PM in the centre of a storm as crime epidemic spirals
PRIME Minister Anthony Albanese landed in Alice Springs on a RAAF-operated Dassault Falcon jet on Tuesday afternoon as the crime crisis in the city escalates.
Mr Albanese was expected to join Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy and Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour.
Alice Springs’ crime rate has soared in recent months, with more than a 40 per cent increase in assaults over the past year and more than 300 arrests in the past seven weeks.
Northern Territory Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker said the federal government had to be a part of any solution to a crime epidemic that is reaching crisis levels.
“I think it’s positive that both are going down there to see what is occurring on the ground,” he said.
“(Police) are out there front and centre, everybody can see the presence of police out there … and yet we still have these social issues. I think we need a broader conversation.”
Mr Chalker said each night, hundreds of kids were roaming the streets, drinking alcohol and committing crimes.
The so-called “grog ban” expired last year, and rates of domestic, family and sexual violence have spiked since.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton had called for Australian Federal Police and other services to be sent in to restore law and order. He also said the government should urgently reintroduce alcohol sale bans.
Meanwhile Ms Scrymgour, the Labor MP for Lingiari, broke from her party to say discussion of the voice referendum in her seat, which has the nation’s largest Indigenous population, was challenging for people who were frustrated and felt unsafe in their beds.
“Absolutely (I support the voice) … but I think that we can’t have these conversations if there are all these issues that are impacting on communities like Alice Springs,” Ms Scrymgour said on 3AW. Later, Ms Scrymgour said the discussion should continue, but it was not a focus in her region.