Alice Springs baker says Anthony Albanese should sack NT Police minister as ... trends now
A baker living in an outback town overrun with violence has unleashed at the 'disgraceful' lack of action on the issue by Anthony Albanese's government.
Darren Clarke's bakery in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory has been broken into 41 times in just three years.
The town has recently descended into chaos with gangs of youths roaming the streets at night, breaking into businesses and engaging in extreme violence.
The Prime Minister flew to Alice Springs on Tuesday amid mounting pressure to visit the town and address its crime problem that locals say is now 'out of control'.
Mr Clarke, who runs the Facebook page Action For Alice 2020, took aim at NT Police Minister Kate Worden, and called for her to resign.
Darren Clarke's bakery in Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory, has been broken into 41 times over three years
'Anthony Albanese when he gets off the plane, the first thing he should say to (NT Chief Minister) Natasha Fyles is ''Kate Worden, go'',' he said in a fiery interview with Sky News on Tuesday.
'She has to go and she has to go today.'
Crime levels in the Outback town have escalated since the government lifted bans on alcohol in July.
Problems were 'immediate', police said, when the Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory Act ceased on July 17, 2022, meaning alcohol was available for the first time in many of the Territory's Indigenous settlements since 2007.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (above) is visiting Alice Springs for the first time since he was elected following mounting pressure to address the town's major crime problem
Local business owner Mr Clarke called on NT Police Minister and Minister for Families Kate Worden (pictured) to resign
'I've been broken into 41 times,' Mr Clarke said, adding many other locals had experienced the same.
'This place is totally out of control, the violence on the streets is out of control, the domestic violence you see out on the streets every night and through the day is out of control and something needs to be done.'
Youths have terrorised the town's residents by lingering around the CBD at night, while many have taken to breaking into residents' homes.
Mr Clarke said the vandalism was often just 'senseless violence', but added some youths were breaking into homes and businesses for alcohol and to steal car keys.
'They're going in with sharp-edged weapons, they're going in with machetes, tomahawks, hunting knives,' he said.
'Something has to give and something has to give immediately.'
Alice Springs has faced a wave of youth crime in recent years (pictured, a young man attempting to break into Alice Spring's Todd Tavern)
