The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) and the Human Rights Law Centre have criticised the decision made by the NT Government to extend the curfew in Mparntwe/Alice Springs.

Initially due to run from 27 March 2024 for 14 days until 10 April 2024, the Chief Minister yesterday extended the curfew to 6am on Tuesday, 16 April 2024.

NAAJA and the Human Rights Law Centre oppose any curfew, which will disproportionately impact Aboriginal children and their families. Evidence shows that any engagement with the police, including transport by police in police vehicles, can cause harm to children. The imposition of the curfew risks the needless harm of contact with police and does nothing to address the underlying issues it is attempting to resolve.

Due to over-policing, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including children, are severely over-represented in the Northern Territory’s criminal legal system. The successive failures by NT Governments’ to reckon with discriminatory policing has led to the Territory’s mass imprisonment crisis. In 2022-2023, Aboriginal children made up 42 per cent of the general population, but 94 percent of children locked away in youth prisons in the NT.

Quotes attributed to Nick Espie, Special Counsel at the Human Rights Law Centre:

“Rather than subjecting children to a curfew and contact with police, the NT Government must listen to community calls for change and properly resource solutions and support services that would address community safety in Alice Springs: community-led housing, education, employment and other services that support families to thrive in their communities.”

“More police powers are never the solution. It enables members of NT Police to further target Aboriginal children and collectively punish them based on the actions of a few.

“A brave NT Government would end the obsession with looking ‘tough on crime’ and enacting knee-jerk responses like a curfew and listen to calls from community for change and support for the community-led solutions that the evidence shows actually works.”

Quotes attributed to Jared Sharp, Principal Legal Officer at the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency:

“NAAJA reiterates our concern about the youth curfew that has been enforced upon Alice Springs and now extended.

“Extending the curfew is not a productive way forward. As we said previously, the Northern Territory is facing significant challenges when it comes to crime and offending and we need evidence-based solutions with an eye on the longer term – intensive support programs, diversion, education, and related services – not knee-jerk reactions and Band-Aid policies.”

Media contact:
Thomas Feng
Media and Communications Manager
Human Rights Law Centre
0431 285 275
thomas.feng@hrlc.org.au

Rebecca Urban
Senior Consultant
The Shape Agency on behalf of NAAJA
0411 790 304
rebecca@theshapeagency.com.au