11,407 crimes: The NT’s violent offences and how they’re being stopped

One part of the Territory is the epicentre of an explosion of violence, with more than double the assault rate of almost anywhere else.

THE tiny outback town of Tennant Creek is the epicentre of the Territory’s exploding domestic violence crisis, with residents more than twice as likely to be assaulted than any other region besides Alice Springs.

The 280 assaults reported in the town in 2021 represent more than 11 for every 100 people, with almost three quarters involving some form of domestic or family violence.

As a result, the overall assault rate of 11,407 per 100,000 people dwarfed every other statistical area last year, with Alice Springs recording the next highest rate at 7023.2, followed by Katherine on 5355.5.

OPPOSITION Member for Barkly, Steve Edgington, said while it was “very hard to put a finger on” why Tennant Creek was such a hotspot for violent crime, the statistics painted “a very alarming picture”.

Mr Edgington, the former mayor of the town, said while Covid-19 related lockdowns during the past few years may have contributed to the spike: “We’re into April this year and there’s no sign of the number of assaults having any steady decline.”

“Certainly, the answer to all types of crime is ‘How do we prevent crime from happening in the first place?’ and it’s very important that steps are taken around early intervention and prevention,” he said.

Mr Edgington pointed to a $450,000 violence prevention fund announced by the Territory government in 2018 to tackle violence in the wider Barkly region, which he said was yet to “hit the ground”.

“It’s high time that the Gunner government put together a whole of government, whole of community crime reduction plan for Tennant Creek,” he said.

“Because unless we have a plan to tackle the issues, identify the underlying issues that are contributing to crime, contributing to domestic violence, contributing to a massive increase in sexual assaults, we’re going to find it very difficult to get to the bottom of this.

“Not in six months, not in 12 months, we need to be identifying and tackling the issues now.”

Domestic and Family Violence Minister, Kate Worden, disputed Mr Edgington’s suggestion the funding had stalled, saying “a lot of work has gone into ensuring the connectivity and sustainability of the region’s domestic, family and sexual violence service system”.

“We have established a domestic, family and sexual violence regional co-ordinator position with a key focus on the continued development of a co-ordinated response to DFSV prevention and response service delivery in the region,” she said.

Ms Worden said the government had also convened a domestic violence counsellors’ network and developed the Barkly Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Action Plan.

“We always said we needed the sector to tell us what works, services need to be in line with what the community needs, this is what we are doing,” she said.

“This is why we are also investing an additional $15 million to go towards infrastructure and program upgrades to increase the number of beds available to women and children fleeing domestic and family violence. This also includes new builds and programs in Alice Springs and Tennant Creek.

“This funding will see $2.05 million in remote non-government operated DFV safe house infrastructure grant funding in Alice Springs and Tennant Creek.”

Alice Springs

IN ALICE Springs, where Malcolm Abbott was sentenced to life in prison for the brutal murder of domestic violence campaigner R Rubuntja earlier this month, the picture was not much better.

The Centralian hub had the second highest rate of assaults in the Territory, with seven for every 100 residents in 2021, more than twice the rate of the NT’s capital, Darwin.

Of those, more than 60 per cent involved domestic violence.

ANTI-domestic violence campaigner, Charlie King, said the “damning” statistics showed “more has to be done and the government has to be much more serious about the way that they do it”.

“It’s largely men who are pushing the numbers up all the time, they continue to do it and they do it because they can and they get away with it,” he said.

“I think we have to demonise it more and make it seen for what it is — it’s a crime against humanity.

“We need more men to stand up and say ‘This has to end’.”

Mr King said the key to making inroads into the out-of-control violence was cultural change and changing attitudes, starting in Territory schools.

‘No More’ campaigner Charlie King.

“The Education Department needs to start doing a lot more work with those kids of that teenage age, 10 years and older, that should be a part of the curriculum,” he said.

“You need to be talking to those kids about what are healthy relationships and what you need to look for.

“The voices of young women need to be heard more and young men need to start listening to what women have been talking about.

“The community itself has to rise up and just say: ‘This is unacceptable and we will not put up with this any longer.”

Mr King said while domestic violence was present in all communities and “not just a problem for Aboriginal people” more work needed to be done with Indigenous communities to develop strategies of their own.

He also called for more support programs for women escaping domestic violence and a commitment from companies that did business in the NT to do their bit in reducing rates of violence in the community.

Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Minister Kate Worden.

Ms Worden said her appointment as the Territory’s first Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Minister this month “sends a powerful message that this government recognises the gravity of this scourge in our community, and that we must keep doing more”.

She said more than $25m a year was set aside to tackle domestic and family violence, funding 32 services delivering crisis accommodation throughout the Territory.

“This includes 13 women’s safe houses operated by Territory Families, Housing and Communities, and 16 women’s refuges/shelters and safe houses operated by non-government organisations, including projects for counselling, crisis intervention, outreach support including for men, and community education,” she said.

“Budget 2022 will see us invest an extra $10 million over the next four years, in programs and services aimed at preventing violence and intervening earlier — right across the entire Territory.”

Darwin

THE assault rate in Darwin (excluding Palmerston) was less than half that of Alice Springs in 2021, but the Territory capital was one of only two statistical areas where alcohol fuelled violence outstripped domestic incidents.

More than 55 per cent of the 2520 assaults in Darwin last year were alcohol related while less than half involved domestic violence.

The city’s bail and arrest court is often kept busy on a Monday morning following overzealous revelry on Mitchell St, where too much booze clashes with youthful exuberance and easily inflatable egos.

The powder keg exploded onto the front page of the NT News in 2020 when Dale Talbot crashed his LandCruiser through the front of the Six Tanks brewery following a longstanding feud between two local families.

Talbot was jailed in the Supreme Court for four years last year after his “revenge attack” on a group of men and women who had chased him down following a consensual fight between him and Joseph Hazelbane outside the venue.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to recklessly endangering life.

Dale Talbot.

In sentencing Hazelbane, who was injured in the crash before punching Talbot in the face up to 27 times, to three months in the clink, judge Therese Austin said the court could not allow anarchy to reign on the nightclub strip.

“If there is bad blood or there’s difficulties between these two family groups, that is something I would hope they can sort out,” she said.

“People cannot go around and take the law into their own hands by … using violent conduct to sort out whatever trouble is going on.

“If that was to happen we would have chaos, anarchy and violence on the streets of Darwin.”

In response to a “recent increase in anti-social behaviour”, NT Police has now established a new Community Engagement Section (CES) to tackle the problem.

Acting Assistant Commissioner, Hege Burns, said the new unit would focus on “licensed premises patrols within the CBD, secondary supply of alcohol and anti-social behaviour issues across the Darwin division”.

Joseph Hazelbane outside court.

Ms Burns said resources previously used to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic had been repurposed to staff the CES, starting earlier this month.

“We will be working together with other government agencies, local government and non-government entities to tackle the recent increase in anti-social behaviour,” she said.