Arrernte man William Tilmouth fears a harmful narrative is spreading about Alice Springs | ABC News

Scrolling through social media and reading the daily news headlines, William Tilmouth says he sees the same consistent stereotypes about his community.
In recent years, the Arrernte leader's community of Alice Springs has been in the national news for all the wrong reasons, as the region continues to be plagued by crime and antisocial behaviour.
"Sadly, the narrative that is portrayed to the broader community is one that is the stereotypes of yesteryear - that Aboriginal people are uncivilised, Aboriginal people are uneducated, unemployable, lazy, they're violence-loving people," he said.
"That narrative is what the mainstream media [portrays] at a national level - but Aboriginal people love their children, Aboriginal people love their families, Aboriginal people do want work, Aboriginal people do want purpose in life."
As debate rages on about solutions for an outback region in crisis, he worries the pleas of Aboriginal communities at the centre are being ignored.
And he believes governments can fall into operating based on those harmful stereotypes, leading to too much focus on "control" and "draconian" policies.
Subscribe: ab.co/1svxLVE
Read more: www.abc.net.au...
ABC News provides around the clock coverage of news events as they break in Australia and abroad. It's news when you want it, from Australia's most trusted news organisation.
For more from ABC News, click here: ab.co/2kxYCZY
Watch more ABC News content ad-free on ABC iview: ab.co/2OB7Mk1
Go deeper on our ABC News In-depth channel: ab.co/2lNeBn2
Like ABC News on Facebook: / abcnews.au
Follow ABC News on Instagram: / abcnews_au
Follow ABC News on X (Twitter): / abcnews
Note: In most cases, our captions are auto-generated.
#ABCNews #ABCNewsAustralia