NT’s new police chief top priority

Appointing a new police commissioner for the Northern Territory to take over from Jamie Chalker must be the first step by the Territory government in regaining control of the violent, dangerous streets of Alice Springs. The departure of Mr Chalker, 53, was announced on Sunday morning, after a weekend of some of the worst alcohol-fuelled crime and racial tensions seen in the Territory of late. In an incident filmed by The Australian, police were forced to storm a takeaway pizza shop with their Tasers drawn in pursuit of Indigenous youths who had allegedly armed themselves with a kitchen knife after being involved in a wild street brawl with caucasian and Indigenous men. An argument among revellers leaving a nightclub escalated into an all-out brawl, with a chair used as a weapon.

Indigenous senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price said the footage was “plain and simple evidence” that the NT government had “lost complete control of law and order”. It was evident, she said, that “this government is failing and if they don’t step in and do what they need to do in terms of what’s been sought of them to ask for assistance from the AFP to restore law and order, then I’d be urging the Albanese government to intervene”.

The NT government has reached a “confidential settlement” with Mr Chalker, who will retire, following a botched attempt to revoke his appointment six months before his contract expired. Deputy Commissioner Michael Murphy, who will continue acting in the top job for now, will be putting up his hand for the position.

Restoring order and safety must be the priority. Senator Price is correct when she says “you just can’t expect people in our community’’ to continue to put up with such violence and become desensitised to it. It would be seen as intolerable in any other part of Australia and it is intolerable in Alice Springs. Senator Price wants more police and tougher consequences, especially for recidivism. If, as federal MP for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour says, young Aboriginal people are accessing illicit drugs such as methamphetamines, a swift, effective crackdown is needed.