Three of the Northern Territory’s top ministers say they’re doing all they can to stamp out an escalating wave of youth crime across the jurisdiction, days after another incident in the outback township of Alice Springs.
There have been at least three separate youth crime sprees in the territory over the past fortnight, with police cars rammed and pedestrians endangered by allegedly stolen vehicles being driven dangerously through town.
In response Chief Minister Natasha Fyles, Attorney-General Chansey Paech and Police Minister Kate Worden held a joint press conference this morning, denying the government had lost control of the situation.
"The police are well and truly engaged in that process [to see] that those crime levels are reduced significantly," Ms Worden said.
In the most recent incident on Saturday, police said an allegedly stolen white ute was used to ram two vehicles — including an unmarked police car — and driven on the wrong side of the road.
The car eventually crashed and four youths were seen fleeing on foot. Two teenagers, aged 14 and 19, were arrested.
Just days prior in Katherine — an outback town 270 kilometres south of Darwin — three teenagers, aged between 14 and 16, were taken into custody after two allegedly stolen cars were used to ram marked police cars in the town's centre.
Earlier this month, five teenagers were arrested for stealing cars, joy-riding dangerously and driving head-on at police cars in the Alice Springs CBD.
Ministers say enough is being done
The ministers pointed to existing "prevention and diversion programs" on Monday but did not make any new announcements or pledge any additional funding to stem the issue.
Ms Worden said the government was still working on a previously announced proposal to remove at-risk children from their families if they're found unsupervised late at night on the streets of Alice Springs.
"We’re continuing to work through that process — as you could understand, there are some sensitivities about removing young people for their safety off the streets at night-time and not returning them to a family home," she said.
"It’s a lot of work that has to be done, [but] we’re not too far away from that being implemented as a trial."
The government also pointed to its move to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12 as a way to help "break the cycle" of youth crime and incarceration.
Ms Fyles said important investments were being made to youth diversion programs.
"Since January to just recently, we've had 590 young people territory-wide participate in diversion," she said.
"We need to understand the circumstances these young people come from and provide them with support, putting our victims first so they do not offend in the first place or reoffend."
Opposition calls for more action
While the government said they were working towards a solution, the opposition called for more to be done.
Country Liberals Party deputy leader Gerard Maley said the government had "lost control" of youth crime.
"There are no consequences in relation to offending in the Northern Territory," he said on Monday.
Mr Maley also criticised the government's plan to raise the age of criminal responsibility, which has been praised by Indigenous organisations and health groups.
He said the reforms were "opening the door" to more youth offending because adequate diversion programs were not in place to help at-risk children.
"We say this government is getting the balance wrong — they're putting the rights of the offender over the victim.
"They need to make sure that if [children] are going to commit an offence, you ... are going to go through some sort of rehabilitation program that works.
"At the moment it doesn't work because our crime rates are going through the roof."
Mr Maley said the CLP would support any "urgent measures" to help victims.
The issue of crime is expected to feature heavily in parliament over the coming sitting fortnight, with changes to mandatory sentencing and legislation to raise the age of criminal responsibility expected to be introduced.
