Northern Territory political election begins with big spending promises by both major parties

Walking tall in the Todd Mall with a pledge for more safety and more officers on the ground in Alice Springs. Eighteen additional officers into the Alice Springs police station. Highly specialised officers dealing with any social behaviour. The promise for more police in the wake of a visit by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier this week. Receiving a mixed reception in the town. I certainly don’t think that more police is always a better thing. Think the more police presence, the safer I think everyone will feel. That obviously is not the answer, that that’s just been over policed here per ratio, per person, and that’s creating more division and more anger. In the Top End, the opposition leaders mapped out their plans to build 2 new women’s prisons in Alice Springs and next to the current men’s prison in Darwin. We’re very focused on making sure that we have the infrastructure that Territorians need to be safe, new youth boot camps and two new $10 million prison work camps. In Catherine and on the Tiwi Islands, also on the CLP’s wish list, prisoner work camps out across the regions are another really important way to have prisoners contributing to our society. If the COP wins government this August, this land behind me will be home to Darwin’s new women’s prison. The party hasn’t been able to say exactly how much it will cost, but it’s likely to be within the hundreds of millions. The Labour Party standing by its own policies, trying to push down the territories towering prison population. 65% of people in our prisons are there for DV, so the work that we’re doing with the federal government around reducing DV incidents will hopefully have an impact on our prison numbers. No easy solutions for whoever wins the election.