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  • 4 months ago
Councils across Australia are pouring money into new skate parks, recognising their value as low-cost, high-impact spaces to keep young people off the streets but skaters in Darwin say local facilities are totally inadequate. And as the Northern Territory grapples with some of the nation's highest rates of youth crime, experts believe investing in skate parks should be a priority, costing a fraction of the millions spent on policing and detention.

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00:00But this DIY skate park is a refuge for these skaters.
00:07With nowhere else to go, they skated the streets of Darwin for years before finding this abandoned
00:13lot, the site of a burned down building.
00:16We thought we may as well use it and make our own skate park and build something we
00:21don't have.
00:22The secret location now attracts dozens of skaters, like Nicholas, who recently moved
00:27to Darwin and was shocked by the state of the public skate parks.
00:31At first, it felt like I was probably just going to have to give it up for the duration
00:35that I'm here.
00:37And then, yeah, I sort of met Man U.
00:40Compared to facilities in other parts of Australia, skaters here say local parks are outdated and
00:46virtually unusable, a wasted opportunity according to this roller skating coach.
00:52Across Australia right now, councils are investing in skate parks and that's not replicated in
00:57the Northern Territory.
00:58And Darwin is just so far behind.
01:00We haven't had a skate park investment since 2016.
01:02Back in the days they were great, but that was 30 years ago.
01:06So now the design has changed and the requirements have changed.
01:10And with youth crime rates climbing, some experts want a focus on ways to keep them busy.
01:17To develop themselves, to also move away from these kinds of antisocial behaviour that we
01:22have been seeing in the Northern Territory.
01:24So I think that to solve the problem, it is not only about policy development.
01:29One community near Alice Springs, Santa Teresa, which funded its own skate park, already proving
01:35it can make a difference.
01:37Young people are there, not running amok and causing havoc.
01:42The NT government and Darwin City Council both insist they maintain the skate parks they
01:48own.
01:49And while the NT government says it knows how important it is for young people to have safe
01:53places to be active, it doesn't believe skate parks are a proven crime prevention strategy
01:59on their own.
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