Alice Springs teenagers reveal why they do ‘bad things’

One detail on a whiteboard in an Alice Springs classroom gives a small insight into some of the struggles faced by teachers as the town faces a youth crime crisis.

It’s been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons but a new documentary by The Daily Telegraph provides a more nuanced account of life in the troubled town of Alice Springs.

Gripped by an out-of-control youth crime wave and a terrifying escalation in alcohol-fuelled violence, the remote town in Australia’s Northern Territory certainly has its problems.

But the documentary, Cry From The Heart, released today, exposes the thoughts, hopes and dreams of the teenagers that roam the streets at night, a term referred to as ‘daybreaking’.

The perspectives of the young girls interviewed is perhaps most profound.

One teen, 14, says she isn’t scared to be out on the streets alone. Sometimes it is safer than being at home.

The impact of the stolen generation and colonisation is still being keenly felt by young people in the town, according to local leaders.

‘All the kids stay together and protect each other’ at night says one teenager.

Another points to the fracturous relationship young people have with local police.

“All the kids stay together and protect each other,” she said. “We take coppers for a run.”

Another notes while the white community might be scared of them as a group, when they see them in person it can be a different story.

Six rules seen written by a student on a whiteboard in one of the school’s classrooms paints a sobering picture of the problems faced by teachers.

“No fighting” and “no spitting” are written neatly in black alongside instructions for Year 2 students.

The Principal of Yipirinya Public School in Araluen Dr Gavin Morris said the community needs “wrapping around holistic support” for students and their families.

“Most families live in town camps and outstations have a great home life and do a great job parenting their kids in difficult circumstances,” he said.

“But we have a growing number of families and students within families finding it too tough,

and what we are experiencing is a real spurt of kids on the street all night.”

Six rules seen written by a student on a whiteboard in one of the school’s classrooms paints a sobering picture of the problems faced by teachers.

A young child in Alice Springs pictured in the documentary.

He noted the impact of the stolen generation wiped away a generation of parenting skills as a significant factor in the problems Alice Springs is facing.

Town Mayor Matt Paterson, who has pleaded for the reintroduction of the Stronger Futures Act alcohol bans which lapsed in July last year said the town had been on this trajectory for years.

“The lack of investment in remote communities over such a long period of time has just forced people to come into Alice Springs,” he said.

“Why would anyone want to live in a remote community when governments aren’t investing, they don’t have the general facilities or infrastructure we have here? There’s a lack of work, lack of economy, there’s no reason to stay out there so they come to Alice Springs.”

While crime had been bad over the past three or four years, the Mayor said the lapsing of Stronger Futures had caused “chaos”.

It comes after the latest figures released by NT Police earlier this month laid bare the scale of the crime wave gripping the town.

The monthly crime statistics included new data covering the month of December 2022, providing the final outcome for the calendar year compared with 2021.

Overall, alcohol-related assaults increased by a shocking 68 per cent, domestic violence-related assaults were up 66 per cent and assaults were up 51 per cent. Property damage rose 55 per cent, commercial break-ins by 47 per cent, motor vehicle thefts by 13 per cent and house break-ins by 9 per cent.

In the Alice Springs local government area, which has a population of just 28,000, there were a total of 2823 assaults recorded in 2022, 1886 domestic assaults, 1521 alcohol-related assaults and 79 sexual assaults.

There were 959 house break-ins, 834 commercial break-ins, 408 motor vehicle thefts and 3631 cases of property damage, the figures show.

Amid growing public outcry and heightened media attention on the Central Australian town, the Northern Territory government caved to pressure earlier this month, announcing a reintroduction of alcohol bans in Indigenous communities.

“We’ve heard loudly and clearly that the matter and decision of alcohol on community needs to be one that is made by the entire community,” NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles announced last Monday.

“That is why we’re creating a circuit breaker and implementing temporary dry zones until communities can develop and vote on the alcohol management plans, the community alcohol plans, they want to see. It is important for all of us as Territorians to tackle this issue once and for all.”

At the same time, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a new $250 million package to support youth engagement and diversion programs, job creation and improving health services.

“The truth is that all governments could have done better. All governments — Labor, Liberal, Northern Territory, here in Canberra, could have done better,” he told parliament.

“This is about intergenerational disadvantage. It is about a lack of employment services, a lack of community services, a lack of educational opportunity.”