The Alice Springs curfew is being discussed as calls suggest it won't work and is a temporary fix to the problem.
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00:00Police say it was a steady night in Alice Springs after a chaotic weekend in the outback
00:06town.
00:07From 10pm until 6am, people of all ages are barred from entering the heart of the Alice
00:13Springs CBD, except for a small number of reasons, including visiting family, caregiving
00:19and attending work.
00:21Police say they had interactions with about 100 people over the hours of the curfew last
00:26night.
00:27Police say they saw good compliance with the rules and positive interactions when it came
00:32to education around the emergency measure.
00:35No arrests were made in relation to breaches of the curfew.
00:39And while it's still early days, police are hopeful this trend will continue in the nights
00:44ahead.
00:45Now, something that may have contributed to this quiet night was the closure of two of
00:50Alice Springs' most popular pubs, Bojangles and The Rock Bar.
00:56Police announced late yesterday that they were temporarily suspending the liquor licenses
01:00of these two venues for a period of 48 hours.
01:04It comes after an incident in the early hours of Sunday morning involving a brawl of about
01:0980 people at the front of these two pubs.
01:12Shortly after, four off-duty police officers who were walking back to their hotel after
01:17a night out were allegedly attacked by about 20 people who had been moved on from this
01:23brawl.
01:24Now, police say in the interest of reducing alcohol-related harm in the region, they will
01:29be temporarily suspending these licenses.
01:33But the owners of Bojangles have since spoken out on social media.
01:36They say they feel they're being unfairly punished and are calling for any evidence
01:41behind this decision.
01:42Now, we're continuing to hear mixed reviews around the curfew after its first night.
01:48Many people are hopeful it could be a positive circuit breaker for the region, but there
01:52are still many others who are concerned the government is just returning to a Band-Aid
01:58measure.
01:59They say more needs to be done to address the underlying issues behind crime and anti-social
02:04behaviour in the region, including systemic poverty and neglect of remote Aboriginal communities,
02:11as well as domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, housing shortages and a lack of employment
02:17and education in these communities.
02:20We spoke this morning to Senator Jacinta Nampajimpa-Price, who is a former Alice Springs
02:24town councillor, and she said she expects the curfew could be extended beyond three
02:29days and doesn't actually address the issues plaguing this town.
02:34Here's what she had to say.
02:35Look, I think it will probably be longer than three days and if it is just three days, I've
02:41no doubt there'll be another snap curfew because the underlying problems aren't fixed through
02:47a curfew.
02:48We also spoke to Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney.
02:52She pointed to $250 million invested by the federal government during crime and anti-social
02:59behaviour early last year.
03:01Now there have been concerns in the community that this money isn't hitting the ground fast
03:05enough, and Minister Burney acknowledged that more needs to be done.
03:10Here's what she had to say.
03:11I think the really important thing is to take the politics out of this.
03:17Everyone's views are important, everyone's views should be listened to, but we cannot
03:24get away from the poverty, the deprivation, the shocking living conditions and quite frankly
03:35young people not being able to see a future.
03:39So while some are positive about this snap curfew, there are many more calling for governments
03:44to do more to address the underlying issues in Alice Springs.