Vital police service to be withdrawn

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
 
Sir – Pastoralists are now required to move their entire fleet of vehicles hundreds of kilometres across the NT to the closest Motor Vehicle Registration office, or fly MVR inspectors to remote properties, to be able to renew vehicle registrations.
 
This week the Cattlemen’s Association (NTCA) has been advised police will no longer be completing light and medium registrations for vehicles and will only complete driver registrations and renewal if police operations allow it.
 
These services are crucial for Territorians in regional and remote locations and their withdrawal leaves equipment and productivity worth millions of dollars stranded, often for months at a time.
 
In one instance, relayed to NT Police Minister Nicole Manison, $40,000 in registrations could not be completed, forcing a pastoralist to stand down the entire fleet of vehicles.
 
Given the remote locations some of our cattlemen operate in, it is impractical, sometimes impossible and not sustainable to get an entire fleet of trucks, vehicles and plant equipment to the closest MVR for inspection.
 
In another situation a pastoral property owner was forced to fly to Tennant Creek to collect an MVR inspector, fly them back to the property to conduct vehicle inspections, and then flew them back to Tennant – all at the pastoralist’s expense.
 
Coupled with the erratic opening hours of the Tennant Creek MVR where pastoralists have driven into Tennant only to discover it was shut, the commitment to bush services and services in regional Northern Territory is severely lacking. It isn’t good enough.
 
Mr Manicaros said in the past police had generally included these types of duties as part of their regular patrols – a service that also fostered community relationships.
 
But there is clearly a battle of resourcing going on and now the pastoralists and those who live and work in the bush are caught in a dispute triangle between police, MVR and the Fifth Floor of government.
 
The extra cost of having to travel to or pay for the services to come to remote locations was the last thing needed during the current dry climatic conditions.
 
Ashley Manicaros
CEO, Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association