Advocacy - Youth Diversionary Services

The largest, fastest growing youth population

The City is one of the fastest growing and largest metropolitan local government areas (LGA) in Australia, covering over 685km2 extending to Perth’s outermost northern suburbs. The City has the largest youth population of all WA LGAs.

As of 2024, the City has over 34,000 young people aged 10-19 with this expected to reach over 43,000 young people by 2034. Over the 10 years to 20341, there will be an additional 36,270 10-19-year-olds in WA with 9,000 of these or nearly 1 in 4 living in the City of Wanneroo2.

Youth at risk

The City has the highest number of resident youth offenders of any LGA in WA3 and many suburbs with high levels of disadvantage placing youth at riskplacing youth at risk. There are suburbs in the City’s south with particularly high levels of disadvantage and pockets of relative disadvantage across all City suburbs, with several suburbs with significant and widespread disadvantage in the City’s north. These include Banksia Grove, Butler, Clarkson, Merriwa, Ridgewood, Two Rocks and Yanchep which have low SEIFA scores with some areas within the top 10-20% for relative socio-economic disadvantage4 and significant risk factors for youth offending such as youth disengagement, low school attendance, early school leaving and parents without employment5. These suburbs in the northern corridor have particularly poor access to services. Juvenile convictions are particularly high in Yanchep and Two Rocks6 - the two most northern suburbs with the lowest accessibility to social and community services.

With the disproportionate number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth in detention7, the need to provide for services is essential to meeting Closing the Gap targets8 especially for suburbs with high Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations, including Butler, Clarkson, Girrawheen, Koondoola, Merriwa, Two Rocks and Yanchep9.

Stakeholders and service providers advise of high numbers of young people living in the City with multiple and complex problems at risk of harm and increased vulnerability for poor life outcomes. The City is helping to meet some need for prevention and early intervention services by delivering after school drop-in and school holiday programs across four youth centres, and place-based outreach programs; attendance rates have more than doubled in the past three years10. 

The WA At-Risk Youth Strategy 2022-2027 aims to improve outcomes for vulnerable young people through delivery of prevention, early intervention, secondary supports and targeted initiatives aligned with a continuum approach to risk of harm for young people11. This advocacy seeks services addressing medium to very high risk of harm.

Lack of services

There is a significant gap in the City for targeted initiatives to divert at-risk youth from the justice system. The Target 120 program is the State government’s key diversionary program for young offenders and requires at least one police contact for eligibility but has limited availability in the City. While the extension of Target 120 services (based at Mirrabooka services hub) to residents of Girrawheen, Koondoola, Alexander Heights and Marangaroo is welcomed, this successful program is not available to residents in the City’s other 32 suburbs, meaning there are no alternatives to court-based justice interventions and possible incarceration for at-risk youth. Central and northern suburbs in the City also have poor accessibility to secondary supports and specialised services for families and youth at risk. Services are increasingly absent in the City’s far northern suburbs which are experiencing the highest population growth.

Service providers have also advised that more low barrier intensive case management services and increased secondary supports are needed for young people with complex intersecting challenges, earlier stages in the risk continuum prior to police contact. Existing services are mostly delivered out of area or via outreach and are at capacity with waitlists. For example, currently the only low barrier case management service available is via the Centrecare Youth Support Service (CYSS) which has a 12-week waitlist. Other case management services have eligibility criteria related to specific issues such as mental health, alcohol and drug recovery, LGBTQIA+ support and homelessness, and have waitlists of up to 4 months meaning young people in crisis cannot access timely interventions.

Secondary supports refer to specialised services needed for young people experiencing situations that place them at higher risk12 (e.g. services addressing mental health, homelessness, school disengagement, family and domestic violence and alcohol and drug use).  Without commitment to additional services, gaps and delays in accessing services needed for holistic wraparound support will worsen as the population grows.

Community wellbeing

Hotspots for crime and antisocial behaviour have been identified via the City’s community safety monitoring and reporting program. These include Butler, Ridgewood, Two Rocks and Yanchep and the central and southern suburbs of Banksia Grove, Wanneroo, Madeley, Girrawheen, Alexander Heights and Koondoola13.

Community consultation with residents across the City indicates concerns with community safety which is seen as a priority for many suburbs, as well as concerns around social cohesion and lack of services for young people14.

Commitment to service provision in the City will greatly improve outcomes for at-risk young people in the City, and better deliver the goals of the WA  At Risk Youth Strategy that “at risk young people can access early, timely and targeted interventions to address their priority needs and transition positively into adulthood”15.

The City of Wanneroo’s role is to provide localised data and other relevant information, act as a connector for local organisations and stakeholders and deliver untargeted childhood and youth services as aligned with the City’s Strategic Community Plan.

The State Government’s role is to commission services and fund ongoing operational costs, provide land or a facility to enable delivery of services and fund and maintain a suitable facility.

• WA Police Joondalup District
• WA Department of Communities Joondalup District

• Youth Diversionary Services - Advocacy Factsheet (PDF 1.08 MB)

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