Anthony Albanese to visit Alice Springs during jump in youth crime
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‘It’s collapsed’: PM rushes to lawless inland city after coming under fire for failing to show up and being told he ‘should have been there’
- Anthony Albanese flies to Alice Springs
- The inner city has seen an increase in juvenile delinquency
Anthony Albanese will fly to Alice Springs after revelations that the prime minister had not been to the crime-ridden inner city once since he was elected despite removing alcohol bans and the cashless welfare card.
The prime minister had come under heavy criticism from the opposition for failing to fly into the lawless city where up to 200 children roam the streets at night and a business owner complained he was robbed more than 40 times. .
“(He) should have been there by now,” Dutton said Monday, adding that Albanese could have flown with him on a bipartisan trip.
When news broke that the PM was flying to the Northern Territory, 2GB Radio presenter Ben Fordham said: “He’s caved in… He’s caved in under pressure.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (top) visits Alice Springs for the first time since he was elected
Federal leader Bill Shorten said the crisis deserves immediate attention, but resolving violence cannot be just a question of police uniform.
“It will address the root causes of what is causing the pain and anguish,” he told Sky News on Tuesday.
It is a crisis. No doubt.
He added that the people of Alice Springs did not want a heavy-handed intervention from Canberra.
Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles will reportedly travel there on Tuesday to discuss the issue with locals.
Alice Springs has faced a wave of juvenile crime with a business owner saying they were broken into 40 times (a young man pictured trying to get into Alice Spring’s Todd’s Tavern)
Ms Fyles also spoke out against a federal intervention similar to the one instigated by John Howard in 2007, which included strict restrictions on the sale of alcohol and the quarantine of welfare payments among a series of measures.
Dutton said there would be outrage if a similar crime wave occurred in capital cities, calling it “the biggest problem in our country today.”
“There are reports of kids running around with machetes, kids who don’t want to go home because they feel it’s not safe to stay there, so they’re committing crimes,” he told Nine’s Today Show on Tuesday.
“It’s a problem of law and order and crime and we want these children to grow up in a safe environment and the prime minister has the resources, has the capacity and must show the leadership to deal with this problem.”