Alice Springs riot: Mayor Matt Paterson calls for federal takeover, says lawlessness beyond NT gov’t

Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson, seething with rage after the Red Centre town again descended into gratuitous violence, wants federal police to be deployed.

Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson, heartbroken and seething with rage after the Red Centre town again descended into gratuitous violence, has called on Australian Federal Police deployment to the township.

The Todd Tavern was swarmed by up to 70 people at about 3.30pm on Tuesday, with vision showing staff barricaded inside the venue as tensions relating to the death earlier this month of a teenager in a vehicle rollover boiled over.

A second melee involving about 150 people, some of them armed, occurred later at the Hidden Valley camp at about 7pm.

At a press conference on Wednesday morning, Mr Paterson said responsibility lay with the chief minister and the Territory’s 25 elected MLAs for failing to resource law enforcement properly in Alice Springs.

“If they [the NT Government] can’t keep us safe, they need to get out of the way,” he said.

He urged the federal government to deploy Australian Federal Police to the township or, failing that, for police resources to be diverted from other jurisdictions.

“Quite clearly, the NT government can’t resource this, the federal government needs to step in with resources around police,” Mr Paterson said.

Left: A rioter body slams the glass doors at the Todd Tavern in Alice Springs. Right: Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson.

He said that lawlessness such as that which descended upon Alice on Tuesday was a learned behaviour, and that he believed there was little law enforcement oversight on town camps.

“We aren’t policing remote communities I don’t know. Clearly we don’t have enough resources.”

Mr Paterson said Tuesday’s flare-up showed that nothing had changed since the summer of crime in 2022–23 that prompted a visit from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

“There’s been years and years of social policy on the run,” he said.

“Dumb decision after dumb decision.

“The community is fed up.”

He cited the removal of Stronger Futures in 2022 against local advice, its re-implementation as Safe Measures in 2023, and then the subsequent removal of Police Auxiliary Liquor Inspectors, which he described as pulling it all over again, as an example of the confused government priorities.

Damage sustained to Todd Tavern in Alice Springs after a large group of people attempted to smash their way inside. Picture: Supplied

Mr Paterson walked back earlier comments in support of a Commonwealth takeover of the Territory for a defined period, acknowledging the “battle scars” left by 2007.

That intervention, formally known as the Northern Territory Emergency Response, was launched in response to the Little Children are Sacred report, which found widespread child sexual abuse and neglect in Northern Territory communities.

Among the measures introduced included deployment of the Australian Defence Force, suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act, the compulsory acquisition of township leases for a period of five years, income management, and compulsory medical checks for children.

The Intervention left a mixed legacy.

Pat Dodson, the ‘father of Reconciliation’ who recently retired from the Australian Senate, said June 21, 2007, the day the Intervention was enacted, “may well be seen as a defining date in Australian history”.

‘This place is cooked’: Anti-crime advocate‘s calls to scrap NT gov’t

An anti-crime advocate is calling for the Territory’s self-governing rights to be taken away after a violent skirmish throughout Alice Springs.

Alice Springs business owners and punters were forced to take shelter when a group of about 70 people smashed, kicked and threw rocks at glass doors in the CBD about 3.30pm Tuesday.

A second incident involving about 150 people carrying weapons occurred at the Hidden Valley camp about 7pm.

Action for Alice founder Darren Clark said the incident was proof “the Northern Territory is not grown up enough to govern itself”.

Mr Clark called on the federal government to dissolve the NT parliament in order to give the Territory’s children a better future.

Darren Clark Alice Springs on a previous occasion.

“They’re such beautiful kids, they have such a bright future,” he said.

“But no one here in the Northern Territory is capable of giving these kids a future, and it’s the saddest part of this whole issue.”

Mr Clark said he did not think either side of politics was capable of “fixing” the Territory.

“We need some people to come up here, take over the Northern Territory and rule it from the ground, because at the moment, we have no one capable in the Northern Territory that can run this place effectively, (and) keep us safe,” he said.

“This place is cooked, it’s really cooked.

“So it’s time for the feds – they have to come in and they have to take over.”

Mr Clark said many residents were banking on the looming NT election for an overnight fix from the CLP but he said those voters had “another thing coming”.

“They’ve got to actually create some policies first,” Mr Clark said.

“(Lia Finnochiaro) wants to lock everyone up.

“Where’s she going to put everyone, because the prisons are full, the watch house here is actually full.

“There are people being put out on bail because they haven’t got anywhere to put them.”