Alice Springs: Josh Burgoyne, Asta Hill reveal what they want Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to do

CLP member Josh Burgoyne and a Greens adversary have more questions than answers following the Prime Minister’s visit. See which issue they found common ground on.

NT Greens candidate for Braitling Asta Hill (left) and Braitling MLA Josh Burgoyne (right).

Two Centralian political rivals have found common ground, with the pair both bemoaning the rejection of an audit into government spending in Alice Springs.

On Monday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrived in the crime ridden town for the first time in over a year in which he announced the federal government would pledge $14.2 million in federal funding toward more police for the town.

Asked if an audit into the trail of government spending would be conducted, Mr Albanese maintained routine audits were already in place.

“There’s an Australian National Audit Office that goes through federal programs and does regular audits,” he said.

“Obviously we can always look at improvement and you would be surprised if, (in) any state or territory government, you could not find improvements to be made.”

Braitling MLA Josh Burgoyne has taken aim at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to Alice Springs. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Braitling MLA Josh Burgoyne said a distinct audit into government spending needed to occur to support Centralians.

“The Prime Minister needs to listen to local opposition members who wrote to him over a year ago and called for an audit into the millions of dollars the Federal and Territory government spends on services and the effectiveness or otherwise of the current programs,” he said.

“Anyone that invested $300 million dollars a year ago should have been ensuring that the money was being effectively spent and outcomes were achieved.

“One year on what has actually been achieved?”

Greens candidate for Braitling Asta Hill told the NT News an audit would reveal whether strategic objectives had been met.

“I think there absolutely needs to be transparency and appropriate evaluation of projects that have been funded by the federal government and to ensure that they are doing the work they are cut out to do,” she said.

“And, given the longevity of the funding, to ensure that necessary adjustments are made over the course of that funding period to deliver the stated objectives.”

Lawyer and Greens candidate for Braitling Asta Hill says the trail of government spending needs to be examined. Picture: Sara Maiorino

Ms Hill said she was also disappointed by Mr Albanese’s “predictably short” visit.

“I’m not aware of any preparations made to ensure appropriate consultations with relevant groups and communities were made.”

A lawyer by profession, Ms Hill claimed the $14.2 million fund would fail to address the “underlying drivers” of crime.

“We are experiencing a youth homelessness crisis, a youth poverty crises, and other significant, unmet needs which are the direct causes of the community safety issues that Alice Springs faces,” she said.

“And in the absence of deep listening, we have a circuit breaker – such as the curfew – which is followed by a funding commitment for more police officers.

“I’m not diminishing the important work done by our police, but they are first responders – it is not their job to address the underlying issues of crimes and the unmet needs of young people in particular.”