Community leaders and social services are sounding the alarm as at least one remote youth program looks set to close and another eight will operate at reduced hours amid a crime wave in Alice Springs.
A federally funded youth program run by the Macdonnell Regional Council (MRC) is set to cease operations in Mount Liebig as a result of a 2014 funding freeze.
Two other programs in Amoonguna and Haasts Bluff have been promised last-minute, temporary funding to keep them open over the upcoming school holidays.
The ABC understands the organisation's youth program is $2 million short of meeting its 2014 targets and $200,000 short of what it needs to keep the Mount Liebig program open.
MRC's programs regularly service more than 1,500 young people and provide case management and recreation activities, which proponents have said reduce young people's contact with the justice system.
The program cuts come as Alice Springs faces a spike in youth crime that has prompted local police to twice close the Alice Springs CBD over safety concerns.
In a statement, MRC's Director of Community Services Sabine Wedemeyer said her organisation was doing everything it could to keep the services open but had run out of options.
"We are absolutely committed to being part of the solution to crime issues in town but we need to have the resources to do so," she said.
Central Australia's Youth Link Up Service's (CAYLUS) Blair McFarland said the two programs are the canaries in the coal mine as the sector approaches a major funding cliff.
"There is a train wreck coming, and it's going to have serious flow-on effects," he said.
Mr McFarland said youth programs were valued highly by young people in communities, who often don't have alternative options.
"If they close, what's the message those kids are going to take home from that? It's just going to make them angrier and more disengaged."
Funding not indexed
MRC's programs — like many other Central Australian youth programs — are primarily funded through the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA).
The sector's funding is frozen at 2014 levels and has not increased with CPI, which Mr Mcfarland said has slowly eroded the sector, shrinking programs and reducing capacity.
He said this was directly related to youth crime issues in Alice Springs.
"Closing youth programs pushes families into town as poverty refugees, which is the last thing you want to do" he said.
"We should be making remote communities more attractive places to live and spend time."
Mr Mcfarland said up to three other communities in the region were on the brink of losing their youth programs as services were forced to tighten their belts as a result of the near decade-long funding freeze.
He said he had been meeting regularly with Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney and Member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Department of Territory Families said it had written to the federal government to agitate for a funding increase and acknowledged the role programs such as MRC's play in keeping young people out of trouble.
We want our kids on a good path
Mount Liebig Watiyawanu — 300 kilometres west of Alice Springs — is home to 240 people. It has a general store, a clinic and an aged care facility but no local high school or pool.
Community leader Peter Turner said the youth program was an essential service for young people in the community who without it had very few ways of keeping occupied or building capacity.
The service runs regular sporting events, workshops, bush trips and out-of-school-hours learning programs that he considers essential for his children's future.
He said he and other parents in the community — who battle overcrowding, extreme poverty and summer temperatures that soar above 40 degrees Celsius with limited access to climate control — were extremely concerned about the news.
They worry that without the youth program their young people could become restless, bored and susceptible to antisocial behaviour.
"It feels like the government has left us behind," he said.
"Bored kids start stealing, breaking into houses, we don't want to see that happen. We want our kids to dream big and stay safe on a good path."
Mr Turner said his 13-year-old son had fallen in love with footy thanks to the program and now dreamed of being an AFL star.
"We want our kids to dream big dreams and chase them, believe in themselves — we don't want them to grow up and become criminals," he said.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Minister Burney said the Australian Government recognised "the importance of youth programs to help address community safety issues in and around Alice Springs."
It said the NIAA was in "active negotiations" with MRC and CAYLUS.
