Sydney
The Prime Minister and the Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Justice Jason Clare today announced a $40 million National Crime Prevention Fund to be funded from confiscated proceeds of crime.
The National Crime Prevention Fund will target crime hotspots.
It will fund:
• Infrastructure like closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems and lighting; and
• Youth mentoring and outreach programs run by organisations like Youth Off The Streets and Police Citizens Youth Clubs that target young people at risk of falling off the tracks and getting involved in crime.
The National Crime Prevention Fund will use the money seized from criminals to prevent crime.
The National Crime Prevention Fund is the third component of the Gillard Government's package of measures to target street crime and gang violence across Australia.
Last month the Prime Minister and Minister Clare announced a $64 million National Anti-Gang Taskforce. It will be made up of 70 members from the Australian Federal Police and State Police forces together with staff from the Australian Crime Commission, Australian Customs and Border Protection, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, the Australian Taxation Office and Centrelink.
The Taskforce will use a new Australian Gang Intelligence Centre to interpret criminal intelligence on gang activity across Australia and their links overseas. It will use this information to directly target, investigate and arrest gang members in Australia.
The taskforce will be begin in July this year and will be fully operational from 1 January 2014.
Next week, the Prime Minister will take a plan to introduce national anti-gang laws, national unexplained wealth laws and reforms to the illegal firearms market to the Council of Australian Governments meeting.
These new laws would give police across the country more powers to break up gangs, seize their firearms and seize their assets.
Politicians need to work together next week to give police these powers.
Police are seizing millions of dollars but criminals are making billions of dollars. We can seize a lot more if we give police these powers. That will provide more money to invest in crime prevention projects like this.
The National Crime Prevention Fund is made up of three parts.
Youth Off The Streets
$5 million from the National Crime Prevention Fund will be allocated to the expansion of Father Chris Riley's successful Youth Off The Streets Outreach Service.
Youth Off The Streets targets young people aged between 12 and 21 and operates in areas where young people normally gather. The service provides low key and positive diversionary activities that allow young people to interact and socialise as well as meet with youth workers.
Youth Off the Streets has achieved significant success engaging young people across New South Wales in communities like Kurri Kurri, East Cessnock, Griffith, Narrandera, Cranebrook, Blacktown, Bankstown and Doonside. In Macquarie Fields, Police have reported a 40 per cent reduction in local crime levels since Youth Off The Streets began providing outreach services in the area.
The funds will allow the expansion of the Outreach program to up to ten additional locations, expanding outreach services and reducing street crime.
Police Citizens Youth Clubs
$5 million from the National Crime Prevention Fund will be allocated to projects that will be delivered by Police Citizens Youth Clubs and Blue Light organisations.
Police Citizens Youth Clubs have a long and illustrious history in Australia.
Police Citizens Youth Clubs use a range of sporting, recreation and education programs to help young people to develop their skills, character and leadership. Their programs have proved effective in reducing crime amongst young people by providing positive interactions with police, targeting local needs and building a sense of citizenship within the communities that they work.
There are over 150 Police Citizens Youth Clubs across Australia. The linkages that exist between Police and young people in these communities stands Police Citizens Youth Clubs in good stead to target street and gang-related crime.
Each Police Citizen Youth Club will be able to apply for grants of up to $300,000 for projects that target socio-economic disadvantage and crime amongst young people.
Local councils and Not-for-profit organisations
The remaining funds in the National Crime Prevention Fund will be available for local councils and not-for-profit organisations to seek funding for projects that help to stop young people from getting involved in crime and to fund security-related infrastructure projects like CCTV cameras and lighting.
Well-planned crime prevention strategies can build the social and economic well-being of communities. It is clear that neighbourhoods that have strong community participation and connections are safer communities. The Gillard Government believes that communities are in the best position to recognise local problems and develop local solutions.
The Government has therefore made the majority of funds in the National Crime Prevention Fund available to local communities to access, either through their local council or through local non-for-profit organisations.
Applications for grants as part of the National Crime Prevention Fund will open in the first week of May and projects must be completed by the end of June 2015.