The mayor of Alice Springs is pleading with politicians to not politicise a crime wave in central Australia for either side of the Indigenous voice campaign.
Alice Springs Town Council mayor Matt Paterson says he doesn’t want the region’s problems with alcohol and crime linked to the referendum and the community needs help regardless of the vote 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,” he told ABC radio on Thursday.
“We’re asking for help because we need a change and we’re going to need change a lot longer than when the referendum is held later this year.”
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is in Alice Springs with Indigenous senator Jacinta Price as he continues the party’s campaign against enshrining a national Indigenous voice in the constitution.
Mr Dutton has used central Australia as an example of the regional areas he says will be overlooked in the push for a national voice.
But proponents of the voice say problems in towns like Alice Springs are the reason the Indigenous advisory body is necessary as it will ensure community issues are at the centre of decision-making in Canberra.
Mr Paterson, who hasn’t outlined his position on the referendum, called for politicians to continue to raise the issues of youth crime and alcohol-fuelled violence in Alice Springs.
“In some cases it’s safer for children to be out on the street, rather than at home, but what we’re seeing is children stealing cars, ram-raiding businesses,” he said.
“Businesses can’t operate any more because of the vandalism and the bill that goes with that so people are leaving in droves. It’s hard to fathom we’re living through this in 2023.”
Senator Price, a former Alice Springs deputy mayor who grew up in the town, opposes the voice, saying there needs to be a greater focus on rural and regional communities.
She told Sky News locals believed the proposal was divisive.
“We’re generally just trying to get on as a community without being separated along the lines of race,” she said.
Senator Price is being touted as a potential coalition Indigenous affairs spokesperson after Liberal MP Julian Leeser resigned from the front bench to campaign for the ‘yes’ side.
Former Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman, who lost his North Sydney seat to a teal independent, said the party should be backing the voice.
The moderate said it was a curious approach to bind the front bench in a referendum when the same didn’t happen for the 1999 republic vote.
“We need to be thinking about the type of future we want for the Liberal Party,” he told ABC radio.
Mr Zimmerman said young people were supportive of the Liberals’ economic agenda, but they would not vote for a party that did not represent the modern Australia they wanted.
“I’m yet to see the party really responding to the type of concerns and issues I saw in my own electorate from traditional Liberal voters that abandoned us,” he said.
– AAP
