Jason Lord says his life hit a fork in the road when he was 14.
“I was a troubled kid, stealing cars, I was robbing people and quite violent and angry,” he says.
“I was a kid who was heading to Berrimah Prison.”
A court ordered him to put on some boxing gloves and get in the ring.
Luckily, he says, he met a good person “who wanted to give back a bit and saw something in me.”
“I robbed him a few times but continued to box; he continued to look after me, which is crazy.”
Jason Lord says it’s his turn to give back.(ABC Alice Springs: Samantha Jonscher)
Mr Lord, an Arrernte man and traditional owner for Alice Springs, said his mentor’s compassion, alongside the sport, changed his life.
“All the trouble and all the crap that I got up to, boxing was always there; it was that little safe haven that kind of kept me together,” he says.
He believes this is part of the sport — the ring teaches people balance, structure, self-control, and ambition.
Now, it’s his turn to give back.
Jason Lord says boxing teaches balance and self-discipline.(ABC Alice Springs: Samantha Jonscher)
care comes first
On any given day you’ll find serious boxers of any gender, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, sparring inside the ropes of the Arrernte Community Boxing Academy.
But you’ll also see kids who’ve just learned to walk trying gloves on for size while they watch older kids give it a go.
“Our whole focus is on making people happy,” Mr Lord said.
“We’re a custodian club, having that name on Arrernte country.”
Jason Lord says anyone is welcome at the gym.(ABC Alice Springs: Samantha Jonscher)
He says what really sets the gym apart from others is that care, culture and self-control are at the heart of its project.
“Not just Aboriginal culture but the culture that brings people here,” he says.
“We provide love and that environment for people of all ages, everyone who comes here gets the same treatment.”
The academy puts culture, care and self-control at the center of its gym.(ABC Alice Springs: Samantha Jonscher)
He hopes the gym creates the same environment that kept him out of Berrimah and gives young people the love and care they need to be “put back together again.”
The academy works with schools, “kids on the streets,” and has started branching out into remote communities.
Mr Lord has been recognized for his work with young people — he was the 2022 Alice Springs NAIDOC Week advocate of the year.
The academy in its current form opened in November last year and Mr Lord says he’s seen young people make big changes in that time.
“We go a bit deeper when we work with these guys, you know; we break them down through sweat and tears.”
Boxers of all ages and genders are welcome at Arrernte Boxing Academy.(ABC Alice Springs: Samantha Jonscher)
Boxing as therapy
Early mornings, the gym runs kungkas (women)-only classes.
Nirosha Boaden is a regular at these classes. She has boxed for 15 years and, like Mr Lord, believes it changed her life from her.
Nirosha Boaden says from personal experience boxing can change lives.(ABC Alice Springs: Samantha Jonscher)
“I was living in out-of-home care — like a lot of the youth that comes here — and then I started up boxing,” she said.
Ms Boaden now works in youthmental health in Alice Springs and says she’s professionally seen what the gym can do.
“Especially here in communities where traditional Western therapies don’t really work, boxing is great.
“It teaches kids and adults how to be in everyday life, particularly around emotion regulation.”
Kungas classes attract women of all abilities.(ABC Alice Springs: Samantha Jonscher)
anyone welcome
Ms Boaden says Arrernte Boxing Academy stands apart from other gyms because it genuinely feels inclusive.
“Everybody who comes here knows that this is a place for everyone of all cultures and levels. It’s really inclusive,” she says.
Sarah Landers, a Durri woman who also regularly attends the kungkas class, agrees.
Sarah Landers is new to boxing but says she feels right at home.(ABC Alice Springs: Samantha Jonscher)
Relatively new to the sport, Ms Landers started at the gym after her 14-year-old son started training in the evenings.
She says she’s seen her son “become a lot more confident” since he started boxing and that he’d begun to value his health and eat healthily.
“He lives and breathes boxing now, he’s really inspired,” Ms Landers says.
“This is my little social outlet; we go for coffee afterwards and just laugh the whole time, there’s a real family feeling.”
The academy opened at its current location in late 2021.(ABC Alice Springs: Samantha Jonscher)
This is exactly what Mr Lord is aiming for.
“It’s a safe, caring environment,” he said.
“If this was my place as a kid, I’d be a whole different person and that’s what this place is about.”
Pressure is growing on the Northern Territory government to take action on stubbornly high fuel prices, with calls for a fresh inquiry to quiz retailers on the reasons behind the rates.
Key points:
Drivers in Darwin were paying $1.95 a liter on Tuesday, while the average price in NSW was $1.67
The opposition wants fuel companies and retailers to explain their prices in parliament
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles says she’s written to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
Drivers in Darwin were paying around $1.95 a liter for petrol on Tuesday, despite the wholesale price sitting close to the average of interstate capitals of $1.59.
The average price per liter in New South Wales was $1.67, almost 30 cents a liter cheaper than the Northern Territory.
Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro has called for a new parliamentary inquiry, which she said could potentially recommend a cap on profits or prices.
“Territories are paying [up to] 40 cents a liter more for their fuel compared to any other jurisdictions in the nation,” Ms Finocchiaro said.
“The power of an inquiry means that we can call fuel retailers and fuel companies to sit at the table and they have to explain to the public and the parliament why it is that territories are paying so much.”
Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro (left) says retailers should explain their prices to parliament.(ABC News: Matt Garrick)
Petrol prices this year rose higher in the Northern Territory than in any other jurisdiction, according to the latest official data.
“Automotive fuel” was up by 6.2 per cent, well above the capital city average of 4.2 per cent.
The Northern Territory opposition is also proposing legislation that would force retailers to publish their profit margins.
In a statement, Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said the government “stood ready to take further action” if apparent profit margins remained high “without a reasonable explanation”.
Ms Fyles said she had written to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and to fuel companies on the issue but did not say what she had told, or asked, them.
‘There would be higher’ at similar prices in Sydney or Melbourne
FuelTrac general manager Geoff Trotter said the Northern Territory was not without options that are already available, pointing to laws dating back to 1949 that can empower a Consumer Affairs Commissioner to set a maximum fuel price.
Such a step can be taken during a natural disaster or “to effectively ensure that consumers benefit from the operation of a competitive market within all or a part of the territory”.
Former chief minister Michael Gunner previously threatened to create a profit cap when petrol stations were making similar margins of around 35 cents a liter in 2020.
Mr Trotter said residents in the Northern Territory, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory were all suffering through high fuel prices because they attracted less attention than larger capital cities.
“The only thing that has worked in the years I’ve been in the game is when the chief ministers have threatened to invoke that emergency price-setting legislation,” he said.
“[Petrol companies] can do absolutely whatever they like.
“If they were charging the prices they are charging in Darwin … in Sydney or Melbourne or Brisbane, there would be absolute uproar. It would be on the news, there would be politicians being asked all these embarrassing questions.”
High fuel and airfare costs in Alice Springs are making the region less attractive to live in, the town’s Mayor, Matt Paterson, says.(ABC News: Xavier Martin)
Costs driving tourists, residents of Alice Springs
Petrol prices are even more expensive in remote parts of the territory, with Alice Springs motorists still paying more than $2 a liter to fill up.
The town’s Mayor, Matt Paterson, said the cost was combining with other factors to drive people away from living in the region.
“Everything is so expensive that it’s sending people to breaking point,” Cr Paterson said.
“Air fares, petrol prices, house prices — it’s just horrendous at the moment.”
Cr Paterson said that “no one can justify” why fuel prices were so much higher in Alice Springs, but expected Territory Labor would not support the opposition’s call for an inquiry.
“I just want people to know we are getting the raw end of the stick, continuously,” he said.
Federal Labor’s Luke Gosling says the fuel excise cut won’t be renewed, arguing it would be fiscally irresponsible.(ABC News: Che Chorley)
Federal Labor MP Luke Gosling said the Commonwealth needed to ensure the ACCC “has got the teeth to enforce fairness and transparency.”
“But that may end up being also a role for the Northern Territory government, to ensure that there is that sort of transparency from fuel retailers,” Mr Gosling said.
“The fuel retailers should stop gouging territorians and people in other places in the country where they are clearly at the moment.”
Mr Gosling said the fuel excise tax was unlikely to be extended beyond September, citing the state of the federal budget.
A Kimberley man whose family have disappeared while on a trip to Alice Springs says it’s completely out of character for them not to answer phone calls and texts.
Key points:
The trio hasn’t been seen since Sunday, when they attended a function in Alice Springs
Police believe they might be on their way to Western Australia
They’re traveling in a red Toyota Hilux and anyone with information is urged to contact police
Bonnie Edwards, 70, and her son and daughter Eldride Edwards, 41, and Virginia O’Neil, 49, were expected to arrive back in their hometown of Halls Creek on either late Sunday or Monday, but have so far not returned and were reported overdue yesterday.
According to a statement issued by Northern Territory Police this afternoon, they were last seen on Sunday.
Malcolm Edwards, who is Bonnie’s husband and Eldride and Virginia’s father, told the ABC on Wednesday afternoon that the trio had traveled to Alice Springs to attend a meeting involving Indigenous people in an outlying community.
The Halls Creek Shire president said the last time he had spoken to his wife had been on Saturday morning after the meeting had wrapped up, but she had not said where they planned to stay that night.
“My wife said they’re back in Alice Springs and they’ll tell me all about it [the trip] when we come home,” he said.
Malcolm Edwards hasn’t heard from the trio since the weekend, despite numerous calls and texts. (ABC Kimberley: Andrew Seabourne)
He said Virginia had spoken to her son briefly on Sunday morning, and that was the last known contact with the three missing people.
“My daughter said they’d met this really nice guy and they were going to stay at his place. We don’t know who that is. No idea who that person was,” he said.
Police say the trio have not made contact with anyone and there have been no signs of financial activity from them since Sunday.
Cr Edwards said he had raised the alarm on Tuesday after repeated calls and texts to his wife, son and daughter went unanswered.
“They normally ring and tell us. This is out of character,” he said.
“They’d normally ring up and say, ‘we’re leaving Alice Springs now we’ve decided to go via Katherine’, they would tell us.”
The group were expected to return to Halls Creek several days ago.(ABC Kimberley: Ted O’Connor)
Now he is worried someone else is using his daughter’s phone.
“The police picked up a ping that the phone was turned on at 2am on Monday morning and the ping was located somewhere near a caravan park in Alice Springs,” he said.
“We’re starting to think it was not Virginia who turned the phone on because if it was her she would have seen all those messages.
“As far as we know none of the bank accounts have been used, but there have been a few bank accounts that we haven’t got access to, but the police will check all those out.”
The missing trio were supposed to be traveling from Alice Springs to Halls Creek on the Tanami Road, but Cr Edwards said police had checked CCTV at roadhouses along the way and found no evidence they had embarked on their journey home.
As the Halls Creek community awaits news from police, Cr Edwards said his wife’s relatives in Alice Springs were helping to raise awareness in the community.
The group is traveling in this red Toyota Hilux.(Supplied: Northern Territory Police)
“We feel like we can’t do much,” he said.
“Some people who are related to us in Alice Springs are driving around town, [asking] ‘have you seen this car, have you seen these people?'”
Along with Cr Edwards, Bonnie and Virginia are also councilors with the Shire of Halls Creek.
The group is traveling in a red Toyota Hilux with the WA registration plate, PH27156.
Police are calling for anyone who knows where the trio may be or have seen their vehicle to contact police.
Northern Territory Police is seeking help to locate three people returning from a trip to Central Australia, who haven’t been seen for several days.
Key points:
The trio hasn’t been seen since Sunday, when they attended a function in Alice Springs
Police believe they might be on their way to Western Australia
They’re traveling in a red Toyota Hilux and anyone with information is urged to contact police
Bonnie Edwards, 70, Eldride Edwards, 41, and Virginia O’Neill, 49, were last seen on Sunday, when they attended a weekend function in Alice Springs, according to a statement issued by Northern Territory Police this afternoon.
Family members in Western Australia reported the trio overdue for their return on Tuesday.
The group is traveling in a red Toyota Hilux with the WA registration plate, PH27156.
Police believe the group may be traveling to Western Australia.
However, NT Police would not say specifically where the trio was traveling to or when they were expected to arrive.
The group is traveling in this red Toyota Hilux.(Supplied: Northern Territory Police)
According to the statement, the trio have not made contact with anyone and there have been no signs of financial activity since Sunday.
Anyone with information on where the trio may be or have seen their vehicle is being asked to contact police.
An outback musician and dedicated Northern Territory music school teacher has not only had her 1999 Toyota troop carrier stolen from a popular restaurant overnight, but also her beloved 1935 Roth violin.
Key points:
Gleny Rae’s car and beloved violin were stolen outside Simply Korean on Gap Road between about 6:45 and 7:30pm last night
She is devastated that the violin which she has had for 35 years is missing
Rae now questions the reasons for staying in a town where people don’t feel safe to go out
Gleny Rae has lived in Alice Springs for two years and is a regular on the music scene in Alice Springs and across Australia, recently appearing in the documentary I’m Wanita.
“I’ve just stopped into Simply Korean on Gap Road for a quick bite to eat with a friend between about 6:45 and 7:30pm,” she said.
“When we came out there were three cars with their windows smashed. I was cleaning my friend’s car and I was looking at that going ‘oh no!'”
It was at that moment that Rae realized that her car had been stolen.
“That’s the moment when your heart just about leaps out of your mouth and I can see the smashed glass where it was parked,” she said.
violin gone
Rae’s prized possessions of a 1935 Roth violin and two bows were also in the car.
She is desperate for the instrument to be returned.
Gleny Rae and her beloved violin stolen this week in Alice Springs.(Supplied: Gleny Rae)
“I very rarely go anywhere without my violin and I left it in the car, in the back, out of sight,” she said.
It is the sentimental worth that has Rae desperate to find the 87-year-old instrument.
“It’s just a part of my body. It’s an extension of me,” she said.
“It was a violin that my mum bought for me when I was still at the [Sydney] Conservatory High School.”
Rae was 16 years old and was told that she needed a better violin.
“So off we went to the violin shop. And we chose that one,” she said.
Rae is deeply upset that the violin might get damaged.
“I hear that when vehicles are stolen stuff gets thrown out of them,” she said.
“It breaks my heart to think that it could be smashed or damaged for no reason.”
Crime taking its toll
Gleny Rae’s troopy was stolen at a local restaurant on Tuesday evening along with her violin.(Supplied: Gleny Rae)
Rae’s car window was also smashed several weeks ago outside a popular bar where she had been performing.
“You can’t even go to dinner without feeling safe, or that your vehicle is safe,” she said.
“And that’s really sad.”
loading
She said that it is having a direct effect on lifestyles in the outback town and she has now questioned why she remains in Alice Springs.
“It’s sad for all the businesses, it’s sad for the residents,” she said.
“It’s sad for entertainers, because I know a lot of times people won’t go out to gigs because they don’t want to leave their car.”
The violin case is blue canvas and the registration number for the vehicle is C35UL.
AK was full of life, kind hearted, and an amazing mother.
Key points:
AK’s family has remembered her as a warm, loving mother who was full of life
NT Police have been criticized for not releasing more information about the murder-suicide in which she was killed
Her sister says she doesn’t believe NT Police took her sister’s calls for help seriously
That’s how her heartbroken sisters remember the 30-year-old mother, who was allegedly killed by her partner last month, along with her 15-week-old baby, in Central Australia, north of Alice Springs.
“We loved her and we are going to miss her,” the sisters said.
Her family has given the ABC permission to share her initials and their images, in the hope that she is remembered as “more than a statistic”, and to push for systemic change.
AK’s partner’s body and a gun were also found at the scene, and Northern Territory Police have confirmed they are investigating the episode as a murder-suicide.
Police at the crime scene the day after the incident.(ABC News: Samantha Jonscher)
Speaking out for the first time since her death, AK’s family said they’re frustrated at the lack of information that has been made available to them by police.
Close in age, her three sisters said the four of them “were pretty much always together” and “very close”.
Her younger sister, Michelle, has taken custody of AK’s two surviving young children.
She said her sister was “extremely funny” and a dedicated mum, “always taking the kids on little adventures.”
Wendy, AK’s adoptive mother, remembered her as “very funny”.
“She never had a serious side and if she tried to be serious, she’d just got a look at you, and she’d burst into laughter or something… she was my scatterbrain,” she said.
“It’s a tragedy. It’s devastating. And everyone’s at a loss for words.”
The family says police have provided them with little information about the deaths. (ABC News: Samantha Jonscher)
‘We still have lots of questions’
More than two weeks on from her death, Northern Territory Police has still not responded to a number of detailed questions asked by the ABC about the incident, and AK’s family said they don’t know much more than the public.
Michelle said she had first heard about what had happened through the rumor mill, as friends and family called her to ask “if it was true.”
Detectives visited her that night and said “there was an incident that happened involving my sister and her partner,” but Michelle said police did not give her much more information than that.
In the two weeks since, their bodies have been released to the family, but police information has been thin on the ground.
AK’s little sister, Mouse, said the family had not been told if the gun was registered, if there were witnesses to the event or other key details about their sister’s alleged murder.
The broad strokes of the situation were only clarified early last week by the Police Minister, Kate Worden, who said the gun had been found in the possession of the man, revealing that he was the alleged perpetrator of the violence.
The crime happened at a property about 25 kilometers north of Alice Springs.(ABC Alice Springs: Samantha Jonscher)
Police took several more days to confirm they were investigating the deaths as a murder-suicide and that the pair were in a domestic relationship.
NT Police has only addressed the media once about the incident that left three people dead, and have declined to take any public questions.
Police ‘failed at their jobs’, family claims
According to court documents obtained by the ABC, AK’s partner was sentenced in the Northern Territory Supreme Court earlier this year, after he pleaded guilty to unlawfully causing harm to a previous partner.
He was given a nine month suspended sentence for the incident, which he would need to carry out if he committed another offense in the following two years.
AK’s family want to know how it was possible that his history of domestic violence did not alert authorities to the fact that she might have been in trouble, given they were allegedly called out to their property several times, over domestic incidents.
Mouse said the man was “really controlling,” and showed signs of coercive control.
“When we would go and sit down with her, he had to be sitting right there,” she said.
Mouse said she had also witnessed him be physically violent with AK, and one time her sister’s partner allegedly hit her.
“When I rang the police they refused to take my statement and they didn’t come and see me the next day,” she said.
AK’s family feels she was let down by police.(ABC News: Peter Garnish)
After the alleged incident, Mouse said that AK had called police who attended the house, however she said they again didn’t take a statement.
“If the police actually did take it seriously, when he hit me, he would be in jail, because he was on probation, and she and the baby would still be here,” she said.
Mouse said she felt that the police had “failed at their jobs”, because she claims they allegedly made AK feel like the perpetrator, when she called for help.
This experience is common for women across Australia and is a significant issue for Indigenous women such as AK
A 2017 Queensland analysis of 27 domestic homicides, found that almost half the women who were killed by their partner had previously been identified by police as the perpetrator on a protection order.
Nearly all of the Aboriginal women killed by their partners had been recorded by police as both perpetrators and victims.
NT Police said in a statement: “as with all homicide investigations, a review of all the circumstances surrounding the deaths includes assessment of any reported prior family violence incidents of both the deceased, and a review of the relationship history of all the parties involved” .
Police said they “appreciate there is a lot of public interest, however police must maintain the integrity of the investigation and will not comment on the details”.
‘Why is this extreme act of violence being kept quiet?’
Peta-Lee Cole-Manolis has 12 years experience working on the front line of child protection and domestic and family violence.
Peta-Lee Cole Manolis says the deaths of AK and her baby highlight flaws in the system.(ABC Alice Springs: Samantha Jonscher)
She’s been supporting AK’s family since her alleged murder, and said she was concerned by the lack of public information being made available by police.
“Why is this extreme act of violence being kept quiet?”
“Where is that information, why isn’t it being made available and why isn’t it strong, clear language being used that would hold the perpetrator to account?”
“It’s a missed opportunity to shine a light on this … and support other women experiencing similar power and control to understand they are at risk,” she said.
Ms Cole – Manolis claimed it was clear that AK was at risk of being murdered based on the standard assessment tool used across Central Australia.
“I just don’t know whether or not we are equipped, or we are spending enough time on doing these really important assessments and education and support to women experiencing violence and men who are perpetrating violence,” she said.
Larissa Ellis says information from police is crucial for raising public awareness.(ABC Alice Springs: Samantha Jonscher)
Larissa Ellis, chief executive of Women’s Safety Services of Central Australia, also called on police to release as much information as possible about what had happened because without information, the “horrific” incident of domestic violence was going unremarked by the nation.
“We’ve had at least five deaths over the last 18 months of women and children in the Northern Territory; none of them have really made national coverage, none of them have created an outcry,” she said.
The Northern Territory has the highest rates of domestic violence in the country which advocates attribute to the ongoing effects of colonization and the legacy of inter-generational trauma.
Ms Ellis said the Northern Territory “is beyond crisis”.
