Voice of Real Australia is a regular newsletter from ACM, which has more than 100 mastheads across Australia. Today's is written by The Illawarra Mercury's deputy editor Janine Graham.
Few things send shivers up my spine. Head-shaking is a regular occurrence - either at the sheer wonderment of humanity or at its absurdity.
But a tale told on the NSW Mid-North Coast this week genuinely made me think twice about the impact of crime.
It came in the wake of the state government's decision to amend its bail laws and spend more than $26 million on addressing youth crime.
Mastheads in ACM's stable across the state sought reaction but you might have missed Gail Cheers' comments in the Macleay Argus.
Two years ago Mrs Cheers and her husband Barrie were the victims of crime.
Technically, they were unharmed. In reality, they were forever changed.
It wasn't necessarily that the Aldavilla couple's car was stolen but rather that they slept blissfully unaware of the interlopers roaming through their house deciding what they would and wouldn't take.
Implausibly, the Cheers had their car returned, but distressingly, not the property's keys.
Months of terror ensued. Twice they received unwanted visitors but thanks to the newly-installed security system, twice they left empty-handed. That said, shaking the image of a person with a machete in their yard is easier said than done for the couple.
Two years on, the aftershocks remain.
Ticking the classic understatement box, Mrs Cheers said: "We still don't sleep real well, that's for sure."
No, you wouldn't. And I've fretted about how my elderly parents would've coped in such an horrific situation.
The ages of those involved have not been revealed, however, it is young offenders who are at the heart of NSW's reform package.
Among the changes the 2013 Bail Act will be amended to include a temporary additional bail test for young people between 14 and 18 charged with committing serious break-and-enter offences or motor vehicle theft offences while on bail for the same offences.
About half the $26m package will be spent 500km west of Aldavilla.
It will fund a pilot program in Moree focusing on bail and support accommodation, improved delivery of youth services, and better sources for local and children's courts.
The words "youth crime wave" are thrown around liberally around Moree and even further south in Tamworth.
Singling out two centres seems unfair in the same week as NSW Police's Operation Regional Mongoose hit its six-month anniversary.
It targeted the state's western region and resulted in 153 people - including 109 juveniles - being charged with more than 1400 offences, 198 for breach of bail.
Yes, it may be a large slice of the state but it doesn't include the likes of Gonoellabah, near Lismore, or Newcastle, where groups of teens only this week were charged with a raft of terrifying offences.
And let's not for a minute think state lines define alleged "yoof behaviour" either.
On Wednesday the Victorian government announced it would trial ankle bracelets for about 50 teenagers on bail charged with serious crimes. Police hailed the move, legal and youth advocacy groups denounced it.
ACM's Bendigo Advertiser drilled down on date from the Crime Statistics Agency. It revealed an alarming spike in offenders aged between 10 and 17 in just five years.
According to Victoria's Police Minister Anthony Carbines: "It is the thrill-seekers who cause damage ... and not understanding the seriousness of the crimes that they're committing that we need to keep clamping down on."
We could list any number of matters our mastheads across the country have covered his week alone - but it's too depressing. But consider these NSW statistics, provided by the Justice Reform Initiative.
A tick over 12,300 adults are locked up annually in the state, At a cost of $298 a day, that's almost $110,000 per person per year.
The total operating expenditure on adult prisons in NSW (including capital costs) in 2022/23 was more than $2 billion, with another $201 million spent on children's incarceration each year.
How far does a $26m reform package go?
My bet is it won't make it from Moree to Gail Cheers' property in Aldavilla any time soon, sadly.
Janine Graham
Onetime sports reporter, chief-of-staff, editor and national digital news editor. Email me: janine.graham@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Onetime sports reporter, chief-of-staff, editor and national digital news editor. Email me: janine.graham@austcommunitymedia.com.au
