Alternative First Responders Submission Summary
In December 2025, the Alternative First Respoder Team put forward a submission to the inquiry, with a focus on Terms of Reference 2B: evidence of effective alternative approaches. Alternative first responses allow for young people to be better supported, prevent discriminatory policing, and ultimately benefit whole of communities through holistic approaches that are community-based and rooted in care.
Our submission brings together sector concerns, public pledges, and campaign findings to underscore the need for the prioritisation and investment in an alternative first response for young people.
- What Alternative First Responders Are, and Why They Matter
- Coalition and Sector Concerns
- Findings from the Alternative First Responders National Online Symposium
- Australia’s Human Rights Obligations
We cover three critical areas where young people are being hyper-exposed to policing, leading to a response funnelling young people to the prison system and not community-care. These are supported by case studies highlighting the significant impact of real world alternatives; Community Court and Community Justice Group & Night Place.
- Education institutions
- Out-of-home care
- Remote and rural areas
Concluding Call to Action
We strongly urge the Committee to take into consideration the growing chorus of concern from sectors, professionals, and community members about the harms of policing on young people. We need urgent investment into alternative first responders to police, amplifying public calls, and pointing to evidence-based approaches.
The Alternative First Responder campaign calls for prioritisation of alternative first responder models, such as those explored in the submission, to reduce youth contact with law enforcement and provide a community-based response that is culturally appropriate, rooted in care and support, and adequately addresses concerns of community safety, including for young people.
You can support the call for care, not force by signing our national pledge for alternatives to police here.
Read Alternative First Responders’ full submission here.
