Darren Clarke in plea to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese after ‘night of anarchy’ in Alice Springs

The Action for Alice founder called on the Prime Minister to ‘call a state of emergency in the NT’, or order a royal commission, saying ‘if you have to bring your Defence force in, you do it’.

A car on fire on the corner of Flynn Dr and Bromley St in Alice Springs overnight. Picture: Supplied

Alice Springs business owner Darren Clark has issued an impassioned plea for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to return to the Red Centre after “another night of total anarchy” in the embattled town.

Speaking on Sydney radio station 2GB on Saturday, Mr Clark said multiple businesses had been broken into overnight — including the Imparja TV station that lost a vehicle full of technical equipment — and cars torched.

“Our CBD is full of youths, it’s full of drunks, it’s out of control,” he said.

“This has to stop, it has to stop, you’ve lost a life in Darwin this week, we lost a life here two years ago, no one did a thing about it.

“We had the Prime Minister here for four hours, we’ve had (Indigenous Australians Minster Linda) Burney here for a couple of hours, what do we get out of it? Nothing.

“You make an announcement and it’s all bullshit, because nothing changes, we’ve had enough.”

Mr Clarke called on the Prime Minister to “call a state of emergency in the NT”, or order a royal commission, saying “if you have to bring your defence force in, you do it”.

“You have got super, super problems here buddy, and if you let them fester any more there’s going to be serious loss of life in the NT because it is out of control,” he said.

“It’s such a dangerous place, we’ve got things being set on fire, we’ve got bushfires being deliberately lit, people losing their house, losing everything they own.”

Mr Clark said it was time for Mr Albanese to “book a flight” and “and at least try and fix it this time because the other one was all smoke and mirrors”.

“Get up here and you walk the streets of Alice Springs, you walk the streets of Tennant Creek, you walk the streets of Katherine and you walk the streets of Darwin and you hear it from the mouths of the people,” he said.

“You hear it from the mouths of the small children that are left on the streets because nobody gives a damn, go and talk to women that are getting bashed, go and talk to the men that have got serious, serious alcohol problems because they’re not getting any help either.”

An NT Police spokeswoman said investigators were calling for information regarding two unlawful entries in Alice Springs overnight.

In the first incident, the spokeswoman said a Toyota LandCruiser was stolen from a business on the corner of Leichardt Terrace and Stott Terrace at about 1.20am before it was later found abandoned.

Then at about 4.50am thieves broke into the Peter Sitzler Building on the Stuart Highway, stealing a white Toyota HiLux and a white Toyota Prado which were yet to be recovered.

Police are urging anyone with information, particularly CCTV or dashcam footage, to contact them on 131 444 or call Crime Stoppers anonymously on 1800 333 000.