Teachers evacuated in Australia after attacks and violence

Teachers in the community of Aurukun in Queensland, Australia are being evacuated after the principal was twice carjacked by teenagers allegedly armed with knives and machetes, and children as young as six tried to steal a car.

It is the second time this month that Cape York Academy’s 25 staff voted to leave the community, but this time the school will remain closed for six weeks.

In the initial incident, principal Scott Fatnowna was allegedly attacked by youths carrying an axe and carjacked after he came to the aid of two female staff who had called for help after youths allegedly attempted to break into their accommodation. Mr Fatnowna was again carjacked on Saturday night.

Police commissioner Ian Stewart said several children were involved in the latest incident in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

“[There was] a group of young people trying to steal a car, throwing rocks at security guards and people’s houses,” he said.

“I have great sympathy for the teachers. They’re not armed and they’re not trained to deal with the type of violence that sometimes occurs in those communities.”

Aurukun, a mainly Aboriginal community, normally has eight police officers but there are 17 in the town at the moment, following recent disturbances.

Mr Stewart said there would be another increase in police numbers, but more officers are not the answer. “You could put 100 police in there. This is about the community stepping up when they’ve agreed to do that,” he said.

“I actually think parents have to be held to account. The community has to step up, parents have to step up to make Aurukun a safe place for everybody.”

Emotional strain

The Queensland Teachers Union said the extra police had not been able to prevent teachers from fearing for their safety. Union president

Kevin Bates

said the teachers were under huge emotional strain.

“In response to increased concerns from staff the decision has been taken to withdraw from the community until the end of this school term, so that they won’t return until the beginning of term three,” he said.

“The department has made it clear that if people don’t feel that they can return to the community then they’ll be supported to exit. People can’t live and work in these types of conditions with these stresses without suffering consequences.”

Queensland's premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, is flying to the town of about 1,200 people for a public meeting on Friday. Aurukun is 2,500km from the state capital, Brisbane.

Ms Palaszczuk said the safety of staff and the community is “the number one priority”.

“I’ve been advised that the teachers are feeling unsafe so we are going to get the teachers out. We need to have a strong presence on the ground to really help build the community capacity,” she said.

Twelve nurses based in Aurukun have said they want to stay in the community, where they are housed in secure accommodation with duress alarms, a security guard and CCTV cameras.