Northern Territory police have reportedly responded to an “extreme” number of domestic violence incidents in Alice Springs on Tuesday night, including four hospitalisations and four arrests.
The night of violence comes amid a reemerging debate about the “out of control” rates of domestic and family violence in the NT, and how to respond to it.
NT police confirmed four people were hospitalised with non-life-threatening injuries on Tuesday night, following domestic violence incidents. Police arrested four people, who were charged with aggravated assault and breaching domestic violence orders. The cases were among an “unusually large” number of incidents.
“I don’t want to give you a ballpark figure but it was an extreme amount, especially for a Tuesday night,” Sen Sgt Dan Whitfield-Jones told the ABC.
The territory’s police commissioner, Reece Kershaw, recently revealed police were called to more than 74,800 incidents in the past three years alone, and 44% of all domestic violence orders are breached.
Alice Springs contributed more than 40% of offending in the Northern Territory.
He also said on average one child in the Territory was subject to domestic and family violence every day, and an incident would be witnessed by a child at least three times a day.
Kershaw said police data revealed the peak times were in the month of December, with Friday and Saturday accounting for 33% of offending. Alcohol was a primary factor in 63% of reports, and was involved in 100% of the 23 domestic violence related homicides over the past three years.
More than 60% of assaults are related to domestic and family violence, according to NT government figures, and Indigenous women make up 73% of the victims.
The rate of family violence presentations among Indigenous women in the NT is almost 23 times that of non-Indigenous women.
In a report on the deaths of two women who had been subjected to long-term violence the coroner, Greg Cavanagh, made a number of specific recommendations but largely pointed to the issues Indigenous people, and particularly women, face when trying to deal with the criminal justice system.
The Northern Territory government is in the proposal stages for establishing a specialist domestic violence court trial for Alice Springs. The Making Justice Work coalition of peak bodies in the Northern Territory had called for specialist and therapeutic courts before the Territory election in August.
Anti-violence campaigners and workers welcomed the announcement, but also urged the government to focus on prevention and intervention strategies.
“One of the things we know is we’ve got a large amount of domestic violence matters before the courts and one of the things we need to do is look at how the procedures of the court can best support women to access those services successfully,” said the NT families minister, Dale Wakefield, on Tuesday.
Wakefield, formerly the head of the Alice Springs Women’s Shelter, said the trial was still in the consultation stage, and stakeholders would be involved in its design.
“So we’re looking at a trial in Alice Springs that’s really focused on procedural change to make sure women feel comfortable, safe, and supported during that process,” she said.
Wakefield said it was still in the consultation stage, and stakeholders would be involved in its design.
“Domestic violence is one of the biggest issues, along with alcohol abuse, that we face,” said the NT attorney general, Natasha Fyles, on Wednesday.
“We want to make sure there’s a safer and more effective pathway through the courts process, but then we also need to make sure we resource infrastructure, such as the Alice Springs women’s shelter.”
Before the election $6m was pledged for an Alice Springs women’s shelter and for safe houses in the remote Arnhem Land community of Galiwin’ku.
