OPINION
Once again, Australians are asking themselves, ‘Where’s Albo?’ Well, we know we can always find him somewhere overseas or doing a cringe Dad Dance at some pop starlet’s mega-concert. Where you won’t find him, though, is in a town like Alice.
Nationals Senator Matt Canavan says youth crime in Alice Spring needs intervention from all levels of government and Anthony Albanese is washing his hands of this issue […]
“He (Albanese) is completely washing his hands of this issue, he’s nowhere to be seen, he’s running a million miles away from the Indigenous people of Australia since he lost the voice last year… I think it would be right and proper for our nations Prime Minister to respond to (the community) and provide every effort available to help bring law and order.”
The Australian
Even before he lost the Voice referendum, Albanese didn’t want to have a bar of Alice Springs. The last time there was a similar (Aboriginal) youth crime crisis, he barely deigned to stopover in the town for an hour or so on his way back from yet another overseas jaunt, before buggering off to Melbourne to watch the tennis.
Things have only gone from bad to worse. In scenes that make a mob of cuzzies running amok in Gisborne almost look like amateurs, uncontrollable gangs of Aboriginal children have shut down the town entirely.
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, Chief Minister Eva Lawler will send 58 more officers to clear kids into homes or government facilities between 6pm and 6am.
Ms Lawler, who faces an election in August and previously blamed youth crime on Australia’s colonial history, said she was determined to get on top of the violence and anyone under the age of 18 found in the central business district would be “taken home or taken to a safe place”.
Well, it’s one or the other. Because, almost invariably, the former is not the latter.
Children under 18 in Alice Springs will be forced off the streets under an extraordinary curfew aimed at stopping the riots and violence that have plagued the red centre for months, as the besieged Northern Territory Labor government tries to stave off calls for a federal takeover.
Despite the announcement, many don’t believe it is enough, with business leaders, local, territory and federal leaders calling for federal government intervention.
Meanwhile, no-one wants to talk about this supposed ‘world’s oldest living culture’ we’re supposed to constantly fawn over.
The curfew came after the riot saw parts of Alice Springs in lockdown over what sources claimed was “payback” for the death of a young man who died after a stolen car overturned on March 8.
Hours later, police were called to a town camp where they say about 150 people were “armed in public and engaging in violent conduct” […]
For weeks, locals in Alice Springs have been fearing a war would begin between families seeking payback against the driver of the vehicle […]
The Australian has been told the pack were seeking revenge on someone associated with stealing the vehicle. Payback, in Indigenous parlance, is a form of vendetta aimed at settling a grievance over a death, adultery or disagreement.
The Howard government was previously forced to intervene in the Territory, in response to the shocking findings of the “Little Children Are Sacred” report. Naturally, the left screeched ‘racism’.
Alice Springs’ crime crisis has been escalating since the Stronger Futures legislation, which restricted alcohol in the town, was allowed to expire in 2022 and violence re-emerged in recent months despite Mr Albanese forcing a return to grog bans in January last year.
Meanwhile, the people who should be shouldering the most responsibility are too busy blaming everyone else.
The largest Aboriginal justice service in the country, the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, has condemned the NT government’s decision, calling it a “short-sighted policy that risks inflaming issues” […]
[Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek] said governments needed to invest early to ensure “kids are at home in bed at night”.
The Australian
Or maybe – just maybe – Aboriginal parents could try giving up the alcohol and rampant, violent abuse and start taking care of their own kids?
Nah – too hard. Just blame whitey for ‘colonialism’.