The Northern Territory government plans to take unsupervised children found roaming Alice Springs’ streets at night into custody.

November 10, 2022

The Northern Territory government plans to remove unsupervised children from Alice Springs’ streets at night in a bid to kerb youth crime.

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said work was underway to allow police and other agencies to take children undertaking “risky” behaviour into custody.

“We want to make sure we intervene and have a circuit breaker before that behaviour turns criminal or potentially tragic for them,” she told reporters on Thursday.

“It is essentially providing a safe place and then in daylight then ascertaining what’s happening in that individual child’s life.

“Is it just that they were out and they should have been with mum, dad, aunty, grandma, or are there actually deeper factors and we do need to provide further supports.”

The plan comes amid ongoing frustration with the Fyles Labor government over a perceived lack of action to combat property crime in Alice Springs.

Ms Fyles said the government was looking into the NT’s current child protection legislation and service providers.

“We want children to be safe, but we know the evidence shows risky behaviour, being out on the streets late at night, can lead to criminal behaviour and we don’t want to let it get to that point,” she said.

“This is for the best interests of that child and that family.

“We want children with their families (and) we don’t want children to be removed from the family situation, but we need to make sure we provide care for those young people.”

Ms Fyles said it was likely five to 10 children could be taken into care per night and the policy could be rolled out across the NT.

She did not say when it would be implemented.