NT MLA asks Prime Minister for Federal help to fight NT youth ‘crime wave’

A SENIOR Northern Territory MLA has written to Prime Minister Scott Morrison asking for Federal Government help to fight a ‘relentless (youth) crime wave’

Former Royal Commissioner Mick Gooda has rubbished the claims of Territory MLA Robyn Lambley that the inquiry he led into child detention effectively caused an explosion of youth crime

ALICE Springs is in need of the “direction and support of the Australian Government” to tackle youth crime, according to Member for Araluen Robyn Lambley.

Ms Lambley has written a letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison detailing the town’s “relentless crime wave”, adding that she believed it was a result of the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory.

The NT News revealed earlier this week that Ms Lambley — a former NT deputy Chief Minister — said she believed the Royal Commission into youth justice in the NT had “unintendedly” led to an explosion of youth crime in the Territory.

“In 2017 the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the NT presented a range of recommendations aimed at optimising the prospects of NT juvenile offenders to rehabilitate,” the letter to Mr Morrison reads.

“The intent of the Royal Commission cannot be questioned, but the fallout, or unintended consequences of the Royal Commission, were not adequately pre-empted and thought through.

“What we have now in my town of Alice Springs is a state of lawlessness with youths causing havoc and misery throughout our town.

“There are now virtually no consequences for youth crime, with juvenile offenders being promptly bailed back into the community after committing serious crimes.

“Like many, I am of the view that this has come about directly due to the implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Commission.”

Ms Lambley said the NT was in need of support from the Federal Government, adding that an “objective analysis” was required.

“There is a clear need for the impact of the Royal Commission to be reviewed in the context of escalating youth crime throughout the NT,” Ms Lambley wrote.

“I believe we need the direction and support of the Australian Government to make this correction so we have a balanced approach to helping our disengaged young offenders, while maintaining a sensible level of law and order.”

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One of the two co-commissioners who presided over the royal commission, Mick Gooda, rubbished Ms Lambley’s claims, however, telling the NT News: “ … she’s not even worth the time”.

“We’ve done our job and she’s not even worth the time,” he said.

Ms Lambley has used this month’s parliamentary sittings to hammer the NT Government on youth crime, claiming children were “terrorising and destroying” Alice Springs.