NT

The Alice Springs Turf Club is hosting Chinese satellite navigation equipment with potential military use and apparently without the knowledge of the Federal Government. This is alleged by a source, formerly linked to the company that supplied it, speaking with the Alice Springs News on the condition of not being named.

Les Turner, CLC CEO. The twice-rejected Western Davenport water allocation plan unmasks the Northern Territory government’s disregard for Aboriginal rights and sites and lacks social licence ... Alekarenge community leader Graham Beasley says: “That’s our country. We should be involved. What’s going to happen to our sacred trees?”

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In another boost for the economy and local jobs, the Northern Territory Government has given mining approval to Core Lithium for its BP33 underground mine –  the second proposed mine at the Finniss Lithium Operation near Darwin. BP33 is located 33km west of Berry Springs and 5km from the Grants open pit, processing of ore mined at BP33 will occur at the nearby Grants Lithium Project.

NT Health is urging Territorians and visitors to the Northern Territory (NT) to protect themselves and children from mosquito bites following a recent death from Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE) in the Big Rivers region. This follows another MVE death recorded in February in a person in the Top End region.

Five Barkly schools have been successful in a share of the $32 million grants to upgrade infrastructure and equipment. Member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour was in Tennant Creek yesterday and visited Tennant Creek High School which will receive $25,000 to repair and maintain its facilities and refurbish classrooms.

Pam Dillon. Students from Canteen Creek ventured onto the waterways of Policeman’s Waterhole this week. The students have been kayaking the waterhole with the Barkly Region Sports Education Coordinator since 2015 and this year, was the furthest they have paddled on it.

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Key details about the proposed $12m Yipirinya boarding facility remain unclear while the Federal Opposition has further assured its support for the project in a meeting with the school’s board of Aboriginal elders. Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, and Shadow Minister for Education, Senator Sarah Henderson, said the school is “like a family” when they visited the campus.

Catherine Grimley. Promptly at 9.30 on Tuesday morning marchers stepped off at the Transit Centre for the ANZAC Day March to the RSL ... This year’s main address by Sergeant Pam Dillon focused on the sacrifices and service of animals in war (represented by the purple poppy)...

Just ahead of the Tennant Creek Speedway’s opening race weekend, committee members turned up for a meeting yesterday to be greeted by utter devastation ... The police and firies were immediately called. "We are so close to opening night, and it’s a double feature" ... "We need to do something because these little f**ks are just running amok."

The Manager of the Goldfields Hotel was not a happy camper this week when a customer emailed him the latest Tourism Central Australia (TCA) Dining Guide publicised on its website to promote restaurants and cafés in the central NT region ... "The Barkly seems to be the Bermuda Triangle of the Territory – forget the Berrimah Line – it should be the Capricorn Line – everything north of Alice is forgotten about": Jason Groves.

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If the Northern Territory wants to achieve a 50% renewable energy target by 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050, as it says it does, it seems we will need to make a choice between two types of mineral extraction: Good Mining and Bad Mining. “Good Mines” would get out of the ground the dozen-plus materials needed to make batteries and solar panels, known as critical minerals, needed for clean energy technologies, including copper, nickel, manganese, cobalt, chromium, molybdenum and zinc.

NT Mining Minister Nicole Manison was addressing more than 300 industry people attending the Annual Geoscience Exploration Seminar (AGES) in Alice Springs ... She said the NT has 15 of the critical minerals the world needs, “and we have lots of copper as well, and 13 prospective critical minerals” ... Minister Manison said the government will change the royalty system to ad valorem, including petroleum.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness month with this year’s themes being Drawing Connections and Prevention Demands Equity. On Wednesday the Barkly Sexual Assault Referral Centre team held a Community BBQ in Peko Park to raise awareness in the community that sexual violence is not okay and that there is support available for those that are affected by it.

Barkly Regional Council Mayor Jeffrey McLaughlin met with his Territory counterparts this week at the Local Government Association NT’s (LGANT) annual conference in Alice Springs. The two-day Sustainable Councils conference was held in Alice Springs and was attended by mayors, presidents, councillors, CEOs and delegates from all 17 local government areas in the Territory.

The Tennant Creek Watch House will undergo a $11.5 million redevelopment as part of the Territory Labor Government’s investment to improve police resources in Budget 2023. The Territory Government committed $3.4 million to redevelop the Watch House in 2019 as part of the Barkly Regional Deal, however it was subsequently deemed that a full replacement of the facility was required.

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The biennial Northern Australia Food Futures Conference, organised by NT Farmers Association, is now in its 5th year. The conference was established to promote the development of agriculture across northern Australia and to raise the profile of northern region at a national level. 

The Voice is not on the agenda of two of the three local governments in the Central Australian bush, and it is understood that this is also the case with the MacDonnell Regional Council ... Adrian Dixon, President of the Central Desert Regional Council, said the Voice had not been spoken about in the council and there had been no consultation about the Voice ... And Barkly Mayor Jeffrey McLaughlin says: “We don’t need a Voice, we want an Ear first.”