In short:
Police and elders in the remote Northern Territory community of Wadeye say they fear someone will be killed if large groups of armed people fighting are not stopped.
asserted
groups → say → people
Community leaders whose relatives have been critically injured and their homes attacked say they have tried to broker a truce between young people feuding.
asserted
they → injure → people
Wadeye community leaders are appealing to the NT and federal governments to provide more people with housing on their homelands, in an effort to end the ongoing unrest.
asserted
leaders → appeal → unrest
Leaders and organisations in the Northern Territory's second-largest Indigenous community, Wadeye, say they fear it is only a matter of time before someone is killed in ongoing clan feuds and are appealing to the NT and federal governments to help find solutions.
asserted
someone → say → solutions
Groups of up to 150 people armed with crossbows, machetes and spears have been fighting in the Daly region community over the past two weeks, attacking homes and police, burning cars and seriously injuring one man.
asserted
Groups → arm → man
The violence is part of a decades-old feud between some of Wadeye's 24 clans, who are crammed together in overcrowded housing on Kardu Diminin clan land.
asserted
who → cram → land
Over many years the feuding has regularly sparked serious violence in the community of 2,500, including the death of a man and damage to 125 houses in 2022.
asserted
feuding → spark → 2022
Mathawurr clan community leader Desmond Longmair said two weeks ago an armed mob attacked his house in Wadeye and burnt his car, and NT Police had been unable to answer his phone call for help.
asserted
Police → say → help
"People just came running this way with axes and metal bars and they smashed this car, and they had petrol in a coke bottle and sprinkled it and set fire to it,"he said.
asserted
they → run → it,"he
"We had kids here, and I told them to put a petrol drum and fill it with water and jam it to the door so they couldn't break down the door.
asserted
they → have → door
Mr Longmair said he was so dismayed by fighting between members of his and other families that after the attack on his house, he and other elders forced younger family members to meet at one of the town's football ovals to apologise and agree to a truce.
asserted
he → say → truce
"I keep telling my boys not to do that.
asserted
I → tell → that
I think they're doing it for some sort of fun — they're bored, don't want to work, they just want to make themself big and like a hero," he said.
asserted
he → think → hero
"I went over with the other boys from the Creek Camp and all my boys and I shook hands, we grabbed each other and I said: 'Promise me no more, that's it.'
asserted
that → go → more
"
But the truce hasn't held — two police vehicles were smashed when 150 people began fighting on Monday.
asserted
people → hold → Monday
Mr Longmair said as people arrested for fighting were gradually released from prison after serving sentences, they resumed tit-for-tat attacks, and he feared someone would be killed.
asserted
someone → say → attacks
"When somebody dies that trouble keeps going, or somebody gets out of jail, they open up that old trouble," he said.
asserted
he → die → trouble
Payback spreads violence
asserted
Payback → spread → violence
Fighting among people from Wadeye hasn't only been contained to the community, with incidents also occurring 400 kilometres away in Darwin.
asserted
incidents → contain → Darwin
Two weeks ago, ranger Joshua Bunduck's nephew was injured in fighting between 30 armed people from Wadeye in the city.
asserted
nephew → injure → city
His nephew had only just been released from prison and was critically injured in the brawl.
asserted
nephew → release → brawl
"Young boys and young girls came with rocks and machetes, they damaged his skull, but the hospital machine showed it hasn't damaged his brain," Mr Bunduck said.
asserted
Bunduck → come → brain
Mr Bunduck said he was concerned the incident would spark more attacks because under his cultural law it would be up to his nephew to decide whether his family should seek what they call "payback".
asserted
they → say → what
"Family are very worried for him; it's up to him to decide what they're going to do, whether to get revenge or not," he said.
asserted
he → decide → revenge
He said Wadeye's fighting continued because "that's what they do; some can't stop".
asserted
some → say → what
Arthur James Junior Karui, 50, who was in and out of youth detention and prison when he was younger, often after fighting, said he was now trying to get his sons and nephews to stop.
asserted
sons → fight → fighting
"I was doing that when I was young, because of jealousing over women problems, and I was in prison, but I've calmed down now and got a good job in construction," he said.
asserted
he → do → construction
"We want to stop all those young boys fighting and killing each other; I keep telling them to get a job."
asserted
I → want → job
Robert Ninnal Melpi, an assistant teacher and a board member of Wadeye's Aboriginal-led Thamarrurr Development Corporation, which represents all the clans, said the violence was affecting children.
asserted
violence → lead → children
The kids are really negative at the moment, no one's going to school, nearly 500 kids are staying at home out of it," the Wulthirri clan member said.
asserted
member → go → it
Weapons have 'potential to kill'
NT Police Central Division Superintendent Virginia Read said her officers had made dozens of arrests in relation to the Wadeye violence, seized dozens of weapons, stopped some of the large quantities of black market alcohol from coming into the community, and tried to support elders in their attempts to pressure their families to stop.
"
asserted
officers → kill → families
The weapons that are being used have the potential to kill people — something as simple as a house louvre, makeshift axes, right down to the rock on the side of the road," she said.
asserted
she → use → road
"You have these people living together that don't like each other, and we get continuing rolling issues, so, how we can fix that?
asserted
we → have → that
"I think we can only keep doing what we're doing working with the families and letting them have the say on how this problem can be fixed."
asserted
problem → think → say
One of many locals desperate to stop the violence, Wadeye Kardu Diminin traditional owner Margaret Perdjert, said she wanted more support from the NT and federal governments to repair burnt houses and build more public housing.
asserted
she → stop → housing
"There's a lot of empty houses around the community, so rebuild those houses and people can move there," she said.
asserted
she → be → houses
"We want the government to come out here and see what's happening out here."
asserted
what → want → ?
Ms Perdjert also said more homes in surrounding homeland communities would allow warring families to escape the community's pressure-cooker atmosphere more regularly.
asserted
families → say → atmosphere
Mark Tunmuck-Smith, another Thamarrurr Development Corporation board member, called on governments to relax rules that prevent people with public housing from also getting money for a house on their clan homeland, because the violence in Wadeye was so serious.
asserted
violence → call → Wadeye
"We need to change some rules and come up with a better plan immediately because we are crying out loud that we want to move back to our homelands where we feel safe," he said.
asserted
he → need → homelands
…and 27 more, not listed.
The Aporia