ANZAC Day a good time to gauge Middle East crisis
Remembering people on Anzac Day who gave their lives defending their country is a noble custom in Australia. But the situation in the Middle East urges us to broaden our take on armed conflict ... Because the USA is providing arms that Israel is using to attack Iran, Iran is attacking American military bases in countries that host them. We are one of them: Pine Gap, 19km from Alice Springs...
Nolans mine: Bus-in, bus-out from Alice?
The shortages caused by attacks on Iran by Israel and the US have massively increased interest in the Territory’s huge gas reserves as well as several minerals. This is clearly the main talking point at the Annual Geoscience Exploration Seminar (AGES) this week in Alice Springs which may become the base for a major mine.
NT tops nation in tourism earnings
Results for overnight trips were flat for most states and territories in the year ending December 2025 when compared with the year ending December 2024, except for the Northern Territory which saw an increase of 151,000 trips or 18 per cent. The NT is the only to state or territory to see an increase in overnight spend when compared with 2024, up by $523m 43 per cent.
Blanket clearance for buffel weed after import
The controversial buffel grass permits announced by Environment Minister Joshua Burgoyne last week apply only to its importation from outside the NT. Once here, the use, propagation, selling and transport of the declared weed has blanket clearance on pastoral lease land, nearly half of the NT, as the Minister is due to approve.
Being up in the air
I went to Adelaide yesterday. This is very naughty given that NT Tourism Minister Marie-Clare Boothby had just announced a strategy aiming at making more money for our travel industry ... My booking with Qantas triggered an avalanche of texts and emails...
Buffel grass plan ‘a farce’
After decades of government inaction, this is the tragic admission this week about Central Australia’s greatest environmental catastrophe: “Despite the very high risk rating of buffel grass it is considered that [it] cannot be feasibly eradicated from the NT at this time due to its widespread distribution and biological persistence.
Centre’s answer to fuel chaos?
As the Middle Eastern wars plunge the world's oil industry into chaos, Central Australia could be sitting pretty. The Mereenie oilfield, 250 kms west of Alice Springs, produces 300 barrels a day (a barrel is 159 litres), of a purity that allows the crude to be used in many diesel engines without refining.
Long wait for green mine
An estimated 4 per cent of the world's NdPr, a high-performance rare earth crucial for batteries and electric vehicles, is under the ground a mere 135km north of Alice Springs. Yet a final investment decision has still not been made about a mine that was first proposed 23 years ago, but may be this year.
Cheery Beetaloo gas prophesy needs second look
The NT Government’s cheery propaganda about enormous gas reserves in Beetaloo poised to elevate the Territory to unimaginable wealth calls for a second look. The future of the basin, about half-way between Alice and Darwin, is facing global issues of oversupply, uncompetitive gas prices, reserves being far from markets and opposition from nuclear and renewable electricity.
I’ve seen The Vision Splendid: Ted Egan
Ted Egan's stories and songs ranged from the poignant, such as The Drover’s Boy, to the larrikan: There are some bloody good drinkers, in the Northern Territory ... Greg Egan was speaking ... at the state memorial celebrating the life of his father Ted Egan who, apart from being a nationally celebrated singer, was an author, academic and athlete.
