Industry campaign to Raise NSW’s Age of Criminal Responsibility shows strong launch results

The Raise the Age NSW campaign, in partnership with UnLtd, Tag, Carat and Fiftyfive5, has seen strong results in its first wave.

The aim of the collaborative campaign, which launched last November, is to raise awareness of the fact that in NSW, children as young as 10 can be sent to prison and to advocate increasing the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 to at least 14.

The campaign launched in November 2024 and has been generously supported with over $2M of pro-bono inventory by over 26 media owners.

Research partner Fiftyfive5, part of Accenture Song, conducted in-depth studies with 500 respondents, testing the campaign’s TVC and out-of-home (OOH) creative after the first three months.

The findings reveal significant progress in awareness, engagement and willingness to take action. Awareness for Raise the Age has increased by 45% and understanding of the issue has doubled since the campaign launch.

Public engagement has also been highly encouraging. Over a third (35%) of those who viewed the campaign have already taken some form of action, such as visiting the website, discussing the issue with friends, or sharing on social media. An additional 62% stated they were likely to act in the future.

Says Estelle Gohil, Partner, Head of Qualitative at Fiftyfive5, part of Accenture Song: “We are delighted the research we conducted clearly shows the creative, and the campaign, are working. The message is clear and it’s getting attention, driving shifts in Australians’ awareness and opinions on this important issue.”

Most strikingly, the campaign is influencing public opinion for policy change. Agreement that the age of criminal responsibility should be raised jumped from 33% before the campaign to 54% after seeing it. Conversely, the percentage of people who believed the age should remain at 10 dropped from 30% to 24%.

Says Emily Mayo, Campaign Manager for Raise the Age NSW: “Right now, kids as young as 10 can be locked up in NSW. We know that incarceration harms children and does not make communities safer. This campaign brings awareness to the issue and advocates for a better way. The results are encouraging, not only are we seeing a clear shift in awareness, but we are also winning hearts and minds. The campaign results in terms of ‘talkability’ are excellent, we know people are talking to their families, friends and communities after seeing the campaign. This is the kind of momentum we need to see governments make better, evidence based, policy.”

The campaign will continue over the coming months aiming to broaden its reach off the back of these excellent results, get and keep people talking, and bring life to a more hopeful future for children and communities.

Says Frank Carlino, Head of Investment NSW at Carat: “This campaign is a great example of the change our industry can make when we come together for good. We are so grateful to all our media partners who have jumped behind this important campaign, helping us drive real change through their platforms. There is still work to do but this is a promising step in the right direction.”

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