Alice Springs anti-DV march organiser shares heartbreak over alleged Larapinta home invasion
An Aboriginal councillor has shared his heartbreak over the alleged home invasion assault on a two-month-old baby only a day after a march through town rallying against men’s violence towards women and families.
Northern Territory
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Updated, December 13: A senior Alyawarre man is lamenting how a successful march through Alice Springs has fallen on deaf ears to the people who needed to hear it most, with an alleged assault against a baby and her mother showing why children need to be removed in a way “different” to the Stolen Generation.
On Tuesday, hundreds of men and women marched through the Alice Springs CBD decrying the domestic violence crisis plaguing the Territory, calling on men to stand up and “stop the violence, end the silence”.
The next day, two male youths, aged 16 and 17, would allegedly attack an eight-week-old baby and her mother during a home invasion at Larapinta, in the western suburbs of Alice Springs.
Tuesday’s march was organised by Alyawarre man Michael Liddle, who sits on Alice Springs Town Council and runs Ingkintja Men’s Shed for the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress.
Mr Liddle said “we’re all disgusted” in the wake of the alleged attack, which had “pushed back 10 steps” the success of the march.
“The amount of service providers that get knocked around by this, by this current trend of behaviour from Aboriginal people is not good for our mental health,” he said.
“There are times when I feel like I need to switch off, but I’m an Aboriginal person and I live and I breathe and I see this type of life and I can’t switch off after knock-off hours.
“I can’t switch my Aboriginality off and I don’t want to, but I can’t hide from the fact that the current display of behaviour has crossed the line.
“It’s unforgivable and it needs to be rectified and it needs to be changed and it needs to be addressed.
“These many young children, sadly, they have to be removed from this environment and they need to be placed somewhere, and it’s a totally different concept to the Stolen Generation.
“They need to be placed in an area that provides calmness and safety away from this environment.”
Mr Liddle said some young Aboriginal men were too busy at the bottom of a schooner glass to pay attention to the march – despite it congregating right across the road from two of the most popular pubs in Alice Springs.
“It’s too enjoyable to be in the pub … it’s like we have a mob of immature adults getting around town,” he said.
Federal Coalition spokeswoman for the prevention of family violence Kerrynne Liddle – an Arrernte woman who grew up in Alice Springs – said Wednesday’s alleged assault was “the latest in a litany of innocent people being impacted by violence and crime”.
“Violence and disorder escalated when the Albanese Government failed to act quick enough on lifting alcohol restrictions under the previous NT Labor government and the consequences of that inaction continues,” she said in a statement.
In their own statement, the NT Greens said the incident showed how recently enacted laws by the CLP against crime “are not working”.
“If being tough on crime worked, Alice Springs would be the safest town in Australia. We need to be smart on crime,” a party representative said.
“Both the major parties have shown that trying to imprison your way out of the problem only makes things worse.
“The government needs to listen to the experts and urgently address the social drivers of crime like they promised in their election platform.”
Albo calls for ‘full force of the law’ on alleged baby attackers
December 12: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has spoken out after a baby girl’s skull was fractured during an alleged home invasion in Alice Springs, calling for the offenders to face “the full force of the law”.
“This is a horrific, unspeakable act and my thoughts are with the child and their family at this time,” Mr Albanese said.
“This is unacceptable and the full force of the law should be brought down on these perpetrators.”
Meanwhile Central Australian leaders have spoken out with disgust, heartbreak, and a plea for urgent government action.
Northern Territory Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price said the reports of violence in the community were “absolutely sickening”.
“As a resident of Alice Springs, I know the fear people have of just being in their own home,” Ms Price said.
“When people have reason to fear violent attacks inside their homes, things are terribly wrong.
“The federal government cannot escape responsibility for the disastrous situation we are seeing.
“The Albanese government must do more to support the wider community instead of simply throwing money at these situations, especially at Aboriginal organisations and hope for the best.
“They have now spent $350m on the Better, Safer Future for Central Australia program as a way to try and stop these occurrences, yet reports like this continue to flow and get worse.
“The government needs to better spend this money to address the dysfunction, not simply accelerate existing programs and top up organisations that have failed to deliver year after year.”
Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour branded the alleged assault on the infant as “disgusting, horrific and horrible” and said people living in Alice Springs were scared.
“People should feel safe in their homes and they’re not. I hate it … I feel unsafe in my home in Alice Springs. And, everyone, whether it’s Ted Egan; there’s many women who approach me that are living on their own,” she said.
“One day someone’s gonna say ‘I have to protect my home and my kids’ and there’ll be consequences. That’s what I fear, is that someone’s going to get killed in all of this.”
Ms Scrymgour said she would be discussing the town’s worsening outlook with federal colleagues later on Thursday, including Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy, and sought to form an intergovernmental panel to deal with the crisis.
She called on NT Police to formally request additional commonwealth support, whether that be Australian Defence Force, Australian Federal Police or other agencies.
Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson said the “heartbroken” town needed help.
“The situation is bigger than the resources we have. We need help from other jurisdictions, whether that’s AFP or SA Police,” he said.
“This must be the trigger for change that Alice Springs needs – I don’t know where we go from here without drastic actions from governments.
“We need more police and resources immediately to show the community there’s a sense of security, to show this is not okay and won’t be tolerated.
“We can all agree that we’ve heard enough talk in the past years in Alice Springs, we need to see something change going forward, some reassurance that we can be safe in our own home.”
Territory Labor said the CLP’s approach to crime was not working.
“Alice Springs is spiralling further out of control, and Lia’s so-called urgent laws have no impact,” Opposition Leader Selena Uibo said.
“Territorians are asking: if these so-called solutions will be effective, why is Lia waiting until next year for them to start?
“It’s time for the Chief Minister to stop hiding behind press releases and photo ops.
“Lia must take immediate action to protect Territorians. A curfew must be called.”
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