Photo QLD Police Dash Cam Media outlets across Australia have carried headlines about a “youth crime crisis” in recent months. While drawn from actual events, often involving serious criminality and antisocial behaviour, these often sensational reports have the same narrative subtext. The story is one of “bad kids” doing bad things in otherwise “good communities”. Our understanding, as a society, of who we are is informed in part by the media. What the youth crime crisis is and who we understand young offenders to be corresponds with media framings of these individuals and their actions. More often than not, the reports present a “good-bad” binary: where “bad” young people who do bad things should be locked up to protect “good” people. It’s a basic, albeit understandable, reaction that makes sense in terms of a logic of punishment and retribution. For the Youth Community Futures research project, we have been working with groups of young people to explore how they engage w...
Tensions Rise as Police Move to Block Pro-Palestine March at Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House As the world approaches the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza , Sydney is once again at the center of heated debate over protest rights and public safety. A planned pro-Palestinian march to the iconic Sydney Opera House has sparked controversy, with New South Wales (NSW) Police rushing to intervene through legal channels. The Planned Protest and Its Significance Organized by the Palestine Action Group , the march—dubbed a " March for Humanity "—is set to take place just days after October 7, 2025 , marking two years since the Hamas-led attacks that killed over 1,200 people in Israel and triggered a devastating conflict in Gaza, resulting in tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths. Protesters aim to call on the Australian government , led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese , to impose sanctions on Israel and highlight ongoing humanitarian concerns in the region. The event is expected to draw up to ...