NT Greens crime and justice policy revealed ahead of 2024 election

The NT Greens have revealed their plan to tackle the number one issue concerning Territorians — crime and community safety. Read what they’ve got in mind.

The NT Greens have revealed their plan to tackle the number one issue concerning Territorians, crime and community safety, saying they ‘will not lie’ and pretend a law and order approach works to improve community safety.

Three central tranches make up the policy platform: boosting youth services, expanding interventions aimed at keeping Territorians out of prison, and providing safe housing – particularly for victims of domestic violence.

This includes committing $180m over five years for DV services, funding on-country programs, alternative courts, and introducing medium-term accommodation for young people in need.

Asta Hill is the Greens candidate for Braitling in the August 2024 NT election. Picture: Sara Maiorino

Braitling candidate Asta Hill has worked for the past decade as both a prosecutor and legal aid lawyer, and said the community was “so sick and tired of the major parties disregarding evidence and principle for political gain”.

“I’m hearing loud and clear when doorknocking that people do not particularly want to lock up kids.

“People can see that with more prisons, with more policemen, and by extension, more people in prison, we’re now feeling less safe than ever.

“The approach of the major parties, their over-reliance on incarceration, is not working, and our community don’t need to read academic papers to know that – it’s playing out right before them.”

Ms Hill said she was “shocked and dismayed” by recent legislation making it easier to impose curfews, arguing a similar “reprieve” would be felt if resources were pumped into community services with similar urgency.

‘A matter of priority’ … NT Greens argue resources should be urgently pumped into youth services.

“It’s a matter of priority – we need to respond to the basic needs of children and young people with the same kind of urgency as this government imposed the curfew,” she said.

“We could urgently expand crisis accommodation, we could urgently expand the number and resourcing of community drop-in centres for children and young people, and that would provide relief to victims of crime very quickly.

“But we are also not setting out to mislead people, unlike the major parties that are really selling a lie, that filling our prisons is going to keep people safe … all that does is entrench criminal offending and disadvantage.”

The NT is the only Australian jurisdiction yet to elect a Greens member, and with the government’s apparent shift to become more hard line on crime under Lawler’s leadership, the progressive party is hoping disgruntled Labor voters will be encouraged to jump left at the August election.

The Greens are launching their policy at Alice Springs’ Water Tank Cafe, at 6pm Thursday. The event will include a panel discussion with 2023 NAIDOC Male Elder of the Year William Tilmouth, Kings Narrative managing director Tyson Carmody, and the Justice Reform Initiative’s Kirsten Wilson.