Alice Springs leader, town councillor Michael Liddle speaks on crime crisis

An Alice Springs councillor and Aboriginal leader is pleading for his community to step up as Central Australia grapples with a crime crisis. Read his searing words.

Town of Alice Springs councillor and Aboriginal leader Michael Liddle is advocating for different solutions to issues of crime and anti-social behaviour. Photo: Emma Murray

An Indigenous councillor is calling on his community to show leadership and step up as a Central Australian town grapples with a crime crisis.

Michael Liddle, an Alice Springs councillor and Alyawarre man, said issues around youth crime and alcohol abuse had “never, ever been like this before” as he urged Indigenous and non-Indigenous people alike to band together.

It comes as the town’s mayor Matt Paterson, along with independent MLA Robyn Lambley, call for emergency action from the federal government, including the deployment of extra police or military.

“It starts with a lack of good, effective service delivery,” Mr Liddle said.

Michael Liddle, Martin Hagan, and Wayne Scrutton from the Aboriginal Elders and Mentors Program talk with young people at the Alice Springs Youth Detention Centre. Photo: Emma Murray

“Year after year of neglect, Aboriginal people aren’t interested in living where service delivery isn’t effective.

“So they migrate to town and I firmly believe we’ve got the whole model wrong now.

“Instead of investing in remote, we have to invest in town camps, Aboriginal schools, housing and education.

“Why do we spend so much money out remote when no one is living out there anymore?

“A lack of good leadership among Aboriginal men is also what’s missing.

“Parents are failing these young kids.”

Mr Liddle runs a workshop for Aboriginal men, Codes 4 Life, which aims to curb unlawful behaviour stemming from alcohol and substance abuse.

The monthly sessions connect men, many of which are former inmates, with frontline staff across the Territory.

“We get about 30 men to each workshop, they hear from police, doctors and ambulance drivers on what they endure by Aboriginal men in their workplace,” he said.

“These are incidents and issues they create but they don’t know until they’re in jail.

“It’s caused from alcohol abuse, domestic violence, neglect, intergenerational trauma – it could be a number of things.

“But it’s too late to start blaming each other – we’ve got a problem now.”

Mr Liddle also called for service providers to be agile at working around the clock – not just nine to five.

“These are only suggestions – they require conversation to make a good compromise,” he said.

“It’s not intended to add fuel to fire or to say this will work.

“No one has got the right answer for this because what Central Australia has to understand is that there has never, ever been a problem like this.”

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Originally published as Alice Springs leader, town councillor Michael Liddle speaks on crime crisis