Leadership Needed on Alice Springs Graffiti Plague

The Member for Araluen has written to the Minister for Justice, Chris Burns, requesting that he arrange for prisoner ‘work gangs’ to undertake a clean up of graffiti in Alice Springs, particularly the CBD.

“The Minister told Parliament last month that he had received a request from his Labor colleague, the Member for Port Darwin, for work gangs to help out with graffiti,” says Ms Carney.

“The situation in Alice Springs is the same as Darwin - graffiti is all over the place and a concerted effort is needed.

“The tourist season is upon is, and parts of the CBD in particular look terrible, with public utilities, and many buildings wearing the work of vandals who have left their mark.

“The option of having graffiti removed from privately owned buildings by the prison work gangs should also be made available.

“Government is spending millions of dollars on consultants and campaigns to get people to come to Alice, but when the tourists come, they see graffiti all over the place. It’s not good enough.

“Work gangs give the prisoners a chance to better repay their debt to society.

“I’d also like to see the establishment of a graffiti hotline to help with the identification and arrest of offenders. We need to catch the morons who do this sort of thing’.

“We need leadership on this issue, and I believe the Government can do more.”

2008-05-28