The NSW Government's planned $500 million criminal justice package doubles down on failed policies that prioritise prisons and punishment over the evidence-based solutions proven to reduce crime and improve community safety.
Under the 2025/26 Budget, the Minns Government will spend more than $100 million to expand prison operations to respond to growing pressure on the system. This comes as the state's adult prison population hits its highest point in five years—driven largely by a sharp rise in the number of people held on remand.
Justice Reform Initiative Executive Director Dr Mindy Sotiri said that while the simultaneous investment in victim support services is welcome, the overall funding package represents a missed opportunity to prioritise evidence-based policymaking that works to keep communities safe.
"This budget announcement once again misrepresents investing in ineffective and costly incarceration as the solution to community safety in NSW," Dr Sotiri said.
"While we absolutely support increased funding to improve support for victims of crime – it is incredibly misleading to suggest alongside this measure, that spending hundreds of millions of dollars on expanding the punitive end of the justice system will improve community safety."
"The evidence is very clear that the experience of prison increases the likelihood of future offending If we want to get serious about community safety, we need to invest in the drivers of incarceration. All the research shows us that jailing is failing; it doesn't work to deter crime; it doesn't work to address the drivers of crime; and it increases the likelihood of crime on release from custody. NSW taxpayers are footing the bill for this ineffective approach."
The Budget includes $272.7 million for frontline domestic, family and sexual violence (DFSV) services—including $11.2 million to support early intervention reforms. While welcome, Dr Sotiri said this commitment must go further by meaningfully investing in community-led supports that address the underlying drivers of crime and incarceration.
"A safer community starts with investing in services in the community, not expanding prisons," Dr Sotiri said.
"A commitment to early intervention for domestic, family and sexual violence is critical and needs to be matched across the sector to ensure the community has access to supports that stop people from being funnelled into the justice system in the first place."
Dr Sotiri said the vast expenditure on prisons comes at the cost of genuine community safety.
"Investing in prisons to respond to overcrowding is an incredibly short-sighted approach. The most effective way to respond to overcrowding is to address the drivers of crime in the community. "Locking up more people in a system already in crisis will only exacerbate overcrowding and ultimately further drive-up incarceration rates— it certainly won't reduce crime."
"This investment also diverts critical funding away from mental health, disability, education, family support and other key programs which are proven to reduce crime and make communities safer."
The Justice Reform Initiative is calling for urgent investment in evidence-based alternatives to incarceration, including diversion programs, community-based supports, and First Nations placed based strategies that have been shown to reduce offending and improve community safety.
"Real answers to community safety are not found in sending more people to prison," Dr Sotiri said. "They are found in greater and targeted investment in community programs and First Nations-led initiatives that work to address the drivers of offending and reduce contact with the justice system in the long term."
