Background
Last week the CLP government unveiled updates to its 'rules of travel' on public buses prohibiting "dirty or stained clothes."
The NT Greens are alarmed and deeply concerned by this clear step backwards towards racial segregation in the NT.
Our buses are an essential public service and the only means of transport for many Territorians who can't afford private transport. This denigrating, elitist and racist policy is yet another thinly veiled attack from the CLP government upon First Nations people and members of our community who are doing it tough. Refusing service on public transport will prevent people from accessing essential services like healthcare, and risks isolating people from their communities and support networks.
These changes reveal a pernicious flaw in the CLP's philosophy of government - they think that you can punish the poverty out of people. The NT Greens condemn these sickening changes and call on the government to treat people with the empathy, care and respect they deserve.
Alongside these changes, the CLP Government announced last week that transit and public housing safety officers will be equipped with guns. This dangerous move has been condemned by many justice groups and community organisations, with concerns that this will lead to more deaths in custody. The NT Greens stand in solidarity with these community groups and echo their condemnation.
This is especially concerning in the context of the recent passing of Kumanjayi White at the hands of police officers in Mparntwe Alice Springs. Karinjarla Muwajarri, a powerful movement of Warlpiri Elders and community members, has been calling for the removal of guns from remote communities since the killing of Kumanjayi Walker in 2019 by police in Yuendumu. To increase the presence of guns dismisses this community's wishes in the wake of another violent death at the hands of police, and it ignores the trauma that many First Nations people have from experiencing or witnessing police violence.
We know that more weapons in our community will not make anyone safer. There is clear evidence suggesting that weapons make people more defensive, reactive and aggressive. But the CLP is choosing to continue to escalate tensions in our community, rather than investing in the real long-term solutions we need to achieve safe and cohesive communities - like housing, healthcare, and inclusive public services.
As stated by Nic Carson, Acting Convenor of the NT Greens
"You can't punish the poverty out of people, people need support."
"This policy risks racially segregating public transport, as though the CLP want to take us back 60 years into the past."
"Arming transit officers with guns won't make anyone safer. The CLP government is fuelling violence, intimidation and aggression with these changes."
"The NT government should be making investments to alleviate economic disadvantage and systemic racism. Instead the CLP is further disenfranchising and disconnecting people - specifically First Nations people."
"The CLP Government continues to ignore the recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody, with the arming of safety officers a clear contradiction to the Report."
