Child protection workers will be rostered on overnight in Alice Springs on weekdays and 24-hours on Friday to Sunday in a trial lasting less than two months, the Fyles Government has announced, breaking the promise of Police Minister Brent Potter who when spruiking the government’s so-called ‘summer crime reduction plan’ said they would be on the streets 24-hours-a-day with no mention of it being a trial.
In a joint statement Friday afternoon, Territory Families Minister Ngaree Ah Kit and Mr Potter said Territory Families Department child protection workers would be working at the Alice Springs Police station and at an undisclosed “central safe place” in Palmerston.
They also said that ‘at risk’ youth found by police on the streets at night in Alice Springs and Palmerston without a responsible adult would be taken to a “safe place”.
The ministers said it would only be a trial until February 4, with child protection workers rostered on from 10pm to 6am Monday to Thursday, and 24-hours-a-day on Friday to Sunday and on public holidays. Previously, the government had said the child protection workers had only been on-call at night.
The statement said when police see a child on the streets, and there are concerns for the child’s well being, police would contact a child protection worker and transport the child to the police station or “safe place” if they can’t quickly locate a responsible adult.
“The child protection workers will assess the child’s circumstances, and seek to return the child to a safe place. Where this takes time, the child will be looked after,” the statement said.
The government said the kids and their families would be followed up on the next day to assist with determining appropriate responses.
The ministers did not say how many workers would be on each shift, or why it was a trial that was not going to last the whole summer.
“Our co-responder pilot puts specialist staff from Territory Families, Housing and Communities on the ground with police to help manage the complexities of youth crime and antisocial behaviour, and to ensure children and their families are accountable and get the support they need,” Ms Ah Kit said.
On November 14, Chief Minister Natasha Fyles and Mr Potter announced the government’s so-called ‘summer plan for a safer Alice Springs’, claiming it would be a “zero-tolerance summer for antisocial behaviour”.
Ms Fyles and Mr Potter also announced that Territory Families would provide “immediate and priority case management and support for young people at risk”, with an additional accelerated case management team of social workers, specialist youth workers and Aboriginal community workers on call and ready to respond.
In an interview with Stewart Brash on ABC Radio Alice Springs on November 15, Mr Potter said it was evident police taking kids they found on the street to try and find a responsible adult was not a good use of police time and said there would be child protection workers.
“They (police) are there to prevent crime and catch criminals. They’re not teachers, social workers. What we’re gonna do over this period is get 24/7 child protection,” he said.
“We’re going to get on on shift 24/7 child protection, they’ll do the handover.”
CLP Territory Families spokesperson Joshua Burgoyne said Mr Potter’s press releases and promises aren’t worth the paper they are written on.
“Just a few weeks ago he promised ‘24/7 child protection on the road, on shift’ and now he’s already back peddled with less hours and now it’s apparently a trial,” he said.
“Even more outrageous is the fact Labor have tried to dress this up and as new announcement, taking Alice Springs residents for fools.
“Clearly it doesn’t matter who the Minister is or how many times they change the Ministry, the Labor lies will just keep coming for the people of Alice. ”
Mr Potter also told an Alice Springs press conference on November 14 there would be 50 “additional” officers brought into Alice as part of Operation Drina, with a focus on alcohol-related offending, including assaults, break-ins, and domestic and family violence.
The NT Police’s ability to provide 50 extra police was met with incredulity and both Mr Potter and Police Commissioner Michael Murphy contradicted themselves in interviews about how the extra staff would be provided, while the NT Police Association predicted about 25 per cent of remote police in central Australia and the Barkly region would have to be moved to Alice Springs at any one time.
Meanwhile, on December 1, Police Association president Nathan Finn said there were three less police officers in Alice Springs now than in late January when the Prime Minister announced there would be 30 more police, accusing the government of misleading the public and saying there are not enough police to fill regular shifts, let alone provide the 50 “extra” officers promised.
Mr Potter told Mix 104.9 radio there were 11 extra officers in the town than when the Prime Minister visited.
There’s nothing these parasites won’t bullsh** about!!!!
Keep up the good investigative reporting NT Independent…. without you, residents of the NT wouldn’t know what the hell is going on with these professional liars….😠
I am sure the Band-Aid company is making political contributions to NT Labor. Their profits must be booming. More BS from a Minister/s one of which wants to be called ‘The Flash’ and I must say I was somewhat impressed by his initial assertive comments. Promises which are now shot down by his party. Time to go Independent.
The newly appointed Territory Families Minister Ngaree Ah Kit has decided that following the police being abused, assaulted, spat on and having their time wasted, they can them pass these kids to Territory Families staff to face the same abuse.
When will we accept that by taking away the authority of the Aboriginal Elders has caused this problem due to our ‘woke’ laws and attitudes.
When will people accept that statistical relevance be accepted in that this is predominantly a ‘First Nations’ people committing these ‘western crimes’. I will not be labelled as a racist because I identify the majority of pepertrators as indigenous. A fact which seems, cannot be identified.
Their society was basically harmonious before our intervention, although some aspects of their societies seem cruel to us. They developed this harmony over so many thousands of years, yet we newbies think that our society is better because why?
Ice has become a drug of choice for many of the indigenous, who, as trained warriors, feel ‘bulletproof’ after consuming. Alcohol is a release for the elders who now have no control due to western laws. It could be labelled as the ‘Perfect Storm’
So restricting hours for Bottleshop purchases will have the same effect as the ridiculous BDR and Floor Pricing, zero whatsoever.
We don’t have an alcohol problem anymore than we did we I moved here in 1981. We have a problem that the ‘government’ don’t recognise, that the restrictions and substances that we have released on a society whose peoples, particularly the Elders are unable to deal with in their culture.
When will wisdom be introduced back into our totally fractured parliamentry systems. I guess only when people with genuine life-experience can run for parliament, not Phys-ed teachers under 50. Maybe take the voting age back to 21.
You can guarantee that anything Ignoree Ah Kit is involved in will amount to nothing
She must be close the laziest of our next to useless bunch of pretenders making the rules here
She struggles to manage a BBQ in the park let alone solve the issue of actually saving these rampant youth
They need discipline and leadership to get them on track. Two things that are sadly lacking in the wedding cake