Violent assaults in the Northern Territory have hit their highest rate in at least 15 years, an analysis of long-term NT Police data reveals, as repeat victims consider packing up and leaving the jurisdiction.
Territory-wide, the yearly statistics show assaults over the past 12 months are up by 88 per cent from 2009 — up by nearly 55 per cent in Darwin, and a whopping 148 per cent in Alice Springs.
The data appears relatively steady between 2009 – when publicly available police data begins – and the end of 2020, when a sharp spike can be seen, culminating in a peak by the end of 2022.
According to the data, there have been 10,231 assaults across the territory in the 12 months to January 2023, compared with 5,419 in 2009, marking a record high since the data began.
The results of this spike are playing out on the streets and in businesses, with retail staff among the public-facing workers baring the brunt of more attacks than ever experienced.
More than a dozen residents who spoke to the ABC, on and off the record, said they'd recently considered leaving the NT due to crime and its direct impact on their lives.
Among them was Nam Ngo, a business owner in Palmerston, whose shop was recently robbed. He was hit with a weapon as he attempted to confront the alleged perpetrators outside.
"It's very, very scary, and I'm worried about my wife, too," Mr Ngo said.
"I'm always worried about my business after leaving my business [for the day], because sometimes [break-ins] are happening after hours too.
"And for my wife, she's been very stressed for a couple of weeks already – it's happened twice to us.
"We keep going to the police station to report, but I don't know what else to do."
Mr Ngo owns multiple businesses in the region, and after 15 years in the territory, said he's now at a crossroads of whether to stay, or leave for safer ground.
"We're losing money as well, so if it keeps happening, I can't survive," he said.
"If it keeps happening, we might move to another state."
Concern that homelessness is driving crime rate
Fellow Palmerston businessman Cormac MacCarthy, who manages a bar and grill in the area, said he wasn't surprised by the statistics and had never seen crime so bad.
"We're fortifying our businesses and fortifying our places of work, and all this is going on, and we [authorities] don't seem to be doing anything about it," Mr MacCarthy said.
"It's just a massive amount of antisocial behaviour and violence, and just disruption in the restaurant, and outside of the restaurant.
"To the point where I'm actually terrified the place won't survive it."
Mr MacCarthy is concerned the NT's homelessness rates – the worst in Australia by far – are a direct factor in driving crime and antisocial behaviour across Palmerston and Darwin.
He called on the city's councils to do more to assist with those living rough, but was unsure if his business would survive while he waits for solutions.
"I was born in the territory, I was born in Alice Springs, I've lived here all my life," Mr MacCarthy said.
"And I've had that conversation with my family and friends – we'll see what happens with this place, we'll see if we can survive this onslaught, but if we fall, we'll probably go.
"I don't know where."
Solutions and causes under spotlight
Violence in the Northern Territory came to a head last week, with the alleged murder of bottle shop worker Declan Laverty after he refused a customer at work.
Thousands of people rallied on the weekend in response to Mr Laverty's stabbing death, all calling for urgent action to be taken to halt the city's rising crime rates.
Last week, the NT government announced it was working on a suite of measures to combat the public safety risks, including arming security guards with capsicum spray, a review of bail laws and extra police powers.
Traditional owner group Larrakia Nation was contacted for further comment, but was unavailable late last week.
NT Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker last week said the escalating crime rate over the past two years was linked to "double payments in COVID" which saw welfare recipients ramp up their drinking habits with their increased pay packets.
"We know that there was associated harm that increased from that," he told ABC Radio Darwin.
Commissioner Chalker also said the sudden lifting of Stronger Futures alcohol bans last year had been a "prominent" cause of crime spikes in Alice Springs, but less so in other parts of the NT.
