Leaders in Western Australia's north are urging politicians to embrace long-term solutions to the region's soaring youth crime rates, with a focus on improving family life.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited the Northern Territory town of Alice Springs this week and outlined a response which included takeaway alcohol bans and more funding for police.
The PM's headline-grabbing trip left many leaders across the border, in the Kimberley and Pilbara, asking what such measures — and national attention — would achieve in their communities, which have broadly seen sharp rises in youth offending.
The situation in the Kimberley escalated last year, prompting the state government to announce a $40 million suite of measures, which included more social programs, a higher police presence and the creation of an on-country sentencing facility.
Youth and overall crime in the East Kimberley town of Halls Creek hit record levels mid last year, while publicly available offence numbers are yet to be released for the final quarter of 2022.
While offending typically involves car stealing and burglaries, residents were shocked this month when teenagers tried to carjack a power contractor twice in a matter of hours, while also throwing rocks at him.
Halls Creek Shire chief executive Phillip Cassell dismissed the idea of further alcohol restrictions in the town, arguing the key issues — which emerged at a recent crisis meeting — involved the need for more housing and social programs.
"The total root cause of our issues is housing and overcrowding. It's got nothing to do with alcohol bans at all," he said.
"For a survival instinct, [children committing crimes] just get out of the house. Well, where do they go and what do they do during the night? They can only roam the street."
Ms Cassell said he was in talks with WA Housing Minister John Carey about securing $22 million to build 35 new homes in Halls Creek, but only when soaring construction costs eased.
"He's happy to give me the money in time, but let's not be price gouged by the market at the moment," he said.
"It also gives me time to do some smaller developments … and design the houses correctly so our First Nations people get a house that's suited to their way of life and culture."
Why only Alice Springs?
Jaru man Ribnga Green is a Halls Creek community leader with extensive experience in law and policy at all levels of government.
He said it was important to interrogate why the federal government had placed emphasis on Alice Springs in particular.
"I think it's a fair question to ask, and it's a real issue," he said.
"We need to keep pressing the government for why they are doing this and not looking at the greater region right across the top end of Australia."
He said it was disappointing that not enough funding was being diverted to Hall Creek.
"The shire president, who has been grappling with this problem for some time, was very much concerned about having the resources to fund facilities that could act as diversionary points of activity for kids," Mr Green said.
"I also think in the middle of all this, is an insufficient regard to Aboriginal cultural values and leadership."
Calls for family support
Further north, crime rates in the East Kimberley hub of Kununurra are just shy of their 2019 peak, and business owners say the issue has made it harder to attract and retain staff.
Like Halls Creek, groups of children wander the streets at night, and frontline workers such as nurses, doctors, police and ambulance volunteers deal regularly with drunk and disorderly behaviour.
Indigenous advocate Ian Trust said if the federal government was to draw national attention towards the East Kimberley — in the same way as Alice Springs — measures should be aimed at improving the lives of disadvantaged families in overcrowded homes.
The Gija man said he viewed western society's layered response to intergenerational trauma as a system of concentric circles.
"The inner circle is law and order and safety. So that's more police and alcohol controls," he said.
"The next ring out is things like youth programs, parenting support — what do you do with youth roaming the streets? The next thing out is things like welfare reform, that includes housing and employment support.
"So it depends on how much political will there is to go at all those things in that order. There is no quick fix."
He said families in crisis needed meaningful long-term help.
"It starts off with dysfunctional families and the long-term solution is creating functional families with employment in a proper house in terms of kids going to school and getting ready for that next stage of life," he said.
Business owners demand action
Across northern WA, business owners are among the loudest voices calling for action on youth crime.
The Pilbara town of Newman has faced surging rates of car thefts, break-ins and ram raids.
On Monday, Jeanine Creek's takeaway franchise store was ram-raided, causing $75,000 damage.
Ms Creek said the incident was "devastating", yet an all-too-common occurrence in the town.
The small business owner said she would like to see Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visit the region.
"Western Australia has missed out for years … and then you come to the North West and we get the last look in," she said.
"There seems to be no solution put forward but somehow they've got to find a solution because people in Newman, they fear for their safety, there's so many high-speed [car] chases several times a week."
Police say issues are shared across borders
Late last year, concerns were raised that a long-running police operation to deal with youth crime in northern WA was unsustainable.
WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch acknowledged that the extra officers deployed in the region needed support.
"The reality is the change and shift we're seeing in youth crime is a long-term one," he said.
Mr Blanch said at a policing level, he was in conversations with other interstate authorities.
"I do talk regularly to the Northern Territory police commissioner and the Queensland commissioner — we all face similar issues in relation to juvenile crime, particularly in regional areas," he said.
"It's something we compare notes on, we make sure we're working together and aligning our responses."
