The chief minister of the Northern Territory has welcomed any potential legal challenge to the Alice Springs youth curfew, saying anyone who wants to test its validity can “bring it on”.
A youth curfew was announced by the NT government last Wednesday, as part of an emergency declaration put in place after a series of violent incidents in the Central Australian town.
The curfew bans people under the age of 18 entering the Alice Springs CBD between 6pm and 6am, every night, for two weeks.
Speaking at a press conference in Darwin on Monday, Chief Minister Eva Lawler said anyone who wanted to challenge the legality of the curfew could “bring it on”.
“I’m more than happy to have a legal challenge around that,” she said.
“While people are talking about those legal challenges, I know on the ground the people in Alice Springs absolutely are overjoyed — the vast majority of people [are] overjoyed to have a pressure release around the curfew.
“If we’ve got people who want to actually get into the legal arguments around that and eat up their own budgets … that actually probably should be in place around addressing young people — good luck to them.”
Ms Lawler’s comments came after she reported there were “about 25 young people” who were found by police inside the curfew area on Sunday night.
She said some were from the APY Lands, in the remote north-west of South Australia.
“[They] hadn’t got the message that the CBD was restricted for young people,” she said.
The curfew is currently expected to stay in place until Wednesday, April 10.
But with school holidays not finishing until Monday, April 15, Ms Lawler said she was considering extending it.
“At the time we looked at that two-week period to cover Easter and the start of the school holidays, so [I’m] very much aware that [the curfew is set to finish] on that Wednesday,” she said.
“So that might be one of the first steps, … to look at possibly extending it for those days over the school holidays.”
Ms Lawler also said that since the curfew was first enforced, families had been asking for support “around managing young people”.
“Some families are really struggling to make sure that their children are doing the right thing, that they have those boundaries in place,” Ms Lawler said.
‘More boots on the ground’
An extra 60 police officers have been deployed to Alice Springs as part of the emergency response.
Police mobilisation in the town was something Ms Lawler said she wanted to see continue.
“I was in Alice Springs on Thursday night and there were police everywhere, which was a great thing. That’s what the people of Alice Springs deserve and expect,” she said.
“[There will be] additional police, I have said that. We’ve done the work through the budget process.
“We will see more boots on the ground and more vans on the road.
“We need to have more police across the Northern Territory, but in Alice Springs we have seen an increase in crime and that’s a fact.”
