AFL Northern Territory today facilitated a meeting with Central Australian stakeholders including the NT Police, the Northern Territory Government, Central Desert Regional Council and MacDonnell Shire Regional Council, Alice Springs Town Council and AFL Central Australia Advisory Chair Paul Fitzsimons.
The meeting was convened to provide stakeholders the opportunity to discuss the recent Easter Lightning Carnival and some of the issues that were raised by various community groups and police.
The discussion was both positive and productive with a number of pertinent points raised and discussed in detail by those in attendance.
A strategy will now be developed based on these discussions and AFL Northern Territory will form a working party comprising of AFL Northern Territory Executive Staff and representatives from each stakeholder group.
AFL Northern Territory will draft a document that will focus on education and planning around the event including logistics, accommodation and diversionary activities in the lead up to and in the days after the event.
The stakeholders present were very positive about the broader aims and objectives of the carnival.
The message emanating from the meeting was that the visiting and local teams participated in an engaged and meaningful way and contributed in a positive manner to the event.
The focus of the guiding document that AFLNT will draft will focus on the influx of non-participating team supporters and how they interact with the carnival, the township and importantly to be accountable for their behaviour and actions.
AFL Northern Territory will outline the measures that will be taken to ensure teams that fail to meet the criteria of the carnival or do not adhere to a rigid set of behavioural standards are penalised.