Top Alice Springs doctor John Boffa says alcohol restrictions mean the town is now ‘safe’

A prominent Alice Springs medico says healthcare workers are being put off coming to the area by ‘a situation which has largely been addressed’.

A top Alice Springs doctor has declared the town is “back to being a safe place” and healthcare workers are being put off coming to the area by “a situation which has largely been addressed”.

Central Australian Aboriginal Congress chief medical officer John Boffa said the “single most important factor” in attracting healthcare workers to the region was to “get the message out that Alice Springs is now safe”.

“The crisis is over, we’re back to where we were in 2021 and we had no staff not coming in because they said it was unsafe,” he said.

“But unfortunately in the national picture there's still this perception that this town is unsafe as it was leading up to Christmas last year — that’s not true.

Central Australian Aboriginal Congress chief medical officer John Boffa said the “situation” in Alice Springs had largely been addressed by alcohol restrictions. Picture: Laura Hooper.

“It’s back to being the safe place it was in 2021, 2020 and 2019 and we need people to come and work for us and not be put off by the situation we’re in, which has largely been addressed by the alcohol restrictions which have been effective.”

The comments come as Federal Rural and Regional Health and Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Minister Emma McBride and NT Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Minister Lauren Moss announced an $11.5m investment in mental health services in Alice Springs.

The money, co-contributed by the federal and Territory governments, will go towards the establishment and operation of new adults and kids Head to Health hubs, scheduled to open in 2024.

The adult service will provide short to medium term care for people with moderate to severe mental illnesses, while the children's service will deliver therapeutic services for those aged between 0 and 12.

NT Minister Lauren Moss, Federal Minister Emma McBride and Central Australian Aboriginal Congress chief medical officer John Boffa at the announcement of $11.5m in funding for new mental health services in Central Australia.

Ms McBride said the services would be co-designed with communities, and would be able to be accessed without a referral or prior appointment at no charge.

“We know they’re some of the biggest barriers to people being able to access care, close to home, affordably when needed,” she said.

“These services may be staffed by psychologists, Aboriginal health workers, peer workers and people with lived experience.”

Ms Moss said as the Youth Minister she often heard from Central Australian youth about the difficulties of accessing mental health services.

“Mental health comes up every single time I meet with them, it’s about access to services but it’s also about ending up on wait lists and how immediate that support is, so I think anything that helps alleviate some of that is incredibly important,” she said.

She said the government would be working very closely with the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress and other First Nations organisations and representatives in the establishment of the hubs.

Dr Boffa said the new services for children younger than 12-years-old was “incredibly important”.

“We know in our region we’ve got a very significant number of children who are suffering from trauma, we’ve got the (data) that tell us just how disadvantaged children are,” he said.

“So it’s important that we have this expansion that we’re seeing and the head to health child mental health hub in particular, because in a remote area like this we need the resources and the infrastructure to make sure we’re able to employ therapists that can work with children and implement the programs we know can make a difference from a young age.

“Child mental health is fundamental, and if we get that right, we will actually make a big difference in preventing some of the things that happen in early adolescence, as young people drop out of school, get on drugs, get on the streets — we can really make a difference.”