Anthony Albanese has hit back after he was slammed for a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ visit to a youth crime-plagued area of the Outback.
The Prime Minister is in the Northern Territory from Wednesday as part of a multi-state pre-election blitz, with the Federal vote to be held before May.
ABC News Breakfast host Stephanie March asked the Labor leader whether he was going to visit the youth crime capital Alice Springs after Nationals senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price criticised Mr Albanese for a ‘blink and you’ll miss it stop’.
‘Well, I had three days in the Northern Territory,’ Mr Albanese hit back, tersely.
‘Jacinta Price wasn’t there on Christmas Day at the 50th anniversary of the commemoration of Cyclone Tracy. That was a really important event.
‘I was there from the 23rd until Christmas Day there in Northern Territory.
‘This visit will be my 12th visit to the Northern Territory – more visits than the three Liberal Prime Ministers who preceded me visited the Northern Territory over their almost decade in office.’
Mr Albanese spent Christmas Day in Darwin, unveiling a memorial to victims of one of the worst natural disasters to hit Australia.
ABC News Breakfast host Stephanie March asked the Labor leader whether he was going to visit the youth crime capital Alice Springs after Nationals senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price criticised Mr Albanese (pictured) for a ‘blink and you’ll miss it stop’
Senator Price said people in the NT were afraid to sleep in their own beds at night
But Ms March cut him off to ask him whether he would visit Alice Springs itself, where a newborn baby had its skull fractured in a terrifying home invasion just last month.
‘We’re now seeing South Australia sending police to help with the situation,’ Ms March said.
‘You’ve obviously given $250 million to try and help the situation there, but it seems so dire. And you’re not planning to visit to see if that money’s working?’
Mr Albanese insisted he had been to Alice Springs on two previous occasions.
‘I’ve visited every part of the Northern Territory, whether it be Darwin, Katherine, Nhulunbuy, Alice Springs, Uluru,’ he responded.
But it is not the first time Mr Albanese has been accused of skipping the crime-plagued town of Alice Springs.
In January 2023, he spoke with the Mayor, police officials and Indigenous leaders in the area about the intolerable rates of youth crime following a national outcry.
Mr Albanese gave his support for a number of stringent Northern Territory Government measures, including a three-month ban on alcohol sales on Mondays and Tuesdays, with customers limited to one transaction per day in bottle shops.
In recent years, crime rates have soared in Alice Springs. For example, In 2022, alcohol-related assaults increased by almost 70 per cent (pictured: CCTV footage of youths targeting a local pub)
A restrictive sales window of 3pm to 7pm was also introduced in an effort to curb the grog-fueled violence.
He stayed in Alice Springs for about four hours before days later being spotted sipping on beer and eating ice cream at the Australian Open.
Deputy Opposition leader Sussan Ley accused the Prime Minister of not showing strong leadership on the youth crime crisis.
‘(He) wasn’t there in the evening and didn’t see the violence that happens every night on the streets,’ she said after his last visit.
‘Didn’t see the despair and the desperation that particularly women and children are experiencing.
‘And then announced some measures but immediately local people are calling for more.
‘I think we do need stronger leadership; we do need the Prime Minister to step up and do more to support this community.’
Businessman and Aboriginal leader Warren Mundine also accused Mr Albanese of ‘flying around the country and having great times going to sporting events and drinking’ while ‘the country is hurting’.
In recent years, crime rates have soared in Alice Springs.
For example, In 2022, alcohol-related assaults increased by almost 70 per cent.
The topic has achieved national notoriety in recent weeks after a two-month-old baby was left with a fractured skull during a home invasion and a women was allegedly raped in her home by an unknown man.
In 2024, the Albanese government committed to a $250 million package of support for the Outback, with funds earmarked to help tackle crime levels in Alice Springs.
