The prime minister made the right call with his urgent visit to Alice Springs on Tuesday,but he and his government have been too slow to respond to a surge in violence that is clearly linked to the flow of alcohol into the town.
His answer on Tuesday night was toask for a report by February 1 on new rules on alcohol sales. In other words,he needed more time.
The Central Australian Aboriginal Congress saw the problem coming when it told Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney about the violence in a letter on June 9. Backed by eight other groups,congress chief Donna Ah Chee warned of an unrelenting spate of violence.
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“There is no doubt that many of the offenders are from families where adults have alcohol problems,” she wrote. “To permit more access to alcohol will undoubtedly add fuel to this fire.”
The congress wanted the federal government to extend alcohol bans that had been in place for a decade for another two years. What it got instead was a Senate inquiry that is still looking into the problem. In the meantime,assaults surged.
This is not a challenge for Albanese alone when primary responsibility lies with the Northern Territory government,which saw the alcohol bans as discriminatory.