Nationals leader David Littleproud urges PM, Indigenous Australians Minister to visit crime-hit Carnarvon

Federal Nationals leader David Littleproud has urged the Prime Minister and Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney to travel to Carnarvon to see its crime scourge first-hand, saying the Gascoyne town deserved the same attention as Alice Springs. Anthony Albanese travelled to the Northern Territory town last week in response to its youth crime crisis, which led to the introduction of alcohol restrictions and an announcement that almost $50 million would be spent on a range of initiatives. It prompted calls for him to also focus on the plight of Carnarvon where anti-social behaviour and youth crime is breaking up families and left one resident so stressed he has lost all of his hair. “Not only should the Prime Minister but I think the Indigenous Affairs Minister should be across all of these communities and understand the opportunities there and the power that she has to institute change and to work with stakeholders,” Mr Littleproud told reporters in Perth on Monday. “There’s been a lot of responsibility or blame to the Federal Government, but states also have a shared responsibility. “They, like Canberra, just simply come in and wave a chequebook rather than actually instituting practical policies like grog bans, like the cashless debit card.” Mr Littleproud said he visited Carnarvon about half a year ago and heard from the Nationals’ North West Central MP Merome Beard that she’d had her Port Hotel business broken into several times. “So you can see that this isn’t just in Alice Springs,” he said. Ms Beard, who invited Premier Mark McGowan to Carnarvon before Christmas, told The West Australian on Sunday that he still had not responded. Asked if the Carnarvon community would feel as though the State Government was taking its issues seriously if the Premier showed his face, Deputy Premier Roger Cook said: “Well, as you know, the Premier and all the ministers have got a heavy schedule of going to regional Western Australia. “We make sure we have a constant presence in those communities.” Carnarvon shire president Eddie Smith also told this publication that a visit from the Prime Minister would be “of great benefit” but he was a “realist”, noting the town only had about 3500 voters. Earlier this month, a video circulated on social media showing a stolen car smashing into a police vehicle on a Carnarvon street. Three 16-year-old boys were slapped with a string of charges over the incident.