By ERWIN CHLANDA Six young women became fully qualified primary school teachers while living and working in their outback communities. They completed their four-year Bachelor of Education degree online in a teaching initiative of Curtin University and the WA Department of Education. A similar program is offered in the NT, facilitated by Charles Darwin University […]

By ERWIN CHLANDA Alice Springs Airport had a run of five consecutive days of 40 °C or above this month, February 8 to 12, according to the Bureau of Metereology (BOM). There was also a run of 15 days in the second half of January, from the 19th to February 2. The most recent long […]

By ERWIN CHLANDA Exorbitant prices for groceries in outback stores are often the subject of outrage but are rarely dealt with a great deal of logic. I gave it a shot 31 years ago. Tracker Tilmouth (pictured) was applying his admirable activist’s skills to the very same problems that are doing the rounds at the […]

By ERWIN CHLANDA “You can’t arrest your way out of these problems” is a widely recognised principle in dealing with crime. For example, Alice Springs Police Commander Craig Laidler mentioned it in 2020 in an interview with the Alice Springs News. Four years later, with a new government doing a lot of chest beating about […]

COMMENT by FRANK BAARDA Spearheaded by the re-elected president of the United States of America we are seeing a shadow spreading over our planet: The politics of revenge, also known as Fascism. In Australia Trumpism is being emulated by the Opposition, including an ill-defined strategy headed by NT Senator Jacinta Price to reduce expenditure, in […]

By ERWIN CHLANDA The NT Government has removed the minimum floor price (MUP) for alcohol which has been in force since 2018, requiring a charge of no less than $1.30 per standard drink. Australian Medical Association (NT) president Robert Parker describes the decision as “a backward step in reducing alcohol-related harm”. NT Hospitality Minister Marie-Clare […]

By ERWIN CHLANDA “We will not spend another dollar on activists and economic vandals and their disruptive agendas.” This is how Joshua Burgoyne (pictured), NT Minister for Lands, Planning and Environment, announced that his government has axed its $100,000 annual grant for the Arid Lands Environment Centre (ALEC), Central Australia’s peak environmental organisation for over […]

By MARK SMITH Can Jacinta Price deliver a more efficient Australia? Peter Dutton thinks she can. As he surges ahead in the unreliable opinion polls Mr Dutton has hit the podcast circuit to flag that Trump is already having an international impact in his first few weeks in office. His decision to mirror the Elon […]

By ERWIN CHLANDA All Territory Aboriginal persons facing criminal charges since August last year received high quality legal representation unless they chose not to use the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, or it had a conflict of interest. CEO Anthony Beven was responding to allegations made anonymously to the Alice Springs News that “there is […]

By ERWIN CHLANDA If the government changes stripe, NT Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price will be wheeling and dealing in billions of dollars, for example, $13.7b for miners’ green hydrogen (“now abandoned”) or $1b for quantum computers. At least that’s what she’s explained to Sky TV presenter Paul Murray, no doubt her favourite interviewer: “You look […]