BEAKING NEWS
Posted 1805 CST on July 30, 2010.

Council stops work at heritage protected park

The Town Council have agreed to stop work at Stuart Park following contact from the Department of Natural Resources, Environment, the Arts and Sport, which administers the Heritage Conservation Act.
The park is part of the Alice Springs Heritage Precinct, protected under the Act.
A spokesperson for the department told the Alice News: "NRETAS has been advised that the Alice Springs Town Council have made a decision to place a statue within the Alice Springs Heritage Precinct.
"We understand some works have commenced and the Alice Springs Town Council have agreed to stop work and we will now commence discussions on the process involved under the Heritage Act."
The Alice News understands that under the legislation application to carry out works on a heritage place must be made to the Minister who must in turn first refer the matter to the Heritage Advisory Council for comment.
It is unlikely that these processes can be executed in time to reach the deadline of August 6, the date fixed by the Freemasons for the unveiling of their giant statue of the explorer John McDouall Stuart.
Meanwhile Greg Dick, owner of the Aileron Roadhouse, 130 kms north of Alice Springs up the Stuart Highway, says the Stuart statue would be welcome on his land "any time".
Anmatjere Man (17 metres tall), Anmatjere Woman (15 metres) and Anmatjere child (eight metres) are already there, all sculpted in concrete by Mark Egan. The Anmatjere are a local Aboriginal tribe.
(More below and further down on this page.)

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Posted 1725 CST on July 30, 2010.



Is Town Council in breach of heritage law?

Aldermen agreed via email this morning to move the location of a giant concrete statue of the explorer John McDouall Stuart from the Town Council lawns to Stuart Park.
An emergency public meeting at noon of the Public Art Advisory Committee, and attended by scores of interested members of the public, was told of council's decision. However the committee voted four to one for the installation of the statue to be deferred while they reconsidered the whole issue.
Council officers, including the CEO Rex Mooney were also informed at the close of the meeting that the park is protected as part of the Alice Springs Heritage Precinct.
All works on a heritage-protected area or building are subject to clearance processes.
Work, however, has started on preparing the site at the park.
Our photograph, taken this afternoon, shows excavation in preparation to receive the pedestal, with creator of the statue Mark Egan (left) and instigator of the project, Les Pilton, a member of the Freemasons.
The statue of the explorer, who was a mason, is intended as a gift to Alice Springs by the Freemasons on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the first expedition by Stuart into Central Australia. He and his companions were the the first Europeans to come into this area. 
The work is also supposed to go ahead subject to full technical approvals by the council.
Can these have been issued for the new site in the course of today?





New local owners of Kmart building
ignore local campaign for restoration

Work has commenced on the restoration of the mural on the west-facing Kmart wall, using in part concrete bricks in lieu of the original sandstone.
The bricks, in three colours, can be seen on the ground on the right of our photo.
The original sandstone mural, depicting Heavitree Gap and the ranges extending to Mount Gillen, was damaged during a storm on September 22, 2008 and subsequently dismantled.
There has been a campaign, in particular by the Town Council, to have the wall restored to its original condition. This was supported at first by the Development Consent Authority.
However, following an appeal by former owners of the building, Centro, mediation took place before the Lands Planning and Mining Tribunal.
This resulted in a development permit being issued to the owners by the DCA allowing a compromise solution of blockwork in mixed colours to complete the upper levels of the mural.
In the meantime, the Kmart building has changed owners, acquired for almost $16m in June by local company Yeperenye Pty  Ltd, made up of Aboriginal interests.
The Alice News understands that Yeperenye is owned by Aboriginal investment company Centrecorp or a trustee arm of that company (60%) and native title holder body Lhere Artepe (40%).
Centrecorp is owned by the Central Land Council (three fifths), Tangentyere Council and Central Australian Aboriginal Congress (one fifth each).
While there may have been some hope that attitudes towards the restoration would change with local ownership, with work commencing that hope has now vanished.
Mayor Damien Ryan told this week's meeting of the Town Council that he had raised concerns about the Kmart Wall with Planning Minister Gerry McCarthy in a recent meeting, requesting his assistance for a better solution.
Now it appears that it is all too late.

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EXCLUSIVE



If the parks were given away on the pretext of being under threat then
this was ...

The greatest fraud ever perpetrated by any government in the NT

Legal advice kept secret by the NT Government for eight years has been obtained by the Alice Springs News. Far from asserting that ownership to Territory national parks should be handed over to Aboriginal interests, as claimed by the Clare Martin (pictured) and Paul Henderson governments, the advice by then Solicitor General Tom Pauling, now the NT's Administrator,  outlines “solutions to the potential invalidity of NT parks” in the wake of a High Court 2002 native title decison in WA. Yet the government, with the encouragement of Warren Snowdon, the Federal Member for Lingiari, started to transfer parks, subsequently leased back for 99 years. This process is due to include the tourist magnet, West MacDonnells National Park. When shown the advice by the Alice Springs News, Shadow Treasurer John Elferink (pictured) said: “If the parks were given away on the pretext of being under threat, whilst most of them actually were not, then one can only conclude that this was the greatest fraud ever perpetrated by any government in the Northern Territory.
“It is now up to the Territory Government to formally release the full advice from Tom Pauling, including the annexes, to demonstrate the legitimacy of their position.
“I for one do not believe them.”
Mr Henderson did not respond to a request for comment. ERWIN CHLANDA reports. Photo at top: Part of the front page of the Pauling advice. Above right: Serpentine Gorge, in the iconic West MacDonnells National Park, due to be handed over to Aboriginal ownership. Full story»



Aboriginal company loses SIHIP work




A home-grown Aboriginal company competing in the local construction industry got a shock when their crew of 12, six of them Aboriginal, were stood down by Territory Alliance three weeks ago.
Ingkerreke Commercial were working on refurbishments of town camp housing under SIHIP (Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program).
General manager Scott McConnell says there has been no satisfactory explanation of why the Ingkerreke crew was stood down, rather than any other of the contractors employed by Territory Alliance. KIERAN FINNANE reports. Photo above: Ingkerreke workers upgrading drainage at the Congress complex. Full story»



Giant statue agreed to
in secrecy and in haste

The Town Council by-passed their own advisory committee and policy because the Freemasons told them to.
That was essentially the explanation offered by CEO Rex Mooney when challenged by concerned residents at Monday night’s meeting over the imminent erection on the council lawns of a five metre high ferro-concrete statue of the explorer and Freemason John McDouall Stuart.
Stuart was the first European, together with his companions, to travel into Central Australia in 1860. The 150th anniversary of this expedition has been celebrated through a variety of events this year.
Council approved the erection of the statue, being offered as a gift by the Freemasons, as a “matter of urgency”, Mr Mooney said.
The "urgency" turns out to be merely the visit by the Grand Master on August 6 whom local Freemasons want to officiate at the unveling. KIERAN FINNANE reports. PHOTO: Apologies to sculptor William Maxwell and his evocation in plaster of explorer JM Stuart.
The statue for the Alice Council lawns, commissoned by the Freemasons, is different, and is being created in ferro-concrete by Mark Egan.
The point of our image is to show the scale of the planned 5m statue relative to artist Pip McManus who is protesting over the lack of consultation surrounding its placement. Full story»









Candid, courageous, moving & hilarious



The audience were with her from the start.
In her opening line she told them that Saturday’s were the first shows she’d done in Alice Springs sober.
They clapped and cheered – it was more than sympathy, it was respect for her fight, solidarity.
And if anyone was feeling a little anxious about whether this journey as a recovering alcoholic would be the stuff of comedy, Fiona O’Loughlin soon dispelled all doubts.
She was candid, courageous, moving but also hilarious. How does she do it?
There are lots of things. She creates an illusion of intimacy with her story-telling style – you could be sitting at her kitchen table.
She has a sharp eye but also a great affection for people’s foibles and weaknesses and the absurdities to be found in everyday life. The show ends with a poignant slideshow from O’Loughlin’s life. Photo at top:  A young Fiona with two of her five children, Henry and Biddy. Full story»




Move over, Roadshow

They’re a pair of culturaI entrepreneurs, no doubt: mid-weeks were pretty barren, apart from bars, until, after a year’s preparation, Pop Cinema got going, screening cult and independent films in a club-like setting, with food, bar, and live music.
But, is it a business? Can it bring in the dollars to ensure its survival beyond the initial bout of enthusiasm that has set it up? “I prefer the term ‘free enterprise’ to business,” says Cameron Buckley. “It’s an enterprise free of government grants. We just had to struggle to get it going.”
But pay its way it does and it pays its people too. KIERAN FINNANE reports. Pictured are Mr Buckley (left) and partner in the venture, Cy Starkman. Full story»







Giving it a shot where the loaded guys race


In May this year, Kyron Wright (pictured) entered into the Piston Broke Promotions Show ‘n’ Shine and won the prize for the best looking bloke.
Joke.
In fact his 1971 Ford XY GT Falcon won the Best Ford Classic category and the People’s Choice Car of Show, while his 1971 Ford XY Falcon won the Best Unfinished Project category.
It was one of many red letter days for a bloke who turned petrol head because his wife Sandi got sick of him sitting around the house and talked him into buying a GT.
It was this rocket that emboldened him to enter the Targa Tasmania. Motorsport Writer CHRISANNE WALSH reports. Photo at top: In the prologue for the Targa in Tassie. Full story»





Araluen solar plant down but not out

After considerable community angst over its location and a move towards compromise, the solar air-conditioning project at the Araluen Arts Centre has now been put on hold.
Tenders have come in at  “almost double the cost we had anticipated”, Araluen director Tim Rollason announced last week. But he doesn't rule out a fresh bid at turning the art complex greener. KIERAN FINNANE reports.



RSL top brass in Alice Springs



Jock Statton doesn’t buy into an argument of whether or not Australia should be fighting in Afghanistan – at least not as the RSL president for SA and the NT.
In a visit last week to the Alice branch he told the Alice News that a soldier carries out orders from his government. But the Returned & Services League will get vocal when it stands up for the rights and welfare of its members. Mr Statton (above, right) is pictured with vice-president Frank Owen, who joined him on the visit to Alice. Both are Vietnam vets and have been awarded the Order of Australia.


How do you muster the Power of Persuasion, asks Nancarrow Arrow while Letter to the Editor writer Deirdre Fisher, an indepenedent candidate in next month's Federal poll, encourages voters to drop the major parties. Full story»


TO OUR MANY LETTER WRITERS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD: WE PUBLISH MANY OF YOUR COMMENTS - KEEP THEM COMING!
E-mail alicenews@ozemail.com.au


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