The NT police minister and prominent Aboriginal Territorians have reacted angrily to Peter Dutton’s claims that “young Indigenous kids are being sexually assaulted on a regular basis” in Alice Springs, saying he should report any wrongdoing to police for further investigation.
Kate Worden, the police minister, told reporters on Thursday: “What we’ve seen over the last couple of days from Peter Dutton in central Australia is absolutely opportunistic, political game-playing, and using the most vulnerable people here in the heart of our nation as a pawn in that game. It’s quite frankly, a dog act.”
The opposition leader, who is on the second day of visiting Alice Springs, described the law and order problems in the town as a “travesty” and repeated demands for the government to send in federal police.
“There are stories that we’ve heard today as we’ve walked the streets about the dysfunction, the desperation of young Indigenous kids who are being sexually assaulted, still, on a regular basis – that hasn’t stopped,” Dutton told reporters on Wednesday.
“Nothing has changed from when I was here in October. The same stories about break-ins, about stolen cars, about risk to human life, about the sexual assault of young boys and girls. It’s still exactly as it was then, and this community can’t wait.”
Worden went on to say Dutton “has had no interest in Alice Springs for 10 years”.
“A couple of months ago, we saw him fly in and out of Alice Springs and make completely baseless claims around child sexual abuse in Alice Springs,” she said.
“None of the evidence substantiates his claims – and in fact, here in the Northern Territory, I’ll remind you Mr Dutton, that we have mandatory reporting for child sexual abuse. In fact, child abuse full-stop.
“If Mr Dutton has evidence of these claims that he’s made around child sexual abuse in Alice Springs he needs to come forward and he needs to give evidence around the things that he’s claiming.”
The Labor senator for the Northern Territory, Malarndirri McCarthy, also called for the allegationsto be referred to police.
“I would ask opposition leader Peter Dutton, if you are aware of this, then you need to mandatorily report it to police so that there can be an investigation immediately, and if you have not done that, I would urge you to do so as soon as possible,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy said alcohol-related family violence, assault and attendance at the hospital had dropped dramatically since the NT government reinstated alcohol restrictions in January.
“So I would urge the opposition leader to not use Alice Springs as a political football with irresponsible accusations if they cannot be followed up.”
Lhere Artepe, which represents Arrernte traditional owners of Alice Springs and manages several businesses in town, said it had not been invited to speak to Dutton on any of his visits to the town.
The Lhere Artepe chief executive, Arrernte man Graeme Smith, said Dutton’s comments were “insulting”.
“Where’s the proof?” Smith said. “We’ve heard all this before. Reading between the lines, if kids are being abused, then what’s he calling us? This is what we heard during the intervention, and we all know that the intervention was cooked up overnight. This is the same narrative I’m hearing from Dutton. Where’s the facts? It’s really insulting.”
Smith said he could not see “any reason” for Dutton’s visit to Alice “other than to campaign against the voice”.
“So if he’s coming here to consult on the voice, who is he consulting with? His mind is already made up,” Smith said.
Dutton was asked by reporters on Wednesday why he had not met with Smith or anyone else from Lhere Artepe. Dutton said he had been “speaking to people on the ground; shoppers in shopping centres, people who are having their businesses boarded up, people who are actually living in the community and aren’t afraid to speak out”.
But Smith said Lhere Artepe owns three IGA supermarkets in town and manages a retail store in the main street.
“We own much, much more business than the people he is speaking to, and so if he’s speaking to the business sector, he is forgetting that Lhere Artepe contributes over $20m annually to the economy of Alice Springs, and employs over 200 staff across our enterprises,” Smith said.
“Not only are we native title holders, we’re a major contributor to this economy.”
Smith said as an Arrernte man he wants a voice to stop the “chronology of failed policies” in improving the lives of Indigenous people.
“The politicians have screwed us and made the wrong decisions. If they’d made right decisions, we wouldn’t be in this position today. That’s why we do not want politicians to represent us no more. We want a voice so that we can advise politicians so they don’t keep getting wrong.
“I think Australia has woken up. We’re a little bit older now. And who would not want 60,000 years of recognition on their nation’s birth certificate?
“I think this party and Dutton are gonna be on the wrong side of history,” Smith said.
Dutton has been approached for comment.
