Canberra dollars to boost Indigenous movers and shakers
The more than half a billion dollars which the just launched Aboriginal Investment NT will be extracting from Canberra bureaucrats over five years should be spent mostly on infrastructure “on the ground, in communities,” says Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour ... “The AINT will ensure the money is spent in the right areas and in line with Aboriginal aspirations,” says Ms Scrymgour. And it may well be time for the Aboriginal land councils “to let go”.
Lia’s law & order: Cops make their case
The new Chief Minister wasted no time getting down to what she called “the number one issue”: Law and order. Only hours after her impressive election win, Lia Finocchiaro met with Police Commissioner Michael Murphy in what may have been a tense encounter.
TIO mum on massive premium hike
Territory Insurance Office “We’re for Territorians” hiked the premium of a long-time customer in the Alice Springs rural residential area by about 40 per cent, from $2382 to $3206, a difference of $824. That’s even taking into account a no claim bonus of 30 per cent.
The Territory pattern of politics
Alex Nelson .... historically leaders of political parties whose electorates are based outside of Darwin always result in failure ... In Lia Finocchiaro, we have yet another Chief Minister whose electorate of Spillett is a part of Palmerston, leading a new government with 16 members at latest count.
McFarland goes down the path of a dual society
Don Fuller. In my view Blair McFarland’s policies are short on policy suggestions – besides they need more funding for the Basics Card. It is dependence on government to provide failing solutions again! There is no mention of the essential importance of education and the need for employment to reduce the devastating impact of a welfare-based society and how these vital areas can be improved.
NT election: Model predicts CLP win
Professor Rolf Gerritsen. Later this month we Territorians will vote in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly election. Recent opinion polls indicate a tightening contest as the Labor Government rallies under the surprisingly effective Ms Lawler ... here are my 10, Lichtman-adapted variables.
Preventing crime by easing poverty
The elephant in the room is poverty, says Greens candidate for Namatjira, Blair McFarland, in the election campaign mostly focussed on what to do about crime. “We’re already the most over policed region in Australia. If public safety depended on police numbers we’d be one of the safest places in the world.”
Garma apology: Police union canes Commissioner, MLA calls it a croc
"It is disappointing the Commissioner did not communicate the content, and intent, directly with the membership well in advance of his speech": Acting NT Police Association President, Lisa Bayliss ... Independent Member for the Araluen electorate in Alice Springs, Robyn Lambley, described the apology on social media: "What a croc! Garma has become a ridiculous display of patronising political rhetoric and pantomime."
Brawl over Singleton groundwater continues
Fortune Agribusiness is again the controversial winner in the Western Davenport Water Allocation Plan 2024-2027 announced by Environment Minister Kate Worden yesterday – a day before her government entered caretaker mode ahead of the election this month. The government’s decisions about the use of groundwater from the 24,500 square kilometre basin 350 km north of Alice Springs have vehemently been opposed by the Arid Land Environment Centre.
Wine, not climb
Sixty five thousand years. The world’s oldest living culture. One of the things that make Australia great. Aboriginal people and the tourism industry are clearly made for each other. Well, no.
