NSW towns called to act now before becoming the next Alice Springs

Regional towns grappling with youth crime waves are being told now is the time to act if they don’t want to become the next Alice Springs.

Country towns across NSW facing a youth crime crisis are being warned to act now and call for more to be done, before they end up the next Alice Springs.

Darren Clarke has been leading the push for awareness about the carnage unfolding in the Northern Territory city for many years, but particularly in the past 18 months as the problems have made national headlines.

Mr Clarke remembers a time when the city affectionately known just as “Alice” was bustling with tourists and there was no thought given to the possibility of your home or car being broken into.

Wicked Kneads bakery owner Darren Clark is fed up with crime in Alice Springs. Picture: Supplied

That was only seven years ago.

Mr Clarke told The Daily Telegraph that as he watches countless Facebook groups of towns from Dubbo and Orange, to Moree and Kempsey, he worries about similarities to what he saw in Alice not long ago.

“I follow what’s going on in all these towns and what I notice is where these towns are at now and I know when we were like that, and now how bad it is,” he said.

“It gets worse really quick and once the kids know they can get away with things, they’ve got the run of the town.

“Alice is like a ghost town now, but only seven, eight or nine years ago, at night it would’ve been full of people.

NSW towns dealing with youth crime are being warned to not go down the same path as Alice Springs. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

“You think you know where the problem is at, and then before you know it it’s out of control.

“So my message, and I guess my warning, to people is, you have got to stand up and not stay silent, you’ve got to go and meet with your local members, write letters and hold them to account, because you don’t want to lose your town.”

Originally published as NSW towns called to act now before becoming the next Alice Springs