Locals warn Peter Dutton of Alice Springs ‘civil war’
As Peter Dutton walked down the main street of Alice Springs, he was met by long-time locals who warned him the town could soon be hit with a ‘mini civil war’.
As Peter Dutton walked down the main street of Alice Springs and through a small shopping centre on Wednesday afternoon, he was met by long-time locals who warned him the town could soon be hit with a “mini civil war”.
Immediately after touching down in Alice Springs just after midday, the Opposition Leader went for a drive, quietly watching on as teenagers aimlessly roamed the streets alongside businesspeople and locals going about their day, before walking the street.
The town was busy but somewhat in order. It was a stark contrast to just six days prior when all hell broke loose: yelling, screaming, chairs being thrown just metres from where Mr Dutton was now speaking to residents and business owners.
Video of the confrontation between multiple women showed security – one holding a plastic chair that had previously been used as a projectile – desperately trying to order those responsible out of the shopping complex.
As Mr Dutton walked the main street, closely watched by four bodyguardsand guided by Senator Jacinta Price and Country Liberal Party member Bill Yan, some turned their heads as he passed by.
“I’ve seen you on A Current Affair,” one remarked.
Exiting a newsagency, he meets 74-year-old Chris Nourse and his friend Tony Daw, among the dozen locals who have frank discussions with Mr Dutton, speaking about the behaviour and alcohol-fuelled violence that has brought residents to breaking point. Mr Nourse told the Opposition Leader that after living in Alice Springs for 30 years, he felt the “paying public” was “not safe in this town”.
“You can’t go anywhere, you can’t go out after dark, so you go to work and you go home and that’s all you do,” the casual delivery driver said. He told Mr Dutton it was a town “in lockdown”.
“I know a lot of ladies now who won’t come out shopping, even in the daytime without their husbands or their grown adult children,” he said.
Mr Dutton appeared shocked after Mr Nourse said it would “only be a matter of time before there’s a mini civil war”.
Senator Price, who grew up in Alice Springs, replied to Mr Nourse, saying there was a “very, very, very tolerant community to last this long”.
Speaking to The Australian, Mr Daw, who has lived in Alice Springs for 23 years, said he hoped Mr Dutton would have a genuine experience in Alice.
“Hopefully they haven’t locked away everybody tonight,” Mr Daw said, referring to previous occasions when locals have been moved out of town when bureaucrats visit. “If he’d been here on the weekend he would’ve got a shock, it was disgraceful.”
Mr Dutton met other locals, most of whom told him they would vote no in the upcoming voice referendum. Another woman showed him and Senator Price footage she had taken on her phone of the wild incidents she’d encountered last week.
Mr Dutton told The Australian that Australians would be “horrified” by the stories he’d heard.
“There’s still rampant crime and young kids who are out at night-time because they don’t feel safe going home,” he said.
“They’re out committing crimes and the first-hand accounts here of people, particularly elderly men and women, not wanting to out … its very distressing to hear all their stories.”
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