Residents in the remote Northern Territory community of Peppimenarti say they wait “hours” for police assistance even when they have reported serious crime such as family violence, sexual assaults and gunshots, and claim the lack of policing would not be tolerated anywhere else.
About 200 people live in Peppimenarti, six hours’ drive south of Darwin. Lawyers recently instigated a racial discrimination claim with the Australian Human Rights Commission alleging a lack of police resources for residents in the community.
Anastasia Naiya Wilson, a Ngan’gikurunggurr woman who lives in Peppimenarti, said the community was traumatised with unrest and tensions exacerbated by gangs and antisocial behaviour.
She said a recent shooting in the area frightened the family, including young children in the home. She “continuously” called police but said it took hours for officers to arrive.
“From 2.30am they were continuously terrorising us … hearing the gunshots … I was continuously ringing triple zero. We had kids in our house and it took police until 7.30 in the morning to get here,” Wilson said. “The last shot was about six o’clock in the morning.
“Police aren’t doing their job properly.”
Wilson said her home and car were also trashed when intruders broke into her home set fire to her car. Nurses and shop staff have left the community because of the violence and threats, she said.
She is considering leaving the community over rape and other violent threats, including unsolicited sexual images that she and other women have received.
“I want to leave just to have a break, I can’t sleep, one of the main reason is the person who made … threats is still out here,” she said.
She felt after going to police, their reports were not taken seriously. “I was angry with them, I said to him “be honest with me, if this happened to a white girl in Darwin, This would be all over the news, he’d be arrested. Because we live in an Aboriginal community, it doesn’t matter.”
Wilson also raised concerns about a relative brutally beaten in a domestic violence incident, needing to be airlifted to Darwin hospital for treatment. The alleged perpetrator was not arrested and is still in the community.
Wilson worked in Peppimenarti’s safe house but said it was shut down due to ongoing violence. Women were afraid to go there because in the small community, everyone knew the location of the shelter.
“There is a lot of domestic violence here but community feel afraid of reporting because of payback. And if they go to the safe house, police are gonna be involved and they don’t do nothing anyway.”
Wilson wants more support to tackle the complex issues and to remove the small number of people leading to the tensions.
“Federal police and the army needs to come out and remove these people … When the intervention first came in we had federal police, and they were really good to work with.”
The NT government confirmed the safe house was closed in 2021 due to low numbers of women accessing the service and after community consultation. There were safe houses in nearby Daly and Wadeye that women can access, the spokesperson said.
Karl Lukonavic is still coping with the loss of his nephew who was killed by a crossbow attack in September last year. Lukonavic said many in the town were frustrated at the situation.
“I was waiting for the doctor on Thursday and they didn’t turn up because of the unrest. Because of the lockdown, the whole community has gone into shutdown mode.”
He said he and his family frequently stayed elsewhere because they did not feel safe in their own home. “This is impacting us mentally, physically, spiritually. We’re on our last limb,” he said.
NT police said the community had two police members stationed there and further resources were dispatched as needed.
In a statement, police said all reported crimes against a person, including domestic violence reports, were responded to without “fear or favour” and that behaviour by a small number of locals was “completely unacceptable”.
“NT police will continue to work with Elders, Traditional Owners and other community stakeholders in an effort to bring an end to these disturbances.”
