Alice Springs curfew ‘needs to be longer and wider’

Calls are growing to extend the length and area of the two-week curfew for children under 18 in Alice Springs to give residents some ‘respite’.

Locals in Alice Springs riot on Tuesday afternoon following the funeral of a teenager killed while traveling in stolen car, leading to the NT government putting in a curfew.

Calls are growing to extend the length and area of the two-week curfew for children under 18 in Alice Springs to give residents some “respite”, as community ­figures say they are losing hope in other short or medium-term ­solutions to stop riots and violence in the red centre.

As the curfew came into effect, three boys aged 12, 13 and 17 were arrested just outside the Alice Springs curfew zone after allegedly threatening residents with a firearm and stealing two vehicles.

Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson said the sheer number of police required for the curfew operation meant “it can’t be forever” but there may need to be an extension if it works to reduce crime.

“The level of anxiety the other day with the riots was something I’ve never experienced in the community before … If it works then, yes, I would suggest they should keep it in,” he said.

“In the past two weeks, two people have lost their lives, and a 16-year-old was horrendously bashed in the middle of the street. If it saves someone’s life, we can’t measure that.”

After more than 100 people ­rioted in Alice Springs and cornered one of the town’s most popular pubs on Tuesday, which police say they did not have the resources to control, Northern Territory Chief Minister Eva Lawler vowed to send 58 more police officers to clear kids into homes or government facilities between 6pm and 6am.

Mr Paterson called for the federal government to step in when the curfew lifts, saying the region needs to get more resources from somewhere. “The police are here for a short time and what happens then?” he said.

Action for Alice founder Darren Clark said there were “no short-term solutions” to curbing the youth crime problem.

“But we needed some respite,” he added. “It’s a long, long, long-term fix to get these young kids educated, get them into safe homes, into employment. I don’t think it can be stopped in the ­interim or in the short term.”

Independent MLA Robin Lambley said the curfew in Alice needed to be extended for at least three months and across the whole town.

“There is now a displacement of the problem into residential areas in town. It’s just moving out. We need a curfew across the whole town, not just out in the suburbs.”

Ms Lambley called for a full audit of government-funded organisations on the ground, which she said weren’t held to account.

“This is political. The fact the government doesn’t choose to question the delivery of services by government-funded organisations, they don’t want to lose support of big, powerful organisations in Alice Springs,” she said.

But National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services chair Karly Warner said curfews simply pushed youth crime beyond the borders and “out of view”.

“Policies that result in children … being over-policed is a problem, not a solution. They are dangerous, and there is a potential for this to result in further tragedy for the community and for children,” she said. “We need to prioritise support for children … which includes making sure they have a safe place to go, making sure there is adequate housing, and ­reducing overcrowding.”

The riots in town erupted after a funeral was held on Tuesday for an 18-year-old man who had been killed in a car crash earlier this month. Ms Warner said had there been community supports in place following the funeral, the riots could have been stopped.

Geoff Gallop, the last premier to introduce a curfew on children entering Perth’s Northbridge entertainment district after dark in 2003, said the success or failure of Alice Springs policy depended on whether authorities followed up on why the children breaching curfews were out on the street to begin with, and whether their homes were safe to return to.

Former NT Labor MP Scott McConnell said while the curfew may need to be extended beyond two weeks, it can’t be seen as a long-term solution.

He said increasing school attendance was still not being prioritised.

“Most press releases are about the need for more police officers,” he said. “We can’t recruit, train and retain police to those roles, so we need a different approach.”

The Territory’s Children’s Commissioner Shahleena Musk said the announcement of the curfew had been poorly handled and left many affected communities uninformed.

“I’m hearing from stakeholders on the ground in Alice Springs … and they’re saying that children just really don’t know what this means, and what would be lawful activities that they could engage with,” she said to ABC News.

“There’s a desperate need for the government to communicate in writing, but also in mediums – whether it’s on social media, in SMS — to the Alice Springs public what this actually is.

“I worry that children who through no fault of their own are unaware that the law has changed effectively overnight are walking the streets at night, and then get accosted by police.

“What happens if they push back or refuse to go?”

Ms Musk said there was a heightened chance the curfew could criminalise the behaviour of children in vulnerable circumstances, such as those homeless or in difficult homes, who may be more likely to have nowhere to go during the curfew.

With James Dowling