kemp attended regional crime round table in Kempsey with organisations and local community groups. Picture by Emily Walker Leader of the NSW National Party Dugald Saunders and Member for Oxley Michael Kemp attended regional crime round table in Kempsey with organisations and local community groups. Picture by Emily Walker](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/179373098/7eb0fb7d-b3b9-446e-928a-5487a2fa2360.jpg/r0_0_2260_1271_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"They want to give us some options with respect to diversion tactics and they want to make sure our judicial system and our enforcement systems are what the community expects."
The round table attended by Mr Kemp and Mr Saunders discussed housing challenges, the role of social media, education and the lack of diversionary programs to help address the rise in youth crime.
Community discussions
![Learning the Macleay partnership lead Jo-Anne Kelly attended the round table on regional crime at Kempsey on June 27. Picture by Emily Walker Learning the Macleay partnership lead Jo-Anne Kelly attended the round table on regional crime at Kempsey on June 27. Picture by Emily Walker](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/179373098/e3b71c32-e5be-4700-b682-04c51a8fdac0.png/r9_0_1916_984_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A rise in break-and-enters as well as car thefts have been a point of concern for the Macleay Valley and Oxley electorate.
A community forum held at South West Rocks discussed the rise of crime on May 20 with another forum held at Nambucca Heads.
"Specifically we've had a spike in the rate of car thefts and break-and-enters, especially in respect to weapons and knives," Mr Kemp said.
"So the community would like to feel safe in their homes.
"They need to have their possessions respected and they need to be able to walk down the street without fear."
Learning the Macleay's recent community survey found that youth crime and infrastructure were some of the top key issues for the local community.
The organisation's partnership lead Jo-Anne Kelly said that member of the community are trying to sit together to have a conversation on how they can look at initiatives to respond to what is happening.
"We've tabled a whole lot of stuff around education, housing, social media, mental health," she said.
"And how do we build those solutions around but [also] get engaged with the community because the community has the solution.
"We just need the support of government and non-government agencies to make it happen."
Improvements potentially to come
The round table comes after the NSW Government's inquiry on youth crime in regional areas closed submissions.
The community safety in regional and rural communities inquiry, which was announced earlier this year, has already had over 180 submission from across NSW.
"We've fought really hard to make sure there was a regional crime inquiry that's happening through the Parliament," Mr Saunders said.
"Over the next couple of weeks we're hoping to get some sort of clarity from the regional areas that the parliamentary inquiry will visit.
"It's important that we see that inquiry go far and wide and hear the same stories."
Mr Saunders stressed the need for area specific solution to the rise of youth crime in rural and regional NSW.
"What we need to do is find those bespoke scenarios and solutions," he said.
"No cookie cutter approach here and that's the idea of [the round table].":
For those in the local area, there is some relief.
Mid North Coast Police District Acting Superintendent Susie Johnson said that aggravated break-and-enters as well as car thefts had decreased in recent weeks.
She said that a surge of recent arrested had had an impact on the decrease.
"I do think that's had an [impact] in taking some of those key players out of play so to speak, and putting them before the courts," she said.
"So NSW policed is focused on that model of prevention, disruption and then response so we really don't want to get to that response stage...
"So that's why we're here... working with the community and with Mr Kemp and Mr Saunders in terms of that prevention and disruption."