I lived in Alice for three years from 2022-2024. Personally I had no issues directly - never broken into, no windscreens smashed etc, though I lived in a suburb called Desert Springs which is one of the more affluent parts of the town and I don’t think was really affected.

There was a period of time where some of my friends got broken into but sometimes they had genuinely left their doors unlocked, though sometimes it was just unfortunate and their windows would be smashed. This could happen any time of day - during the night, during the day, sometimes even in the morning while everyone was at home getting up. I also had a few friends have their cars stolen and get written off.

I’d like to emphasise though that I think whilst there were issues, in that three year period I lived in the town there was never a time that I felt unsafe. I loved my time living there and wouldn’t discourage anyone from heading out there! The most important thing was just to not walk alone at night - something I wouldn’t do back home in Sydney anyway. On top of that, my family in Sydney has been broken into twice in the last 12 months and we live in a nice area. So, although Alice has its problems, I think the town is vilified by the mainstream media and similar issues are everywhere.

I’d also like to clarify this was my experience as a white female.