The NSW Labor government will significantly tighten bails laws for teenagers and make it an offence to boast on social media about stealing cars or breaking into homes in a crackdown on worsening youth crime in the regions.

The new laws will introduce an extra bail test for teens aged between 14 and 18 who are charged with committing serious break and enter offences or car theft while on bail for the same offences.

This will mean that a bail authority – such as police, magistrates and judges – will need a high degree of confidence that a young person will not commit a further serious indictable offence while on bail. The changes will have a 12-month sunset clause.

The government will also introduce a new offence for “posting and boasting”, which will include two years’ jail for anyone, including adults, who commit car theft or break and enter offences and share videos of themselves on social media sites such as TikTok.

The government has been under increasing pressure to address worsening regional youth crime, particularly in towns such as Moree, where a video of teens breaking into and robbing from motel rooms was circulated on the internet. Several teens, including one aged 13, were later charged.

The Country Mayors Association and the NSW Nationals MP for Northern Tablelands, Adam Marshall, have been especially vocal about the crime problems in Moree, which has the highest rate of car theft in the state and the second-highest rate of break and enter offences.

NSW Premier Chris Minns, who drove the policy changes, said, “no one was interested in introducing legislation where we will lock people up and throw away the key”.

He acknowledged there was division in his caucus over the new bail laws.

Some Labor MPs did not want the new bail laws rushed through parliament and urged the premier to refer the legislation to a committee. However, Minns said he managed to convince the majority of his MPs that the issues in regional NSW had to be dealt with urgently.