Albanese government's internal response to Alice Springs curfew obtained under FOI laws

The Albanese government's internal response to a youth curfew in Alice Springs featured a list of "sensitivities", including a call for a federal takeover of the Northern Territory.

The Alice Springs CBD curfew was triggered by the former NT Labor government in March this year, following a period of violent unrest in the Central Australian town.

A document received by the ABC under Freedom of Information (FOI) laws shows how senior Albanese government ministers were briefed to publicly support the measure, which lasted three weeks.

It also featured perceived "sensitivities" to the curfew being called, including comments made in the media by Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson and Labor MP for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour.

The list of "sensitivities" included references to:

• An NT police union claim the curfew was "unlawful"
• A call for the riot squad to be sent to Alice Springs
• A plan to send in more police from South Australia
• Questions about "changing the Centrelink payment date"

"On 27 March 2024, Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson called for the Commonwealth Government to take over the NT," the list read.

"Senator Nampijinpa Price also called for Commonwealth assistance: 'whether it's a riot squad or the presence of the ADF on our streets until the people of Alice Springs feel safe'."

The document relates to the first Alice Springs curfew — a second curfew, which covered both children and adults, was subsequently announced in July.

Ms Scrymgour criticised the use of the term "sensitivities" in the document.

"I think there were probably public servants who felt sensitive, I didn't," she said.

"I think that I was representing the community and the electorate — there were people in Alice Springs, businesses, who were doing it tough.

"If the department felt sensitive about it, or they felt it was sensitive, then sometimes I wonder if they're doing their jobs appropriately.

"I don't think it's sensitive at all — I think we do need to have some honest conversations about what's needed in the Northern Territory, without people thinking you're going to offend, or that people don't like what you're saying."

The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) said in a statement "sensitivities" are a list of points that are flagged for potential discussion in parliament.

"The sensitivities section in all Question Time Briefs outlines commentary that in PM&C's view may be relevant to questions in the Parliament," a PM&C spokesperson said.

In response to being included in the briefing, Mr Paterson said he stood by his comment, despite it being made "on the back of a pretty chaotic couple of weeks and months".

"I still stand by calling for help for our community," Mr Paterson said.

'Poor wording' by public servants, MP says

The "sensitivities" also included reference to Ms Scrymgour, which said she had been talking to the prime minister's office about a "federal intervention" in Alice Springs.

Ms Scrymgour said the reference related to conversations she'd been having with the PM's office earlier in 2023, where she called for more federal resources for the embattled town.

"I did call on the prime minister, because the issues in Alice Springs, I was getting a lot of representation that people weren't feeling safe in their homes in Alice Springs," she said.

"I don't shy away from that, I think it was important for the prime minister and for our government to put the [$250 million in funding] on the table."

A long-term critic of the former Howard government's so-called "NT federal intervention", which saw the army and federal police rolled out in Aboriginal communities across the NT in 2007, Ms Scrymgour described the reference to her as "poor wording" by bureaucrats.

"The choice of their words, that I would call for a 'federal intervention', is absolutely wrong," she said.

"It's a poor choice of words … from the agency that wrote that brief to put it in that context."

Both the prime minister's office and the PM&C said the Albanese government continued to support the curfew measure as a successful "circuit breaker" for Alice Springs.

"The prime minister has addressed the federal government's position on the Northern Territory government's response to instances of public disorder in Alice Springs, including curfews, on a number of occasions," PM&C said in a statement.