Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson puts forward Yirara College as a solution for youth crime

Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson’s controversial proposal to keep juveniles off the street at night has been shot down. Read the response and vote in our reader poll.

Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson is supporting calls for a solution-based approach to curtail crime and anti-social behaviour in the town and has proposed a possible model under which it could operate.

Mr Paterson was deputy mayor in 2020 when Alice Springs Town Council passed a motion calling on the Territory Government to implement a curfew.

The request was ultimately rejected by the Territory Government but Mr Paterson believes the time is right to review a different approach for juveniles on the streets after dark.

“People say curfews don’t work around the world but the situation here is different to the rest of the world,” he said.

“People also say floor prices don’t work but the Territory Government has implemented a floor price. How come we try a floor price but we’re too scared to start a curfew?”

Mr Paterson pointed to a recent legislative change raising the minimum age for criminal responsibility in the Territory from 10 to 12 “because an 11-year-old doesn’t know right from wrong”.

Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson has a radical proposal for the town.

“Why then do we leave 11-year-old kids on the street if they don’t know right from wrong?

“We need to shift the debate from a curfew to asking why kids are on the street and why they’re not being taken somewhere safe?

“ When does the Child Protection Act kick in?”

Mr Paterson said there was underutilised space at Yirara College on the Stuart Highway that could be converted into accommodation for juveniles on the street after dark.

“We know in Alice Springs it’s sometimes safer for kids to be on the street than at home,” he said.

“Why can’t we take them to somewhere that’s safe with Traditional Owners and the Northern Territory Government there to make sure they don’t fall through the cracks in the system?”

“In Alice Springs we have a place for homeless people to live and we have a place for women and children fleeing domestic violence to live yet where do we take children escaping a house with domestic violence or child abuse?

“The answer is nowhere.”

Acknowledging the Labor Government’s previous reluctance to impose a curfew, Mr Paterson said children could be provided wrap around care from service providers at a safe after-hours environment and they would not be detained against their will.

“At the moment kids are picked up by a service, taken home and they’re back on the street within 15 minutes,” he said.

Hospitality NT chief executive Alex Bruce wants a youth curfew. Picture: Supplied.

“The Government is implementing a social order plan and hopefully we’ll see some positive change because we’re ramping up to summer and everyone’s very nervous.

“The community as a whole is very nervous.”

Mr Paterson said crime in the town was becoming more common during the day, with shopping centres facing theft and vandalism and car and business windows being smashed.

“The Aboriginal Justice Agreement talks about ending incarceration for lesser crimes,” he said.

“The town council, like everywhere else is screaming for workers, and I’d like to see low-range offenders doing works for council like gleaning graffiti, mowing grass or repairing sprinklers.”

Hospitality NT’s chief executive Alex Bruce this week called for a youth curfew to be trialled in Alice Springs among a number of measures he proposed to curb rising levels of crime and alcohol-related anti-social behaviour.

Independent MLA Robyn Lambley also supported a curfew.

An NT News poll indicated this morning that 92 per cent of respondents supported a youth curfew in Alice Springs.

A juvenile curfew was not among the responsibilities of a new Social Order Response Team in Alice Springs announced by Police and Territory Families Minister Kate Worden.

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said the Government was looking at a scheme to take young people from the streets at night to special accommodation. She told ABC radio in Alice Springs details will be released in coming days.

Breaking: Yirara rejects curfew college plan

Yirara College acting-principal Greg Miller said the school’s campus would not be made available to accommodate Mayor Matt Paterson’s solution-based approach to youth homelessness.

“Yirara College will only accommodate Indigenous secondary students from remote communities across Australia,” Mr Miller said.

“Yirara College rules out and rejects outright a suggestion by Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson reported (Thursday) in the media.

“Mayor Paterson suggested that Yirara could accommodate juveniles who are on the streets after dark in Alice Springs.

“Yirara College is an independent non-government school dedicated solely to the wellbeing, education and growth of Indigenous students entrusted to our care.

“The college cannot and will not provide accommodation for anyone other than enrolled students.

“The college was not approached. This is the first we have heard of it. It will not happen.”