School children on a remote Northern Territory island have allegedly wielded machetes against teaching staff in the dead of night.
Armed primary school-aged children have repeatedly broken into teachers’ homes on Groote Eylandt, about 670km east of Darwin, the Australian Education Union says.
The union is demanding the NT government immediately remove staff from the remote Umbakumba community.
“Despite Umbakumba notionally having a police station, it is often not staffed,” NT branch president Jarvis Ryan said on Tuesday.
“Police often do not respond to calls for help after hours as they are close to an hour away and have limited staffing capacity.”
Perpetrators have also damaged school buildings and vehicles while allegedly armed with machetes and axes amid months of escalating violence in the isolated community.
“The ongoing threat to employee safety in their homes and in their workplace is causing significant psychological harm to the teaching staff working at Umbakumba,” Mr Ryan said.
He said teachers were committed to doing the best they could for their students.
“But they are unwilling to continue to be expected to live in a community where their safety at night cannot be guaranteed.”
Mr Ryan said the union contacted the NT Education Department six days ago and requested it move staff to the mining town of Alyangula, 65 kilometres away.
He said the department would only agree to relocate staff on a short-term basis because there weren’t enough houses available.
NT Police says it has responded to numerous threatening behaviour complaints in the remote community over the past two weeks.
“A small number of children under the age of 11 have been identified as being principally responsible,” Deputy Commissioner Michael Murphy said.
NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner said all Territorians should be safe at work and home.
“Whether that’s on Groote Eylandt, here in Darwin or down the track,” he said.
Mr Gunner said extra police had been sent to the community “because teachers leaving doesn’t make that community safe”.
NT Education Minister Lauren Moss said senior department staff had also visited Umbakumba to address teacher’s concerns.
“We need to hold the safety of our teachers and students paramount and the most important thing we can do is make sure the community is safe and functional,” she said.
NT Police said it was reviewing rostering on the island and would continue discussions with teachers about bolstering security at their homes.
It’s also working with local families to address the children’s alleged behaviour.
Officers stationed in Angurugu community and Alyangula undertake night patrols in Umbakumba, Dep Comm Murphy said.
The teachers’ union said the education department is failing in its duties as an employer under the Work Health and Safety Act to provide a safe working environment for its employees.
It said numerous work health and safety incident reports had been lodged and the matter would be referred to NT WorkSafe for investigation.
“This school is churning through multiple principals per year because it is not a safe working environment,” Mr Ryan said.
“The department is not listening to its staff and making the necessary changes to address the problems.”
AAP
