Call made for curfew in Tennant Creek after footy brawl, ‘feral’ kids roam street at night
Members of the community have called for a curfew following a brawl at a footy final, but police have said they’re instead seeking to “address the root cause”. Find out what happened.
“Feral” kids roaming the streets and a brawl at the footy in one Territory town has a publican calling for a curfew, but police say they’re “liaising” with the community “to address the root cause”.
Goldfields Hotel manager Jason Groves wants Tennant Creek to go under a curfew, similar to what Alice Springs was twice placed under last year following a significant BAFL brawl.
“The way their kids are at the moment in town, they are to put it bluntly feral between the hours of about 8pm and 5am,” he said.
“It’s pretty bad when you’re up and down the streets when you see groups sort of 10 to 20 kids and there’s four or five groups of them.
“They’re walking up and down the street just smashing... smashing on roller doors, smashing bins, just playing footy in the middle of the highway, you know just basically being feral.
“I’ll probably be the black sheep of the community for saying it but nobody’s doing anything about it ... maybe this is the catalyst to start the conversation.”
His call for a curfew comes after a brawl broke out at Purkiss Reserve, which hospitalised two women after they received injuries to their heads.
The AFLNT confirmed they were working with the relevant people in investigation of what happened and to ensure the grand finals went ahead as planned.
The grand finals take place on Saturday featuring senior men and senior women, with the incident taking place following the Men’s Division 2 match between Soapy Bore and Ampilatwatja.
AFLNT is aware of the incident that occurred on September 14,” a spokeswoman said.
“And is working closely with Tennant Creek community stakeholders, police, and other relevant agencies ahead of this weekend’s Grand Final Events.”
The AFLNT have previously had to make provisions following brawls at matches in Alice Springs and Katherine in recent years, with the CAFL community finals needing to be played across offset weekends.
Last year, the Labor government pushed through laws which allowed snap curfews to be enacted – if the Police Commissioner formally declares one.
An NT Police spokeswoman said police have no plans to enact a curfew.
“NT Police are aware of recent incidents in Tennant Creek, including the unrest that occurred surrounding the football games over the weekend,” she said.
“Police are liaising with local stakeholders and community members to address the root cause of this community unrest.”
Barkly Regional Council Mayor Sid Vahist said he did not have a stand on a curfew for Tennant Creek.
Instead he called on Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro to come to the Barkly capital and “actually listen first hand to the people”.
“This is something that if the community wants to go down the path of introducing curfews, I think it’s a whole of community approach,” he said.
“I will make an educated decision with what the community wants and I think it’s important to actually have these conversations with the NT government because the community is under stress and our people deserve to be safe.”
Barkly MLA Steve Edgington said “reducing crime remains a top priority” for the CLP government, but did not comment either way on a potential curfew for the Barkly capital.
“A priority is working with a range of stakeholders to prepare for a safe and successful AFL Barkly Grand Final this weekend,” he said.
“We welcomed a major boost to frontline policing last week with 29 new recruits graduating, including seven constables being deployed to Tennant Creek.”
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Originally published as Call made for curfew in Tennant Creek after footy brawl, ‘feral’ kids roam street at night
