Former Deputy PM, Civil Libertarians Unlikely Allies Against New Knife Crime Law Push

A man pulls a knife from his back pocket in a file photo dated Jan. 16, 2020. Andrew Matthews/PA

Both Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce and the New South Wales (NSW) Council for Civil Liberties are alarmed by the push from NSW Police, via their union, to have criminal penalties imposed on the parents of children found to be carrying weapons, including knives.

When a riot broke out following the stabbing at the Assyrian Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, six paramedics were forced to take shelter in the church for three and a half hours.

The state’s health minister, Ryan Park, described it as “a situation where they were held up with frontline police with hundreds of people outside …. That’s not the sort of scenes we want to see in NSW and it’s not the way in which our paramedics [and] frontline emergency workers should be treated.”

NSW Health Minister Ryan Park speaks outside Newmarch House in Sydney, Australia, on April 29, 2020. Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

It was revealed that the alleged offender, a 16-year-old youth, had been found in possession of a flick knife at a train station in November 2023 and was placed on a good behaviour bond. The boy had also been found with a knife at school in 2020.

NSW Health Services Union leader Gerard Hayes has joined police and called on Premier Chris Minns to introduce laws similar to Queensland’s, which allow police to use metal detectors to search people without a warrant.

Under new laws introduced last year, the maximum penalty for possessing a knife in a public place or school doubled to four years in prison, a $4,400 fine, or both.

Should Be a Serious Offence: Police

In a submission to an ongoing NSW Sentencing Council review, police urged the government to make it an indictable offence for any parent to allow their child to possess a blade. Indictable offences are a more serious category of crime and can attract higher sentences and potentially prison terms.

Police also called for a separate category of offences for people caught carrying knives on public transport, calling it a “high risk ... considering the mass of people concentrated in these areas and potential vulnerability of people using public transport.”

Asked for the government’s reaction at a press stand-up, the Mr. Park said the issue would form part of the coronial inquest.

“We will be looking at everything in relation to this issue,” he said.

“[We] want to do this in a methodical way and part of our making sure that the coroner has the resources they need to do that investigation is so that we can look at a range of issues in relation to this incident.

“But we do have to remember that people sometimes carry out behaviour that is highly unpredictable.”

‘Risk to Children’: Civil Liberties

However, the NSW Council for Civil Liberties said data from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research shows that knife crime has declined steadily over recent years, and called on the state government to “resist populist calls for legislative change that will not make our communities safer.”

Council President Lydia Shelly said charging parents because their child has committed an offence “oversimplifies the intricate circumstances surrounding children who have contact with the criminal justice system.”

“The stance reportedly taken by NSW police poses significant risks to children. Parents facing criminal charges and a possible conviction may jeopardise their employment opportunities, destabilise their housing situation, and potentially disrupt their ability to maintain custody of their children,” she said.

She urged the government to instead focus on strengthening families and take a whole-of-government approach to prevent children from ever entering the criminal justice system.

“Parents of children who have been charged with a criminal offence do not deserve to be demonised by the media, the NSW police or the NSW government,” she said.

That stance received backing from former Nationals Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, who said the issue wasn’t as simple as police suggest.

Former Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce speaks at a news conference on Sep. 5, 2023. Reuters/Screenshot via NTD

“I think the people that should be pursued [are] the people that incite terrorism,” he said.

“The person that went into a church and stabbed a bishop is inspired by other people, other people got into his head ... influenced a younger person to go and try and murder somebody—that’s where your problem starts.”

‘There is a Limit’: Joyce

While Mr. Joyce felt “parents should be given some responsibility … held responsible for their children” he also believed there was a limit to it.

“In the end they have their own agency and start doing what they want, not what the parents tell them,” he said.

Mr. Joyce also pointed out that parents can’t stop their children from doing the wrong thing if they’re unaware of it.

“To say that I’m totally responsible for everything my children have done, it sounds great and very, very dangerous,” he said.

“I mean, you can’t stop someone of their own volition going and buying a knife and not telling you about it.”

On Thursday, Mr. Minns committed the NSW government to “[looking] at the existing legislation and see whether potential changes could help prevent a similar attack.”