Potential future Alice mayors explain their plans to deal with crime

THREE Alice Springs town councillors who have indicated they either definitely will or are likely to run for mayor at the August election have outlined their plans help reduce crime

• Which councillors have announced they’ll be running for Alice mayor in 2021?

ALICE SPRINGS’ would-be mayors have laid out their plans to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour, which include closer consultation with Aboriginal elders, helping the NT government enforce community service orders, and implementing a rigorous approach to holding policymakers accountable.

Councillor Jamie de Brenni said, if elected mayor, he would ensure council “plays a grassroots supportive role, especially for organisations, governments and police” in order to help enforce community service.

Councillor Jamie de Brenni. Photo: EMMA MURRAY

“What I’ve always advocated is that community service is something that needs to be enforced,” Mr de Brenni said.

“Councils can support governments to bring in this process, once they have organised support staff, by providing infrastructure for community service programs.”

Mr de Brenni said that Alice Springs Town Council expends considerable resources dealing with graffiti, rubbish and the maintenance of verges.

“We can provide the parks for cleaning, for example, or our community fences that have graffiti all over them. It’s a proactive way of working with organisations and getting consequences for actions at a community level.

“I’ve always said there’s got to be repercussions for actions. That’s life.”

Councillor Jimmy Cocking, who announced his mayoral candidacy last week, said that he wants to “empower the Aboriginal people to be able to be involved in being part of the solution.”

He said workshops and culturally appropriate boot camps, held on country, need to be introduced to curb youth crime in Alice Springs.

Jimmy Cocking. Photo: EMMA MURRAY

He said this issue can only be solved by listening to Aboriginal Elders, who “have been calling for more engagement in the youth justice system for a long time.”

Mr Cocking said that he and other councillors have been fighting for this approach for three and a half years by lobbying for initiatives such as night-time Traditional Owner foot patrols, employing elders “to be able to work with kids to make sure they’re getting on the buses and to be able to talk to them and engage with them to find out what’s going on.

“That’s finally been passed by council and is moving forward, which is great, but we could have had it three and a half years ago.”

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Councillor Eli Melky said that he would like to see a “strong and uncompromising mayor who will stand up for this town” and challenge the policymakers he said are responsible for Alice Springs’ crime problems.

Importantly, Mr Melky hasn’t definitively stated that he will run for mayor, but he has indicated it is “highly likely.”

“Kids as young as five and six should not be on the streets at night. The ever-revolving door of the justice system and the failed bail system must be reviewed,” Mr Melky said.

Councillor Eli Melky. Photo: EMMA MURRAY

“Adults who use children to commit crime should be punished at the maximum penalty available.

“A starting point is to challenge the policy makers who enable this decline in social wellbeing and law and order by insisting that their policies are working.

“To get a better, different outcome, there needs to be a new and different approach by NTG and other welfare organisations who have a responsibility in this area.”

Mayor Damien Ryan would not be drawn on whether he will recontest the mayoralty.

Mayor Ryan insists he remains focused on the initiatives council is currently working on.

He mentioned in particular the plan to have Traditional Owners patrol the town’s streets at night in an effort to curb youth offending.

“Let’s talk about the things that are there,” Mr Ryan said. “(This plan) is very well regarded.”

“We have the support of Lhere Artepe, police and the Department of Chief Minister. We’re working through this with all of them and are working towards a start date in early March.

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“This is clearly designed to help in relation to the problem (of youth offending).”