PM to visit Northern Territory after NT News front page says he ‘simply does not care’

Traditional owners of the land in and around Tennant Creek have called for the prime minister to visit their community when he comes to the Northern Territory in August.

Turnbull this week announced the visit to the NT after criticism by the NT News on its front page that he did not care about the region.



The NT is currently gripped by a child protection crisis that was explored by last year’s royal commission and brought to light by the rape of a two-year-old girl in Tennant Creek in February.

“Tennant Creek has been in the national and international headlines, month after month it’s still being reported, so I think it’s really important that he comes here so he can hear it from the people on the ground,” said Linda Turner, chairwoman of the Julalikari Council and member of a cultural advisory group that is working with governments to address social issues in Tennant Creek.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Linda Turner, Norman Frank and Patricia Frank want Malcolm Turnbull to visit Tennant Creek. Photograph: Helen Davidson/The Guardian

“I think, after all that’s happened, he should be obliged to come here. He should feel an obligation to come here because we’re his constituents. He’s our prime minister.”

Patricia Frank, Warumungu traditional owner and also a member of the advisory group, noted the town had hosted important visitors before, but not an Australian prime minister she could remember.

“If the Queen’s been here, and Prince Charles and Lady Diana, he can too,” she said. “We’re just asking our own person to come here.”

Frank said Turnbull should visit the town of 3,000 – of which around 40% are Indigenous – and speak to the Aboriginal community and Aboriginal service providers, and accompany the youth and night patrol to see the problems first hand, as well as the work being done to address them.

“Come to Tennant Creek and talk to us on the ground,” she said. “Come and see how he can help and support us here. See a small Aboriginal community and town, how we work our guts out to help our people in the community.”

The cultural advisory group was formed in response to the February incident and has received support and funding from the NT government and the federal Indigenous affairs minister, Nigel Scullion.

The Tennant Creek mayor, Steve Edgington, will meet with Turnbull on Monday to discuss the child protection crisis in the town but Warumungu traditional owner Norman Frank said a member of the advisory group should have been invited.

“So it could be balanced – his side of the story and our side of the story,” he said. “If [Turnbull] gets the wrong story it will do more damage to the community. That’s about it. It’s going to hurt us more.”

Patricia Frank said: “He’s talking about our people, our family member.

“He knows the [cultural advisory] group is talking about the Tennant Creek crisis. He should have come and approached us … It’s a culturally appropriate way to do it.”

The NT News (@TheNTNews) STRONG FRONT PAGE TOMORROW @TurnbullMalcolm @SkyNewsAust pic.twitter.com/AAZGENlinH

In its front page story last week, the NT News noted that Turnbull had not visited the NT in nine months, and only for Coalition-related appointments and events.

He declined to visit the capital city, Darwin, after it was devastated by Cyclone Marcus earlier this year – the worst storm to hit the city since 1974, leaving thousands without power or water for weeks.

The federal government is also yet to make a financial commitment to the recommendations of the NT royal commission, which Turnbull personally announced, and, until he responded to the NT News cover, he had not spoken about the rape.

Turnbull rejected any suggestion the federal government was “not putting enormous resources in to support the Northern Territory or lacks empathy or concern for children”.

He said it was not an issue of resources but of “making sure that they have the right people with the right authorities intervening when appropriate in these communities”.

The Tennant Creek trio said there had been a lot of changes in the town since February, and that alcohol restrictions had made an enormous impact. While there were still major problems with alcohol abuse and violence, previously “out of control” neighbourhoods of Tennant Creek were now much quieter, they said.

Turnbull’s office has been contacted for comment.