Alice Springs youth drop-in centre should have beds for kids: Lambley
THE youth drop-in centre in Alice Springs should have beds for kids to sleep in at night , Araluen MP Robyn Lambley has suggested
Politics
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THE youth drop-in centre in Alice Springs should have beds for kids to sleep in at night and be closed after a certain time so they can be looked after, Araluen MP Robyn Lambley has suggested.
But the idea of creating “safe houses” for children to keep them off the street has been shot down by Territory Families Minister Kate Worden as a rebranded version of a curfew.
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Ms Lambley, arguing it was unacceptable that at-risk children were roaming the streets at night and causing crime, said she was “surprised” the 24/7 youth drop-in centre did not provide spaces for kids to sleep at night.
She also proposed closing the centre off after a certain time to keep the kids in until a parent or guardian came to get them.
“We really can’t take much more of it in Alice Springs … particularly watching these kids running amok in our town and causing so much misery to so many people,” Ms Lambley said.
“Yes, there are all sorts of reasons why these kids are doing it and I think a lot of people in Alice Springs, despite what some people might think, are very mindful of that.”
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But Ms Worden said the idea was akin to slapping a new sticker on the curfew idea, that police did not support a curfew and non-profit organisations were not supportive of safe houses.
She said the government’s multi-pronged youth justice reforms to rebuild the system from “the ground up” would bring about change.
Ms Worden said the government was not “hiding” from the argument that there had been a crime surge in Alice Springs.
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