A Charles Sturt University academic is calling for a roundtable discussion in Wagga Wagga on how to tackle youth crime, saying jobs and education are the key.

Car thefts rose by more than 80 per cent in the two years to September and the trend has continued already in 2016.

There was another car fire in Wagga on Sunday night.

CSU Senior Lecturer in Social Work and Human Services, Dr Cate Thomas says the community needs to find a way to educate teenagers who have fallen through the cracks or are at risk before it is too late.

"We're talking about lack of structural opportunities for these kids in Wagga, lack of youth employment," she said.

"We need to look at training, we need to look at how TAFE has a role in this as well."

"We need to be looking at how we do education differently to perhaps encourage these kids, facilitate these kids to stay in school for longer and come out with a great Higher School Certificate and better opportunities for them."

The member for Wagga Wagga Daryl Maguire has called for a co-ordinated approach on the youth crime problems.

Mr Maguire says there is a quarter of a million dollars on offer under the government's Community Safety Grants to address crime problems.

He says the money could be for treatment programs for people at risk of offending or upgrades to public spaces and community facilities.

Dr Thomas argues young people in Wagga Wagga need to be given a voice in the debate and the response needs to be more than just law and order.

"We need to hear the voice of youth and also the voices of the elders," she said.

"Now unfortunately a lot of people have identified this issue as relating to our Indigenous community, our Aboriginal kids - I can probably guarantee that it is much broader than that."

"We need to have a system or an opportunity for kids to go where there are mentors available."

Dr Thomas says she would like a dramatic rethink on how to tackle the issues in Wagga Wagga.

"We're actually not viewing this particular issue that we are facing around the spikes in crime and the burning of cars as a more of a wholistic community issue we need to be looking at and dealing with," she said.

"There's a broader issue here of the structural issues of society where there's inadequate youth employment, there's inadequate programs for these kids to go and be themselves."