Recent attacks on police using vehicles as a weapon in both Alice Springs and Katherine open a scary new chapter in the lawlessness dominating the Territory.
Leader of the Opposition Lia Finocchiaro said similar reckless behaviour had already claimed a life in Alice Springs and now the Territory’s front line against crime was under attack.
“We don’t want to see police officers die before this government does something, Natasha Fyles has to act now” she said.
Mrs Finocchiaro met with the Northern Territory Police Association on Friday to discuss the escalating crime rates and the Labor government’s lack of support, resources and protection for police.
“The fact that two thirds of our police force have been assaulted on the job under a Labor government is abhorrent and cannot be ignored,” she said.
“The CLP stands with our police who pull on the blue uniform every day to serve and protect Territorians.”
For six years Labor has failed to bring in reforms for tougher consequences for assaulting police.
Instead, the Fyles government has actually made it easier to assault police by removing vital tools like spit hoods from watch-houses.
Mrs Finocchiaro said Labor voted against the CLP’s legislation to have a term of actual imprisonment for first time offenders.
“Labor has not only failed Territory police through inaction, they have four times voted down an inquiry into our policing crisis,” she said.
“To rub salt in the wound, next week Labor is likely to ram through laws that further disempower our police by raising the age of criminal responsibility and abolishing mandatory sentencing.”
Mrs Finocchiaro called on anyone concerned about crime and the police crisis to urgently contact Labor MLAs to voice their concern before the Territory was plunged further into crisis.
ENDS