The Alice Springs youth curfew has come to an end with the town's mayor and the Northern Territory chief minister praising it as a success. The measure was aimed at addressing a recent surge in violent crime in the Central Australian town.
The Alice Springs youth curfew has come to an end with the town's mayor and the Northern Territory chief minister praising it as a success. The measure was aimed at addressing a recent surge in violent crime in the Central Australian town. However, some First Nations residents and lawyers have criticised the extreme measure calling it a band-aid solution at best.
However, a number of First Nations residents have criticised the NT government's lack of community consultation prior to the curfew, while calling the move a temporary fix at best. He says the curfew is just one more example of the failure of governments to address the root causes of crime in his home of Alice Springs.
This comes amid an ongoing joint investigation by the NT Police Force and the NT's Independent Commissioner Against Corruption into allegations of racism within the force and while a coronial inquest into the police killing of 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker remains in progress. “Look for many Aboriginal people, there's an inherent fear and apprehension when it comes to police. Sadly, a lot of Aboriginal people are exposed to negative interactions with police, either from their own interactions or those of family members. And this is what happens if we continue to only utilise police as the face of any response to the community safety issues. We can't just arrest our way out of any sort of social crisis.
A 2008 report by the Australian Human Rights Commission found the statistics for confirmed cases of abuse did not support the "allegations of endemic child abuse" that were used as a justification for the measures, and a United Nations Special Rapporteur found the Emergency Response to be racially discriminating and infringing on the human rights of Aboriginal people in 2010.
Catherine Liddle is the CEO of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care, or SNAICC, and calls Alice Springs home.
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