Millions to flow for NT peace mission as Anthony Albanese follows Peter Dutton in surprise visit to Alice Springs

Anthony Albanese is in Alice Springs and is committing over $840m over six years to strengthen the delivery of services in Northern Territory remote communities.

Children of Alice Springs, aged 10, 11 and 13 take a stolen Toyota for a joy ride in the streets in February 2024. Picture: Liam Mendes

The federal government will commit $842m over six years to strengthen the delivery of services in remote communities in the Northern Territory, including policing, women’s safety, alcohol harm reduction and “mediation and peacekeeping activities”.

The announcement came as Anthony Albanese arrived in Alice Springs on Thursday, just over a week after Peter Dutton visited the region, which has been blighted by crime, domestic violence and anti-social behaviour.

The Albanese and Northern Territory governments have signed an agreement to deliver the NT Remote Aboriginal Investment (NTRAI), a commitment designed to offer certainty on more than 570 jobs and “ensure remote First Nations communities can access the services needed to close the gap”.

“The agreement will increase funding for Aboriginal interpreter services and deliver new funding for community development, mediation and peacekeeping activities”, the federal government said in a statement.

The funding includes $205.9m for policing in remote communities.

In 2023, the Albanese government announced a $250m “support package” to help tackle crime and societal issues in Alice Springs and surrounding areas.

The package was aimed at youth diversion and engagement, job creation, remote service delivery, health services, and family support including domestic violence services.

Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said of the latest package: “All Territorians have a right to be safe from violence, and ensuring our remote communities are effectively policed benefits the entire Territory.”

Locals in Alice Springs riot on in 2024 following ceremony of teenager killed while traveling in stolen car.

The funding will strengthen support for Aboriginal community controlled organisations and establish local groups in up to eight remote areas.

They will design and deliver economic development and employment opportunities “for community, in community, by community”. The agreement will also fund up to 12 Aboriginal community controlled children and family centres “to provide co-ordinated solutions to complex issues relating to family safety and child development”.

It comes a day after the Albanese government announced a $51m one-off hospital funding boost for the Territory for the 2024-25 financial year, part of a $1.7bn nationwide package to “protect” Medicare.

Federal Senator Kerrynne Liddle, shadow minister for child protection and the prevention of family violence, said the Albanese government’s failure to intervene when intervention-era alcohol bans in Central Australia lapsed in mid 2022 resulted in the “sharp rise” in assaults and anti-social behaviour that had been seen in the last few years.

“Flying into Alice Springs to make another announcement is what we get from this PM,” Senator Liddle, who was born and raised in Alice Springs, said.

“Improving the hospital for locals will always be welcome but it is the Labor Government’s own policies that have contributed to the hospital being full of victim survivors of family violence and alcohol addiction.”

It comes as the Country Liberal Party promised a crackdown on crime following its election in August last year, declaring law and order to be the “No 1 priority”.

Young children roaming the streets of Alice Springs just before midnight in April 2023. Picture: Liam Mendes

In Alice Springs last Wednesday, the Opposition Leader pledged his support, in principle, to seven “critical” measures the Territory government put to the Albanese government requiring federal intervention to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.

The measures requiring federal government attention were announced in December, including amendments to Centrelink payments so they are made only on takeaway-alcohol-free days, compulsory work and training programs with reporting obligations, and 100 per cent income management for parents of youth offenders, and that royalty payments be made in remote communities, but not Alice Springs.

Ms Finocchiaro also announced a “performance audit” of federally funded programs, which for years have been criticised for receiving millions of dollars while often failing to provide outcomes for young Indigenous people.

Ms Finocchiaro’s visit to Alice Springs in December came at a time when a two-month-old baby was allegedly assaulted by homeinvading teens who had collectively been charged with almost 300 other offences and bailed 35 times.

At that time, a 22-year-old man had also allegedly climbed into a woman’s bedroom and sexually assaulted her while she was sleeping.

Last week Mr Dutton pledged his support, in principle, to the seven “critical” measures.

“We have been taking an interest in trying to support the people of Alice Springs for a long time. In the previous Labor government, here in the Territory, there was no will to listen to the people of Alice Springs,” he said.