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Harsh policies must be abandoned to Close the Gap, says NATSILS
In response to the recently imposed youth curfew in Alice Springs, the national peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS) has asserted that state governments are neglecting their commitment to Closing the Gap.
Grace Robbie
NATSILS has criticised state governments across Australia, stating that their imposition of anti-violence strategies reflects a failure to understand “basic history lessons”.
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This criticism was prompted by the ongoing events unfolding in the Northern Territory, where the government has implemented a 14-day nighttime youth curfew, prohibiting individuals aged 18 and under in Mparntwe/Alice Springs from entering the Alice Springs CBD between 6:00pm and 6:00am.
This curfew enforcement followed the chaos that erupted in the CBD, involving hundreds, in a series of violent confrontations at the end of March. This included an attack on the Todd Tavern, where youths caused damages estimated at up to $30,000, as reported by the Australian Associated Press.
Northern Territory Chief Minister Eva Lawler condemned the behaviour and said she never wanted to “see anything like that again in the Northern Territory”.
Lawler also acknowledged the possibility of extending these youth curfews beyond the initial 14 days to include the two-week Easter holiday period.
In response to this event, Karly Warner, chair of NATSILS, has warned that state governments are diverting away from the objectives of the Closing the Gap campaign. She argued that the implementation of these anti-violence initiatives may inadvertently exacerbate violence rather than address its underlying causes.
“Less than a year after the Voice referendum, various governments have now been spooked by fear campaigns. Their failure to progress Closing the Gap commitments results in further dislocation, trauma, and the anxiety we are seeing play out in some communities,” Warner stated.
Warner emphasised that overlooking established policies designed to effectively address these issues and hastily implementing incentives could have more detrimental consequences than anticipated.
“Governments have a clear choice, and it should be an easy one. They can opt for what they see as political fixes that make the problem worse, or they can go to the policies and solutions that are evidence-based and already well established,” she said.
“Using ‘but, we have to do something!’ as an excuse for punitive measures against children is itself juvenile intellectual reasoning. Policies that result in children being locked up and make problems worse are not solutions – they are dangerous and will result in further tragedy for communities and children.”
NATSILS has issued a call to action for all state governments to “abandon their punitive policies and get back on track with Closing the Gap”, emphasising the need for a more effective approach to addressing the issue.
