Don’t use Alice Springs as political football: senator

Dominic Giannini and Andrew Brown | April 13, 2023

An Indigenous senator has warned Peter Dutton not to use crime in Alice Springs as a “political football” during the campaign for the voice.

While Mr Dutton has used a visit to the NT to campaign that the Indigenous voice won’t fix issues on the ground for communities, NT senator Malarndirri McCarthy said issues in Alice Springs shouldn’t be exploited for political gain.

Senator McCarthy also hit out at claims made by the opposition leader of Indigenous children being returned to abusers.

“I would urge the opposition leader to not use Alice Springs as a political football with irresponsible accusations if they cannot be followed up,” she told reporters in Darwin on Thursday.

“It is a very serious allegation to raise the abuse of a child and a serious allegation to make that a child is being returned to an abuser.”

Mr Dutton, who visited Alice Springs with Indigenous senator Jacinta Price to campaign against the voice, took aim at Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney and said the town would be overlooked by the voice.

“You have kids here tonight who are going to be sexually abused or families where domestic violence has now become an occurrence all the time and we are told nothing can be done about it. I find it deplorable,” Mr Dutton said.

Supporters of the voice say problems in towns such as Alice Springs highlight why the Indigenous voice is needed. They say the advisory body will help politicians and public servants make better decisions.

Ms Burney said statistics on crime in Alice Springs were heading in the right direction.

She said the Indigenous voice would be the best way for outcomes to be delivered for regional communities, warning against scare campaigns on the issue.

“The voice will be about practical things that affect the daily lives of Aboriginal people,” Ms Burney said.

“It will not be about scare campaigns. It will not be about nonsense, like changing Australia Day, and I wanted to make that extraordinarily clear.”

The minister said the voice would “move the dial” on closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

“The voice is an amazing opportunity for Australia to be unified. It’s an amazing opportunity for the Australian Constitution to tell the truth and reflect the story of this country,” Ms Burney said.

“There had been already, early in the day, much misinformation, and I think mischievous disinformation, put out about the voice.”

The mayor of Alice Springs, Matt Paterson, has also pleaded with politicians to not use issues in the town for their own purposes.

He said the community needed help, regardless of the outcome.

“My fear is if people are linking it with the voice, as soon as the referendum is over they’re going to forget about Alice Springs,” Mr Paterson said.

“We’re asking for help because we need a change and we’re going to need to change a lot longer than when the referendum is held later this year.”

Indigenous Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle, who grew up in Alice Springs, said she wanted a legislated body that would focus on regional communities, but had reservations about enshrining it in the constitution.

“The principle of the Liberal Party is it’s really important that people in the local and regional areas are heard and they’re heard first,” she told AAP.

Her Northern Territory colleague Jacinta Price, the former deputy mayor of Alice Springs, said more bureaucracy would not help.

She wants to see more police officers on the ground.

“We can’t just be a territory that is heavy with bureaucracy, heavy with public service,” Senator Price said.

“Community members are just crying out for support.”