Attorney General Chansey Paech has announced $57 million to repurpose an old prison in Darwin and an Alice Springs rehab facility to house female inmates, contradicting his previous “jailing is failing” mantra, that will also see male prisoners detained at the old Berrimah prison as an “interim measure”.
A woman was taken to hospital with serious cuts to her head, and hand injuries, after a fight in the street in Alice Springs on Thursday morning, NT Police said.
Police Minister Brent Potter has patted himself on the back for a job done, declaring the Alice Springs youth curfew and emergency situation a huge success, but conceded the government would look at changing legislation before enacting a curfew in other communities.
Leaked screenshots of a Territory Response Group email that police members shared depicting a “Black Monopoly” board with every space designated “go to jail” in 2008, has cast further doubt on TRG members’ sworn claims their unit of the NT Police was not racist.
The Lawler Government has extended the Alice Springs youth curfew for another six days, after it was recommended in a meeting of the Territory Emergency Management Council yesterday.
Official documents have revealed the Lawler Government made an error concerning which ministry was supposed to declare the Alice Springs “emergency situation”, raising further questions about the legality of the youth curfew and whether police have been exposed to legal risk in carrying out the orders.
Police Commissioner Michael Murphy has had to ask South Australia to send police to Alice Springs because some kids from the APY lands who were “not aware of the curfew” were in town, the Police Minister has claimed amid differing reasons for the reinforcements, but said it had nothing to do with the riots in the streets last week which led to an “emergency situation” declared and youth curfew.
Attorney General Chansey Paech has backflipped on his previous position that a youth curfew is “madness”, “punitive” and treats kids like “dogs,” as he publicly supported the Chief Minister’s unilateral decision to implement the Alice Springs curfew, which she has now indicated could be used in Katherine and Tennant Creek.
Alice Springs’ top cop James Gray-Spence went on sudden leave less than 48 hours after the town’s “emergency situation” was declared last week, and shortly after Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said his southern commander was “getting on with his job” while embroiled in the joint NT Police – ICAC investigation into racism.
The Chief Minister and Police Commissioner appeared to change their stories over why the “emergency situation” was declared for Alice Springs last week, including the youth curfew, following accusations by the union representing police that the emergency order is unlawful.
A motorcyclist was charged for driving 180km/h through Adelaide River and an alleged uninsured drug-head was picked up on Easter Sunday, after swerving at cars in a Nightcliff roundabout while allegedly high and with “illicit substances” in his possession, police said, as part of the NT Police’s high-visibility long weekend traffic blitz from Darwin through Alice Springs.
UPDATED: Chief Minister Eva Lawler has declared a youth curfew as part of an “emergency situation” for Alice Springs after a day of rioting in the troubled town, pledging to send more police officers to restore order over the next 14 days.
