Cunningham: What Alice Springs crime curfew means for election

While the March curfew made the government look strong and decisive, this one simply served as a reminder of how badly law and order issues have spiralled out of control on its watch, writes Matt Cunningham.

The Lawler Labor Government’s unlikely quest for re-election took a blow this week.

Despite the under-performance of many of her cabinet colleagues, the Chief Minister has been doing her best to perform a remarkable resurrection ahead of the August 24 poll.

She’s done this by taking an almost-opposite approach to everything the government has done for the previous seven-and-a-half years.

Support for the resources industry that could previously have been described as tepid, at best, has turned into unequivocal backing.

Ms Lawler has been happy to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with gas company executives, something it’s difficult to remember her recent predecessors doing, despite the NT economy being built on the back of a gas industry supported by former Labor leaders Clare Martin and Paul Henderson.

But the sharpest deviation under “Team Lawler” has been a much tougher approach to law and order.

Nothing illustrated this better than Ms Lawler’s decision to call a snap youth curfew for Alice Springs in March following riots at the Todd Tavern and Hidden Valley town camp.

It was decisive, practical and effective action.

From the implementation of the curfew until last month there was a 15 per cent decline in police activity and anti-social behaviour, and a 21 per cent decline in assaults against the person.

Chief Minister Eva Lawler and Police Minister Brent Potter on the announcement of Alice Springs snap 72-hour curfew.

Some of that may have been seasonal fluctuations, but there was a general belief among most Alice Springs residents and business owners that the curfew had been effective.

A government that seemed certain to be kicked out due to its inability to address the concerns of its constituents on crime, suddenly looked like it was taking the issue seriously.

But if the March curfew was a sign of strength, the curfew implemented this week in Alice Springs told a different story.

Police Commissioner Michael Murphy ordered the emergency measure on Monday, after a weekend of shocking violence in the town.

Eighty people were involved in a brawl on the council lawns on Saturday night, a woman was stabbed at the same location on Sunday, a police officer suffered horrific injuries after he was hit and dragged by a car at a bottle shop, three youths terrorised staff during an aggravated robbery of a service station, and most alarmingly, four off-duty police officers, including three woman, were attacked, assaulted and robbed by a group of 20 men as they were walking home from a night out at a restaurant in the Todd Mall.

The latest crime wave came on Show weekend, a time when authorities knew there would be a large influx of people coming into town.

Let’s remember most of these people do so for legitimate purposes and cause no trouble.

But there are a small cohort who see these events as an opportunity to wreak havoc on the law-abiding citizens of Alice Springs.

If a curfew – now the purview of the Police Commissioner after legislative changes made in the Parliament – was required, it should have been implemented on Friday.

Prevention is always better than cure.

Announcing the curfew on Monday was slamming the gate shut long after the horse had ridden off into the sunset.

While the March curfew made the government look strong and decisive, this one simply served as a reminder of how badly law and order issues have spiralled out of control on its watch.

The most damning criticism of the government this week came from Chris Hopper, the husband and father of two of the off-duty police officers attacked early on Sunday morning. Hopper, himself a former Queensland police officer with extensive experience working in remote communities, argued the government’s legislative changes had left police feeling powerless, particularly when dealing with juvenile offenders.

“It really is time we take the handcuffs off the police and put them on the offenders,” he said. A line from a police media release about Sunday night’s aggravated robbery at the service station – where two female staff were forced to lock themselves in an office while three youths smashed their way into the premises before fleeing with two tills from the cash register – highlights Mr Hopper’s point.

“Two of the youths, aged 13 and 14 years-old, will be dealt with under provisions of the Youth Justice Act 2005,” the release said.

“The third youth was conveyed home into the care of a responsible adult.”

Originally published as Cunningham: What Alice Springs crime curfew means for election