Alice Springs bakery owner Darren Clark has declared his aim to improve the crime situation in his town, highlighting how he has already begun to try and support young people in the community.
Appearing alongside Mr Clark at a press conference in January, Scotty said he didn’t feel safe walking around town anymore. But, Darren has recently offered a safe space for the young teenager, employing him at his bakery. “We’ve just got to change the narrative in this town. A lot of the media including you guys at Sky have done a fabulous job at highlighting our problems here,” Mr Clark said.
Mr Clark said he was inundated with hundreds of messages a day on the page, struggling with a couple hours of sleep every night, while he became a figurehead in the media talking about the crime problems regularly.“It took a toll on me. I was knackered, absolutely knackered. Couple hours sleep a night, not spending time with people close to me,” he said.
“A lot of people around Australia have seen our problems and I think they’d love to be able to see the way we work our way out of this and I’m trying to just lead the way. If we can just start the cycle of change, spend a bit of time with these kids.”The bakery owner said he had a meeting with NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles, admitting “you’ve got to build bridges.”