The NSW government will make conspiring to arrange a gang murder punishable by life imprisonment, let courts impose interim crime prevention orders on suspects before the Supreme Court has ruled on a full order, and spend $15 million on police technology for breaking into encrypted phones, Premier Chris Minns announced in Sydney on Monday. The release says legislation is being developed. Nothing has been introduced to parliament.
The announcement follows two fatal shootings in Sydney last week. A university student was shot dead in his family's home in the city's south-west on Tuesday, and a man in his 40s was shot outside a duplex in western Sydney on Wednesday. AAP reported that police have counted five suspected cases of mistaken identity since May 2025. The commander of the police gang taskforce, Detective Superintendent Jason Box, said last Wednesday he did not accept that the violence was out of control. Monday's release does not refer to either death.
The package has five parts. Interim serious crime prevention orders would let a court restrict who a suspected organised crime figure associates with, where they go and what devices and platforms they use while the Supreme Court considers a full order. New offences would cover administering or encouraging an online platform used to arrange serious organised crime, modelled on the existing child abuse material provisions of the Crimes Act. Conspiracy, attempt, solicitation and encouragement of a gang-related murder would carry a maximum of life, whether or not a killing follows. Four public shooting and firebombing offences would be added to the list of serious children's indictable offences, so a child charged with them is tried in the District or Supreme Court and faces adult penalties. The $15 million for digital forensics comes out of $108.8 million for police technology in this year's budget.
“If you conspire to arrange a gangland murder, you should face the prospect of spending the rest of your life behind bars," Minns said. Attorney General Michael Daley said intermediaries were the target. "We know organised criminals use complex intermediaries to try and conceal their involvement in contract killings, which is why we're targeting the organisation and facilitation of these offences online," he said.”
The interim orders are the part that changes how the existing law works rather than how hard it hits. A serious crime prevention order already lets a court restrict a person's movements and associations for up to five years on the civil standard of proof. The new step is to apply those restrictions before the court has decided whether the order is justified, on the basis that the person is suspected of involvement. Acting Police Minister Paul Scully called them "extraordinary new powers" and said the government would act whenever police asked for more. "When the police tell us they need stronger laws, powers or resources to take on organised crime, this government will act," he said.
Police already have a substantial record under the current law. Taskforce Falcon, with 150 officers, had made 784 arrests and laid 2,037 charges by 2 September, seizing 181 weapons including 66 firearms. Strike Force Raptor has made more than 5,400 arrests since 2022 and issued 3,865 firearms prohibition orders. In the two years to 31 July, 778 firearms were reported stolen in NSW. A firearms buyback opens on 2 November.
Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said the forensic money was for evidence. "The significant investment in digital forensic capabilities will give police the ability to crack encrypted devices and uncover evidence organised criminals rely on to hide their activities," he said.
What the government has published is a list of intentions, not a bill, and the detail that will matter is how a court tests a suspicion before an interim order is made, and who reviews it. A separate bill on digital evidence and the Crime Commission is already before parliament. The organised crime legislation will follow when it is drafted.
