Parliament’s Question Time was cut short Tuesday when the Opposition again moved to censure Police Minister Kate Worden over what they said are her ongoing failures to manage out-of-control crime in the Territory and the ongoing “police crisis”.

Before the motion could be put, however, Leader of Government Business Chansey Paech shut down Question Time five minutes early and killed the motion.

The Opposition had earlier pledged to hold the government accountable over the issue, with plans to introduce a matter of public importance to be debated later Tuesday in Parliament that would include ongoing problems in the NT Police force.

CLP Leader Lia Finocchiaro said the most “pressing issue in the community” was the “crime and police crisis”.

“Everywhere we go and everyone we talk to, it’s the same thing – crime is killing the Northern Territory,” she said.

“Businesses are closing down because of the crime crisis, tourists stay away because of the crime crisis, locals hide in their homes in fear of the crime crisis, businesses can’t recruit workers to the Northern Territory because of the crime crisis, and Territorians are moving interstate because of the crime crisis.

“But we have a Labor Government refusing to admit there is a crime crisis, despite the community experiencing it on a daily basis.”

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles avoided labelling the crime issues in the Territory a “crisis”, but admitted on local radio on Monday that it was the “biggest issue” currently facing the NT.

“We’ve invested in police, we’ve invested in CCTV, we’ve changed the Biz Secure program, so what other pieces of the puzzle do we need to put in place and we’re determined to do that,” she said on Mix 104.9.

“We’re always working in this space. There will be more in this space.

“It’s not just like simply making an announcement and thinking that will solve it, it’s continuous grinding work, it’s the long-term measures, but there’s an absolute need right now for short term things.”

After being repeatedly asked during Question Time about the ongoing crime issues, Ms Worden said she had spent a week in the Red Centre “speaking to people and talking about the work of the social response team” and that the solutions are a “layered effect”.

Earlier this month, Tourism Central Australia called on the Fyles Government to take “swift action” to address spiralling crime rates in the town that are negatively affecting tourism, resident’s safety and business in Alice Springs.

“We know that we need to stay focused and keep working on this issue, day after day,” Ms Worden said.

“As I said, hard work is hard, not that those over there know that at all. You keep asking these questions about crime but I never hear … one solution.”

Outside Parliament, CLP spokeswoman for Business Marie-Clare Boothby said Ms Fyles and Worden’s initiatives were clearly not working to address ongoing crime issues in Alice Springs and in the Top End.

“It has taken the Chief Minister six long years to say that there is a current crisis that is just not good enough,” she said.

“She only needs to walk around her own electorate … and she would have known that we are at a breaking point in the Territory and talk is cheap. Unless we see some changes coming through legislation, which puts the rights of the victims above the rights of the offenders, then Territorians are going to continue to suffer and will continue to leave the Territory.”

CLP fails to back calls for Royal Commission into NT Police crisis

The CLP have still not criticised Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker for the woes in the police force despite claiming the “police crisis” was a major issue, stating again that Ms Worden, who assumed the portfolio from Nicole Manison earlier this year, was the person responsible for police and crime issues.

Asked if the CLP would support Labor MLA Mark Turner and independent MLA Robyn Lambley’s calls for a federal royal commission into NT Police, Ms Boothby said the Fyles Government “has all of the tools that it needs to make the decisions to change legislation to keep Territorians safe”.

“What we need right now is the Fyles Labor Government to actually do something,” she said.

“We have a continued crime crisis we have every single peak body calling out for them to take action. They have the power to change legislation in the Northern Territory. They can do that right now.”

Mr Turner said there were underlying problems in the NT Police force that needed to be examined publicly and the only way to do that was to have a federal royal commission, given the seriousness of the ongoing problems.

“I’m fed up with lip service,” he said. “I’ve watched an enormous amount of my former colleagues become sick; their families bear the burden of spill-over trauma and an ongoing mental health burden that appears to have resulted in the highest attrition rate in the nation.

“The CLP moved a motion into crime and police mental health, yet they spoke hardly anything about police mental health and instead used it as an excuse to attack the government.

“They’re politicians playing politics, but our police need better, and if they don’t get it, our entire community will be paying the price for years to come as we’re left with gaping holes in a thin blue line that has run out of room to stretch.”