Jacinta Nampijinpa Price broke down in tears during an interview to discuss the current crime wave in her hometown of Alice Springs.
The Northern Territory senator said she fears going shopping in the town due to attacks on women, and said that children are regularly being attacked while out in the town.
Speaking to Peta Credlin on Sky News, Senator Price said she warned her son, 22, to be careful when picking his younger brother up from a shift at the cinema because ‘young people are deliberately ramming cars’.
‘There hasn’t been any let up in terms of that activity that is going on every night,’ she said.
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price broke down in tears on Saturday while discussing the crime wave in Alice Springs
She added that she’d been warned to stay away from the town’s shopping centre in the daytime because there was an offender who was groping women.
Senator Price added that last week, a 12-year-old had been attacked and groped on her way to school.
‘It’s really heartbreaking, because you don’t want to talk about your town this way. But we’re sick of it,’ she said before breaking down in tears and apologising.
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t think I would get to this point, but… I love this town,’ she added.
The politician also offered a fiery spray against Northern Territory politicians and commentators who have criticised opposition leader Peter Dutton after he raised the issue of child sexual abuse in the town during a visit.
Mr Dutton has called for the Australian Federal Police to be sent in to work with local police in tackling crime, saying ‘There needs to be a greater presence on the ground.’
Senator Price added that last week, a 12-year-old had been attacked and groped on her way to school
But local leaders have questioned his motives, with Kate Worden, the Territory’s police minister, telling reporters on Thursday it was a ‘dog act’.
‘What we’ve seen over the last couple of days from Peter Dutton in central Australia is absolutely opportunistic, political game-playing, and using the most vulnerable people here in the heart of our nation as a pawn in that game,’ she said.
‘It’s quite frankly, a dog act.’
Hitting out at journalists and politicians, Ms Price said attacks on Mr Dutton are ‘beyond her’.
‘For adults… who have the responsibility to protect the lives of the vulnerable to attempt to downplay it, to call people like our leader Peter Dutton names and suggest it’s a ‘dog act’, that he’s actually investing time to listen to people on the ground and to hear what’s going on… its just beyond me,’ she said.
She added that she’d been warned to stay away from the town’s shopping centre in the daytime because there was an offender who was groping women
‘It’s just beyond me why there is this sort of denial, this behaviour.’
She claimed that there are children in Alice Springs ‘as young as two’ who have STIs and called out supporters of the Voice for ’empowering’ those who downplay these issues.
‘I’d say to people like (veteran journalist) Kerry O’Brien, I’d say to people like the Premier of Tasmania, and those Liberals who think this is a wonderful idea, that if you support this Voice you’re actually supporting the voices that are coming out and criticising people like me and Peter Dutton who want to do something to change things on the ground for these vulnerable children,’ Senator Price said.
‘You will be empowering the voices that are trying to downplay the situation on the ground in places like Alice Springs.
‘That’s why this Voice is so dangerous, because that’s who will be empowered by this – not the little kids who have been sexually abused, not their voices.’
Ms Price’s comments comes after Peter Dutton tore into an ABC reporter during a press conference in Alice Springs, ridiculing the journalist by saying ‘that is such an ABC question’.
The journalist asked Mr Dutton about his call for a royal commission to look into rates of child sexual abuse in central Australia following criticism from SNAICC, a national non-government peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
‘They have labelled it an uninformed approach. Why do you think those peak bodies are rejecting those calls by you and what evidence do you have that there is this so-called rampant child sexual abuse?’ the ABC reporter asked.
‘With respect, that’s such an ABC question,’ a bemused Mr Dutton replied, later adding that the reporter wasn’t doing his job properly.
‘Do you live locally, do you speak to people on the streets, do you hear what it is they’re saying to you?
