The New South Wales premier is facing growing internal dissent over his plan to extend controversial youth bail laws, with one MP telling caucus the laws had put the government on a “slippery slope”.
Sources say Labor MLC Stephen Lawrence – a former barrister and one-time mayor of Dubbo – argued during a February meeting that the government was on a path whereby it could adopt further punitive approaches because the laws introduced a year ago weren’t working.
If crime wasn’t going down there could be calls for even tougher measures, leading to a dangerous downward spiral, Lawrence suggested.
