Shadow Minister for Tourism, Marie-Clare Boothby, says the Gunner Labor Government’s multi-million dollar tourism campaign to attract people to the Territory has been eclipsed by the viewership of Monday night’s damning report into the Alice Springs crime wave aired on Nine’s A Current Affair.
“More than 1.5 million people have now viewed the A Current Affair report which aired on Monday night, on social media, in addition to the 700,000 Australians who watched the broadcast on television.
“That’s more than 2 million people who have now witnessed the Chief Minister’s negligent failures on youth crime.
“Compare that with the around 220,000 views accumulated on the 23 separate ‘Seek Different’ promotional videos posted to the Territory tourism YouTube channel – a campaign the Gunner Government is spending $2 million dollars to promote.
“The tourism sector in Central Australia is in damage control. Operators have reported mass cancellations citing community safety as the main reason.
“This is a public relations disaster. With an $8.4 billion dollar budget black hole, the Gunner Labor Government could never find enough money to fund a campaign to offset the damage done to our tourism industry.
“We can’t repair the image of Central Australia while we still have rampant crime and swarms of youths on our streets. Reversing Labor’s weak bail laws to address the issue of repeat offending is one way we can start to turn the tide.
“The Chief Minister’s ignorance is shameless. In response to A Current Affair’s report he told media “there is no presumption of bail”. There is. He put it there. It’s in the Youth Justice and Bail Act amendments passed in parliament by Labor.
“Either Michael Gunner doesn’t understand his own legislation, or he’s deliberately trying to mislead Territorians,” said Ms Boothby.