Map above: fires today. Note color code bottom right of country already burned this year.
By ERWIN CHLANDA
Police should treat firebugs as major criminals, says Matt Braitling, of Mt Doreen Station, the chairman of Bushfire NT, southern region.
He says except for the blaze at Numery Station, set off by lightning, all the massive number of bushfires in Central Australia in the past weeks were deliberately lit.
Meanwhile South Australia is sending fire fighters, and MLA for Braitling Adam Giles lashes out at the lack of preparedness for the what was long known would be a catastrophic fire season.
Mr Braitling says police efforts to catch firebugs are inadequate.
“It’s usually easy to pinpoint where fires start,” he says.
“Police need to set up crime scenes at these locations.”
They should deploy forensic teams, check for things like tyre marks and discarded rubbish, fingerprint items, use trackers and seek the assistance of people who have local knowledge.
“It’s attempted murder,” says Mr Braitling. “People will die.”
Police say the maximum penalty now is 15 years’ prison – but the arrest rate is very poor.
A spokeswoman says so far just four people have been caught – including one at the base of Anzac Hill in Alice Springs, and one east of the town by cattle station fire fighters.
Today a 36-year-old woman was will face court after police arrested her for lighting a fire in Whittaker Street, Alice Springs, last night.
Regional Counter Disaster Controller Acting Commander Michael White said the woman was the second person in two days to be arrested for lighting fires.
“A 25-year-old man was arrested in Imanpa on Tuesday and he too will face the courts.
“With the extraordinary amount of bushfires in the area over the past month or so, it is astounding that people are still deliberately lighting fires, especially when they could face up to 15 years jail,” A/Commander White said.
Fires which threatened the Desert Park and two town camps in Alice Springs yesterday have been brought under control.
“Fire fighters worked throughout the day and night containing the fire which reached the top of West Gap last night and threatened the communications towers there. It’s a credit to their hard work that no property or persons were injured and the fires have been contained.”
Overnight, additional crews were sent to the Kings Canyon area to help contain the large blazes in the area.
“Yesterday, we closed the Luritja Road and the Ernest Giles road due to significant fires burning in the area. Additional resources have been sent into the area to help contain the blaze, however, fires continue to burn and motorists are being urged to avoid the area.
“This morning we have also closed the access road through Boggy Hole between Ernest Giles Road and Larapinta Drive. This includes the access track to Ellery Creek and Tempe Downs area.
“We cannot overstate the importance of staying off these roads as we have already had a couple of close calls involving tourists ignoring the warnings.
“Last night our fire crews found a Wicked van abandoned near the intersection of the Luritja Road and Ernest Giles Road. Obviously this led to a concern for the welfare of the occupants and we were obliged to direct scarce resources to finding the people. They had in fact been transported to Kings Canyon resort by another motorist after their vehicle broke down.
“Once again we urge all members of the public to avoid travel on these remote roads while the fires continue to burn until further notice.”
There is a common assumption that the fires are lit by Aborigines – “black lightning” as they are sometimes called, says Mr Braitling.
He says the Central Land Council (CLC) arranged the burning of fire breaks earlier in the season in a very professional way.
“They’ve done a good job but somehow it’s created a monster.
“It’s burn, burn, burn.
“Now is not the time to burn.
“Is there anything planned to stop the burning?” asks Mr Braitling.
“There are a lot of individuals lightng fires.”
Many of them start on bush roads mostly used by Aborigines but there may well be non-Aboriginal people doing it as well.
The Alice Springs News Online has asked the CLC for a comment.
Other bushfire news:-
• The NT Government still has not responded to an enquiry by the Alice News about what kind of responsibility rests with the government for fires started on public roads under its control.
• The wildfires “are another symptom of a community that is losing a battle on crime, and an indication of the defiance that some members of the community show towards the law,” says Shadow Minister for Central Australia, Matt Conlan.
“There are reports of walls of fire 20 feet high, of animals burnt cruelly and cattle having to be put down, all as a consequence of the low acts of a group of fire-bugs in the community.
“Criminal elements seem to be taking delight at causing distress and destruction and it just has to stop.”
• Chief Minister Paul Henderson has announced the Government is preparing to send additional resources to support fire-fighting efforts around Alice Springs.
He said these would be in addition to six rural-based volunteer fire-fighters sent from Darwin to Alice Springs earlier yesterday.
Minister for Central Australia Karl Hampton today welcomed the deployment of 16 South Australian Country Fire Authority volunteers to help fight bushfires in Central Australia.
Mr Hampton says they and extra equipment should arrive by road later today, on top of the 11 extra personnel sent from Darwin to Alice Springs during the past 24 hours.
But Mr Giles says the horse has already bolted on the fires in Central Australia and once again Mr Hampton has turned up late to the party.
“Mr Hampton was advised months and months ago about the need for more resources to help abate the risk of fire,” says Mr Giles.
“There was an internal report undertaken which was never appropriately responded to by Karl and I believe his inaction has resulted in extreme disquiet from some Bushfire Council members.
“I think it also had an impact of the recent resignation of the previous senior officer down here.
“While additional resources are welcome Karl must apologize for taking his finger off the pulse once again.
“People who light fires on purpose should be condemned but so should those who should be responsible but choose not to act,” says Mr Giles.
“Spare a thought for the pastoralists who have had their property burnt out or the traditional owners whose country has been somewhat destroyed by fire.
“I know many Warlpiri people are very unhappy about what the fire has done to their country. I would have thought Karl as the local member might have looked after his own electorate but, no, he neglected the Warlpiri again.
“Senior Centralians, young children and asthma suffers may not have had to go through the recent bouts of respiratory complications that they have had to.
“Door knocking yesterday I spoke with a numbers of parents who had concerns about their children’s health and one lady had to take the day off work to look after her daughter who had bad asthma because of the smoke in the air.”
Posted Oct 4, 2011: Interesting story on the ABC about concerns in South Australia about buffel grass invading from the NT. The introduced grass species is a major contributor to the seriousness of the current bushfires. Today rain is providing relief. Search the Alice Springs News Online archive for articles about buffel grass.
Treat firebugs as major criminals – call by chief bushfire fighter
The wicked flee when no-one pursues
By ALEX NELSON
My unit adjoins a garage that accesses a public laneway at the rear of the property.
At 2:15pm on Thursday, 22 September, I was in my unit when I heard the rattle of a spray paint can followed by a hissing sound just outside the garage roller door.
I picked up my little digital camera, switched it on, and proceeded silently to the gate in the rear fence. As I stepped out into the laneway I noticed the distinct smell of wet paint. A large squiggle of red paint – a tag – had appeared on the exterior of a garage roller door.
Two big teenage lads – both taller than me – were already some distance away, walking towards the Todd River. Neither was Aboriginal.
I said not a word but raised my camera, zoomed in a little, and snapped a photo.
The lad on the left chanced to look behind and saw me with my raised camera. He must have warned his mate – they both walked a few more steps then bolted just as I took my second photo.
A similar event had occurred a few days earlier, on Saturday, 17 September, and also at 2:15 pm.
On this occasion I was actually in the garage when I heard footsteps approaching outside. From the murmur of voices there were at least two individuals who had stopped just outside my garage door.
Then I heard the sound of creaking metal as pressure was applied to the frame of the roller door. Were they attempting to break in?
After a couple of seconds it was apparent no, they were painting! I called out loudly: “What are you doing?”
This was followed instantly by the sound of running feet as the two anonymous scoundrels took flight.
By the time I got to the laneway there was no sign of anybody, but the middle pillar of the garage featured a still-dripping, freshly painted black tag.
As I stood in the empty laneway I recalled a favourite biblical quote: The wicked flee when no-one pursues but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
All the same, I wonder how a youth curfew will curtail the behaviour of well-heeled white youths whose anti-social activities are perpetrated in broad daylight?
UPDATE: Police have informed Mr Nelson that the youths were identified from the photo by their school principal. They ran but they couldn’t hide!
Digging for charba
The midday sun parched our faces, burning the backs of our necks and scalps as our crew ventured out into the bush behind Undoolya, on a very particular mission. Us youngsters stood in the tray of the ute, while the grownups – Rod Moss, Eva and Julie Hayes from Whitegate – held the cabin. Kangaroo tails, matches and two crowbars were all I thought we needed. I excitedly sang pop tunes to the boys – my partner Shaan from Melbourne and young Kaylum also from Whitegate – as we held onto the rail of the roof, but the sound was muted by the blasting wind, as the dirt track’s rocky ride bumped us up and down the corrugation.
When we finally pulled off into thick shrub and prepared ourselves for the hunt, Rod’s silent unloading of the car was welcome relief. The two older women automatically picked up the crowbars and started walking to the acacia without any discussion, and I assumed my role moving gently behind them. They just pointed to the bushes: “Ronja, dig this!” I followed, taking a crowbar and digging at the base of a tree. Within a couple of seconds, one of the women would say, “No, no! Not this one!” … only the direction was not conveyed with words, but a dismissive flick of the wrist. Moving onto another shrub, the process was repeated and every time they just knew. It was either yes to continue digging, or yet another flick.
Finally our endeavours were approved as roots were reached and unearthed. Yet, the heavy metal crushed some of the roots and risked destroying our prize – the slimy witchetty grubs, or ‘charba’ that lived within.
I heaved many deep breaths of exhaustion but kept going, knowing that this was our goal: to acquire as many grubs as possible for use in the Bushfoods Competition on the coming Sunday.
Weeks before I had dreamt up a delicate tempura recipe with the contrast of bold, Central Australian fillings. Of course, witchetty was the first choice as the shape alone fulfilled my aesthetic want. I knew also, though, that to accumulate them I would have to be directly involved, as Afghan Traders did not sell pickled and spiced grubs … as well resourced as they are!
We had been talking this trip up with the women for days. However, after finding no one at Whitegate, we had an hour of searching the centre of Alice and several town camps before we found Eva and Julie next to the mechanized toilets near Yeperenye. Julie just had a specific look on her face: “Yeah. Of course we’re here. Where else would we be?”
The first few we got were squished, revealing their true texture. Inspecting them, we admired the grit and the blood of the grubs in our red-coloured dusty hands.
We had been digging for about 20 minutes when the women directed me to move back to the car and start preparing the lunch. It felt like they knew that time and patience was all that was needed and sent me away so as to not disturb this with my overthinking ambition.
I tried to hush that thought in my mind and to just enjoy the smell of the ironwood fire. Rod and I cut the kangaroo tails out of their butcher’s plastic wrapping and put them in the fire. We left them there for a couple of minutes in order to burn the bulk of the fur off, then cut the remainder away with a sharp knife. Next, we wrapped the tails in alfoil, placed them in a hole with coals and buried them in a fiery grave.
Kaylum kept cracking jokes as we went about our task, “This been proper good country living!” It was so funny to hear this six-year-old tell us that all we needed was a party with ‘bacco and grog before all the people would come in droves.
Whilst we were making the ‘roo tails and brewing tea in a billy, the women and Shaan continued looking for witchetty grubs. When they returned, the evidence of their work was clear: they had brought back twelve fat, intact charba. In order to not crush the grubs, intricate skill was involved, taking out large sections of root before removing all the bark. Shaan showed me what the woman had been doing, gently prying and pulling the grub in order to tease it out of its dark abode.
I’d forgotten to bring a container for the grubs so we created little containers out of alfoil for them. Shaan had scratches all over his reddened hands. He had been ripping into the earth furiously, pulling out as many of these bush delicacies as possible. The women were impressed and had sung Eastern Arrente songs, encouraging the grubs to emerge whilst he had battled with the ground.
In recognition of their hard work, Rod broke open the tails from the fire, dividing them into chunks and dishing them out onto plates also made from alfoil. Little alfoil cups held our tea and we sat on the dirt for lunch. Apparently more was needed than just ‘roo tails and crowbars! The ladies laughed at my inability to supply sugar, bread and most things for a bush feast, but we all giggled together, teasing each other and celebrating the bounty.
Four days later, on Sunday, I removed those tiny little bodies from our freezer and prepared for the big cook-off. It was amazing to think that four hours of digging and several more of cooking, brewing and experimenting were gulped down in a matter of minutes. But the judges had an obvious look of fascination and appreciation, especially after I dosed them with raw local honey and wattle seed sake! We proudly came third and I felt like the biggest winner in the world – a unique recipe, well-received, and most importantly, the memory of a day out with loved ones doing something totally out of my normal comfort zone.
PHOTO: Digging without crushing the roots and damaging the grubs: Eva Hayes shows how.
Police seek information about suspicious death of woman
Alice Springs police have arrested Donathon Williams (pictured) as a person of interest in relation to the death of a 25-year-old woman whose body was found in the dry bed of the Todd River between the Wills Terrace and Schwarz Crs causeways on Tuesday. Detective Acting Superintendent Travis Wurst says an autopsy “supports our view that the woman’s death was suspicious”.
He said today (Thursday): “Further information led to [Williams] being located and he has been arrested in relation to an assault on a man in the early hours of Monday morning. He will be interviewed concerning that assault later today and is also expected to be spoken to in relation to the suspicious death.”
EXCLUSIVE: $2.5m owed by liquidated firm linked to Native Title organisation
BREAKING NEWS:
POSTING WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON
CDE Civil Pty Ltd, which is linked to the Native Title organisation Lhere Artepe, owed $2.5m to 56 creditors when it was put into liquidation on Friday last week. Alice Springs News Online learned this from a reliable source today. The company was involved in the still unfinished Mt Johns residential estate which followed a native title deal between the NT Government and Lhere Artepe. According to our source, the list of creditors is headed by the Tax Department ($1.6m), a pipe laying company, a plumber and an electrician. A local clinic is owed $200.
POSTING WEDNESDAY MORNING
The group seeking to reform the native title organisation Lhere Artepe says it is investigating whether native title land was used as collateral for borrowings by CDE Civil Pty Ltd which was put into liquidation last week.
This may include blocks in the still unfinished residential subdivision in Mt Johns Valley (see also reader’s comment).
The largest shareholder of the company is LAE Nominees Pty Ltd which nominates its principal place of business as 21 Leichhardt Terrace, Alice Springs, also the office of the prescribed body corporate of the native title holders, Lhere Artepe Aboriginal Corporation, at least until recently.
One of the reform group’s spokespersons, Ian Conway, owner of King’s Creek Station and a prominent native title holder, says another source of collateral may be supermarkets bought by a company in the Lhere Artepe Group for $14m, including a grant of $6m from the Federal Government.
Darryl Pearce, the former CEO of Lhere Artepe, and the only director of CDE Civil, has not responded to requests for comment and information from Alice Springs News Online, and neither have the liquidators.
Mr Conway says unravelling a complex network of proprietary limited companies will be a main task for the reformers.
Other Aboriginal leaders backing the move include Harold Furber.
Mr Furber said when Alice Springs News Online asked him to comment: “Sadly there will be a huge fall-out.
“This will have a major effect on the community. There appear to have been problems at Lhere Artepe for a number of years.
“I fully back the so-colled dissidents, such as Connie Craig, who have been raising issues of governenace of Lhere Artepe for a number of years,” Mr Furber said.
Both Mr Conway and Mr Furber agree that the structure and decision making should be through the proper body Lhere Artepe Aboriginal Corporation, set up to hold the native title rights in trust pursuant to a decision by the Federal Court and incorporated by the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC).
Mr Conway says control of these affairs must rest with the people who have power under traditional structures, including the “relevant Apmereke-artweye and Kwertengerle” for each of the three estate groups in Alice Springs.
Photos: Part of the unfinished Mt Johns Valley subdivision, and a site office being removed from it yesterday. The News has requested information from the hiring company, Ausco Hire, and will report it when it comes to hand.
Aromas of eucalyptus, acacia, smoke … and grubs
By KIERAN FINNANE
A burger ‘n’ chips with a difference won the wildfoods/bushfoods competition final on Sunday. Its creators were Michael La Flamme and Pamela Kiel, who have been regular competitors since their “Gecko’s Revenge” – a sausage made from feral cat – won people’s choice in 2006.
In the intervening years the couple’s culinary creations have moved towards more subtle messages about food in our environment. On Sunday Michael said their aim was to create an everyday dish with a taste like the smell you get when you step off a plane in Alice. At the moment, he said, that would be eucalyptus, acacia and smoke.
They made Kaiser rolls, given a nutty flavour with mulga seed (Acacia aneura), both in the dough and with a sprinkling on top. The rolls were spread with a lemon myrtle mayonnaise and filled with thinly sliced kangaroo meat that had been marinaded in a rosella (native hibiscus) and native pepper glaze and smoked with red mallee (Eucalyptus socialis) gumnuts. The meat was fairly rare, sliced after cooking, and was moist and tender, layered with blanched saltbush leaves (using the new growth off local plants), cucumber and fetta. They served the roll with potato crisps flavoured with native thyme.
Judges, of whom I was lucky to be one, were impressed by the elaboration of the dish – the wide range of ingredients to give simple fare an exceptional character. In particular, their bread was appreciated – the absence of excellent fresh bread from the marketplace in Alice, lamented. Judges admired the fine texture of the dough, the crafted form – the Kaiser roll has a pinwheel shape – and marvelous wattleseed flavour.
Guest judge, visiting master chef Andrew Fielke, commented on the appealing taste of the mulga seed. The more common wattleseed in the marketplace is Acacia victoriae, with a coffee-like aroma, well-suited to dessert preparation or – as we discovered on Sunday, thanks to a trio of Young Foodies – great in a milkshake.
In second place was another regular competition entrant, Ange Vincent, with her bush orange and Burdekin plum membrillos. These are fruit pastes, served with cheese and biscuits.
Ange keeps her eye on the larder in our backyard – the bushland all around us – and harvests her ingredients as they become available, freezing them when possible for later use. The setting and ripening of the fruits of desert plants varies with conditions, she explained. The bush orange should ripen on the tree and, having identified a number of plants with fruit last year, she watched and waited until the time was right. This membrillo had a marvelous jewel-like colour, a translucent orange blushed with red.
The Burdekin plum paste was a darker red and more opaque. These trees are native to Australia although not to the desert, but are planted in Alice as street trees. Ange harvested her fruit from a carpark in the centre of town.
She has made her reputation in the competition from her elegant adaptations of classic European recipes using key native ingredients. This was no exception.
Energetic newcomer to the competition, Ronja Moss created a fresh dish for the finals. In her heat she had made a dessert, featuring quandongs and wattleseed. On Sunday she served what she called “Asian Charba” – witchetty grubs in a tempura batter, accompanied by a wattleseed and honey sake. She’d gone digging for the grubs herself, together with some Aboriginal women friends. Four hours of labour had produced a dozen grubs. Andrew Fielke complimented her on the “nose” of her sake – the wattleseed aroma was quite distinct – and on her imaginative combination of a quintessentially Australian ingredient with a classic of Japanese cuisine.
All three winning entries involved some harvest from the wild by the cooks themselves. This is a nice reminder of the original motivation for the competition, which was to raise local awareness of the bounty of the Central Australian bush that nourished Aboriginal peoples for countless generations. To know how to source food from the bush is to start understanding its character and rhythms, to start caring for it more deeply. Perhaps next year’s competition could underline this dimension by stipulating at least one local native ingredient in each recipe, with a bonus for direct harvest.
PHOTOS: Top – Judge Beat Keller musters his courage before tasting a witchetty grub. By Peter Carroll. At right – Ronja Moss gives the grubs an oriental touch. By Edan Baxter.
Garden of delight
REVIEW by KIERAN FINNANE
We live in a landscape full of drama – its grand forms, rich and changing colours, its dazzling light deepening at dusk, softened at dawn, its ancient stories imprinted in the sand and rocks, its spaciousness and then its more intimate folds. No genius of stagecraft could ever equal it – all credit to the team behind The First Garden for recognising this and risking the challenges for the presentation of their play.
The gods were with them on Saturday evening for the premiere of the play, written by husband and wife team, Chris and Natasha Raja. It tells a story about Olive Pink and the creation of the botanical garden that bears her name and is staged right there, where she once lived, at first in a tent, later in a rudimentary hut. The wind was still, there was no smoke darkening the sun; it was warm without being hot. The afternoon light came slanting in from the west, drawing out the characteristic orange glow from the rocky hill behind, and creating a dance of light and shade through the trees and grasses.
The audience sat facing south and it was so lovely it would almost have been alright for nothing more to happen. But then Miss Pink, played by Natasha Raja, appeared over the hill, triumphantly carrying a dead perentie. She cried out excitedly to a man we couldn’t see, speaking partly in English, partly in an Aboriginal language. He replied sternly, angrily, telling her she has spoken of things she should not have: she must go, she is no longer welcome.
It was a great way to start: with admirable economy, the foundation of the drama was established – the core Australian dilemma of trespass on other people’s country – and the theatrical space was created. The little company would continue to use this large space in the unfolding scenes, wordlessly evoking something of the physical rigours, the isolation and vulnerability that Miss Pink endured while also, on this perfect evening, effortlessly conveying the peace and beauty of the garden and the splendour of the valley and ranges to the west. When Miss Pink in the play extolled the magnificence of the “dog’s nose” (Alhekulyele / Mount Gillen), this drew an appreciative “Yes!” from Arrernte custodian Doris Stuart, seated in the front row, and no doubt unanimous if silent agreement from everyone present.
Much of the play is concerned with Miss Pink’s championing of what she saw as the rights of Aborigines and her condemnation of the various ways in which the forces of white settlement had disrupted their traditional land tenure and way of life. The characterisation emphasises Miss Pink’s genuine anguish as well as her zealotry on the issues, with the balance falling enough towards anguish to keep the audience’s sympathies with her. It de-emphasises Miss Pink’s famous eccentricity, getting right away from the madwoman cliches in favour of rendering her behaviour as part of the fabric of her utterly unusual life.
Much of her inner conflict over the path that she has chosen is revealed through dialogue with her long-dead fiancee, Captain Harold Southern. This strategy is effective dramatically, and allowed the articulation of the colonial stock standards – “we did something with the country” – but it also reinforces the impression of Miss Pink’s almost manic self-belief. What is interesting for the audience is to hear a discourse from another time (Miss Pink died in July 1975, at the dawn of the self-determination era in Aboriginal politics) that is so little changed in certain quarters today. With the pronouncements we heard on Saturday – which appear to be drawn from her letters – Miss Pink would have found a ready place in certain activist circles today. But in her lifetime hers was a lonely voice, brave and ahead of her time.
The echo of today’s political discourse sounded the wrong note, however, in the characterisation of Johnny Tjampitjinpa, Miss Pink’s Warlpiri friend and “gentleman gardener”. Where did this angry, sometimes ironic, sharply analytical perspective on inter-racial relations come from in a man who had chosen to leave his traditional life and country and align himself with a marginalised white woman embarked on a marginal if visionary enterprise? I needed some kind of exploration of what might have driven this man’s unusual choices to give credence to what I was hearing him say.
For me this was really the only jarring. There was fine acting by Natasha Raja, a young woman who played an old woman convincingly and without caricature, as well as by Scott Fraser and Eshua Bolton, each of whom took two roles. All three had excellent voice projection, essential for this un-miked production. Direction and production design were handled with a light, sure touch by, respectively, Steve and Kristina Kidd. Live music, directed by Christopher Brocklebank, added beautifully to the overall experience and helped hold together the various transitions. Producers Simha Koether of the Central Australian Producer Program, Scott Large of the Alice Desert Festival and Ben Convery of the Olive Pink Botanic Garden can all take a bow for bringing to us a rewarding theatrical experience with its roots deep in this much-loved garden and the life of its extraordinary founder.
The play will be presented again this Thursday to Sunday, 5pm.
PHOTOS: Top – Natasha Raja as Miss Pink. Centre – Eshua Bolton as Johnny. Below – Scott Fraser as Henry Wardlaw. Courtesy Ben Convery.
EXCLUSIVE: Company linked to Lhere Artepe in liquidation
EXCLUSIVE by ERWIN CHLANDA
Posted Monday, September 19
CDE Civil Pty Ltd, a company linked to the Alice Springs native title organisation Lhere Artepe, has been placed into liquidation.
A string of prominent Aboriginal figures, including Deputy to the Administrator, Patricia Miller (pictured above with an armed forces officer and former Mayor Fran Kilgariff), may be affected by the developments through their associations with proprietary limited companies bearing the name Lhere Artepe (or related acronyms).
The largest shareholder of CDE Civil Pty Ltd is LAE Nominees Pty Ltd. The principal place of business of LAE is 21 Leichhardt Terrace, Alice Springs, also the office of Lhere Artepe Aboriginal Corporation, at least until recently.
Canberra based business consultant Ron Morony, who has strong links to Alice Springs, says the company has 600 shares, 506 of which are held by LAE Nominees Pty Ltd. Mr Morony is a also director of the Antulye estate group.
He says 47 shares each are held by two interstate companies.
He says it appears LAE Nominees Pty Ltd is owned by Lhere Artepe Enterprises Pty Ltd which in turn is owned by Lhere Artepe Pty Ltd.
Mrs Miller is the chairperson of Lhere Artepe Enterprises Pty Ltd.
(See also Alice Springs News Online March 31, 2011 and March 24, 2011.)
A brochure published earlier this year announced: “The Lhere Artepe Aboriginal Corporation which represents the Central Arrernte Traditional Owners now has controlling interest in a mining, civil works and equipment hire group – the CDE Group.”
The CDE website says: “Lhere Artepe head Darryl Pearce has been elected chairman of the CDE Group.
“Mr Pearce said he aimed to broaden CDE Group’s civil, equipment hire and mining services contracts in the Northern Territory and other parts of Australia.
“Seventy-five employees of the company’s permanent workforce of 100 is Aboriginal. “This transaction strengthens the indigenous ownership of CDE Group, who are looking forward to a bright future.”
It is understood the purchase of CDE took place during the development by LAE Nominees Pty Ltd of residential blocks in the Mt Johns Valley, between the golf course and the ranges.
Mr Pearce, who is the only director of CDE Civil, did not respond to requests for information today.
Another prominent Aborigine, Lewis “Chippy” Miller, formerly a director of Lhere Artepe Enterprises Pty Ltd, said he resigned from his position because “I wasn’t told anything. There was no information sharing”.
Mrs Miller said she is likely to comment later after getting a clearer picture of the situation.
More bushfire "vollies" – and we'll need them!
By ERWIN CHLANDA
There has been a massive increase in the number of volunteer bushfire fighters in Alice Springs.
“Vollies” captain Shawn O’Toole says until earlier this year there were about five or six volunteers. Now there are about 40, taking part in training.
Meanwhile warmer weather and winds are creating dangerous fire conditions although Grant Allan, of Bushfires NT, says close to three quarters of the town’s periphery are secure now because recent blazes have already consumed the extraordinarily high fuel load there.
And the Department of Lands and Planning says it will not prosecute for a loading infringement of a truck driver taking a grader to a blaze north of town to stop a fire advancing towards buildings in a quarry.
“As a general rule, vehicles responding to an emergency such as a fire would not be required to stop at the weighbridge and this was the case on the day in question,” says the department.
“In relation to this truck, the inspector was not advised it was on its way to a fire break until after inspection, weighing and completion of the breach documentation had occurred.”
The department has not yet responded to questions from Alice Springs News Online about any liability the government may have for fires starting along roads it has responsibility for, and that may enter pastoral land, causing losses of fodder, man-hours fighting the fires and expenses for the use of graders and possible damage to them.
Members of the Hayes pastoral family say of the multitude of fires they had to fight this year, all but one had come from public roads.
(Under the Bushfires Act the owners of land have responsibilities with respect to fire on it.)
A spokeswoman says the NT Government is in charge of the Stuart Highway, as well as major arterial roads. Minor roads are the responsibility of the shires.
Mr Allan says Bushfires NT is planning “to do as much as we can” by burning fire breaks along some roads. This has started at Barrow Creek, moving south towards Alice Springs.
The Stuart Highway south of the town is mostly safe now because the recent fires there. Seven kilometers are left before the break reaches the Waterhouse Range.
Mr Allan says it cannot be estimated how much of this fire prevention can be carried out with limited personnel over “thousands of kilometers of roads” especially as crews are constantly diverted to fresh outbreaks.
The Hayeses, who have cattle stations east and south of Alice Springs, say it used to be customary for the government to grade breaks along public roads, about 40 to 50 metres from the roads, so fires were less likely to jump into cattle station country.
They say this practice was discontinued more than a decade or so ago.
The local Bushfires NT contingent, looking after all of the Northern Territory south of Tennant Creek, now has, as full time employees, Mr Allan, who is a scientist and also does some mitigation burning; the senior regional fire control officer and an administrative officer, who usually do not take part in fire fighting; plus three “primary response people”. They have a grader, three tankers and three operational vehicles permanently based here, and three on loan from Darwin.
Mr O’Toole says the new “vollies” are coming from all walks of life, government employees as well people in private enterprise. There are about 10 women and 30 men, only some with previous experience.
They took part in a two-day course on the weekend, learning about basic fire awareness, gauging the temperature of fires, safety on the “fire ground” and how to use pumps, hoses and “branches” – nozzles, to the layman. How to draught water from a pond or pool, and the use of ladders, ropes and tying knots are all part of the training.
Mr O’Toole says it costs about $1500 to kit out one person and at present there is enough gear for 16 “vollies”. The water tankers require a crew of three and the operational vehicles, two.
Pictured getting the low-down from Shawn O’Toole (second from left) on the pump mounted on an “operational vehicle” are “vollies” (from left) Diane Chanut, Wayne Phillips, Alan Leahy, Katherine Hastie and Nikolas Sestokas.
Your say!
Creative drive in the desert goes deep
By KIERAN FINNANE
From the on-going brilliance of artists from The Lands, in the far north of South Australia, to the delightful evolution of the soft sculpture coming out of Larapinta Valley town camp in Alice Springs and the many shades of achievement in between, Desert Mob shows once again that the drive to creativity amongst Aborigines of the desert is unabated.
The exhibition, in its 21st year, keeps with its firmly established tradition of huge diversity: dazzling paintings of the highest order, drawing on ancient sacred traditions and knowledge, alongside naive works that charm with their view of contemporary Aboriginal life; fine art alongside crafts; refined crafts alongside those more simply, even crudely yet expressively fashioned.
Singular visions claim their space: amongst the offerings from Ernabella Arts, there is nothing that resembling the palimpsest-style work of Dickie Minyintiri; from Tjala Arts (in Amata, SA), Tiger Palpajta’s Wanampi Tjukurpa stands out for its wonderfully free way with paint; from Ninuku Arts (at Kalka, SA), Sandy Brumby’s work sings off the wall, on a note all its own; with fine array of works from Tjungu Palya (Nyapari, SA) each is impressively distinct, in content and aesthetic. There is a strong sense in these high order works of lives lived long, richly and deeply.
Elsewhere there is delight, playfulness and affection: Marlene Rubuntja’s character-filled Mother and babies, Rhonda Sharpe’s finely stitched Beautiful Bird in Flight (both from Yarrenyty Arltere in Larapinta Valley camp); the Hermannsburg Potters’ fond evocations of country music; Greenbush Art Group’s menagerie, fashioned from found objects such as car mufflers; Eunice Porter’s and Jean Burke’s commemorations of contemporary events at Warakurna; Lance James’ lively brumbies and Kukula McDonald’s “big mob” of red-tailed black cockatoos (both from Bindi Inc).
From some art centres there is reiteration of achievement, such as in the showing of small works from Papunya Tula (for whom the main game at the moment is no doubt the major retrospective opening at the National Gallery of Victoria at the end of the month). Everywhere there is this persistent message: this is something we do, this is something we love and are proud of.
Desert Mob is no longer just an exhibition. It is also a day-long symposium as well as a marketplace for lower-priced works and in both, many artists and their families play hands-on roles. However, the exhibition on opening night is the big event and more effort could be made to involve the artists personally in it. The opening crowd heard from chairperson of Desart, Jane Young (Tangentyere Artists), speaking assertively about the importance of art centres as Aboriginal places, but no other artist spoke.
The opening the night before at RAFT Artspace, of two shows from Tjungu Palya, showed how effectively this can be done. Artists and family members spoke from their heart in their language about the life and work of Jimmy Baker, to whom one show was a tribute. Skillful translation was provided by Diana James. The things that might not make it into a catalogue entry got expressed, that he was a good painter and a good fencer, for example. We learned that at first he didn’t want to paint, knowing nothing about it, but that he learned quickly to paint wonderfully, while the work of other family members was not very good for quite a long time – this said with laughter. Audience response to Aboriginal art is fed in part by their desire for contact with Aboriginal people and an event like the opening of Desert Mob can and should provide this, shifting the emphasis away from the frisson of big spending.
This being said, the financial return to artists and art centres is part of the affirmation of the value placed by others in what they do and this year’s opening night sales exceeded last year’s by some $10,000: $332,175 compared to $322,147. However, the rest of the weekend did not add a great deal more: this year’s total was $354,850, while at the end of the first weekend last year sales were a little higher at $363,286. As of today (Tuesday), 137 works out of 294 have been sold (46%).
There were 600 visitors to opening night and over 2000 came through the Araluen galleries the next day. Around 2000 visitors attended the marketplace on Saturday, which had lifted the price ceiling of works to $500 and asked for extended trading hours.
A major public art institution acquired the work by Telstra-winner Dickie Minyintiri; the Ngaanyatjara Council acquired to works reflecting the celebrations of their 30th anniversary; and Araluen, as always added to its collection. It acquired a major work by Nellie Stewart from Tjungu Palya; a jewel-like canvas by Carol Maanyatja Golding from Warakurna; two ceramic pieces – a vessel by Renita Stanley from Ernabella, a sculptural piece by Rona Rubuntja from Hermannsburg Potters; and two found object sculptures by Kevin Dixon from Greenbush Art Group (based at the Alice Springs Correctional Centre).
Araluen has this year taken the initiative of putting images of the entire exhibition online. The printed catalogue is also well worth the purchase price, with some wonderful photographs of artists at work, plenty of full-colour reproductions, a useful map showing the location of art centres, an excellent essay by Vivien Johnson tracing the evolution of the exhibition since 1991, and an interview with Hector Burton from Tjala Arts, talking about the significance of the art centre for his community and especially “the young fellas”: “We got story there, in the Art Centre … we should bring them in and train them to continue on when we are finished.”
Desert Mob is produced in partnership by the Araluen Arts Centre, the advocacy body Desart and its member art centres. Shows until October 23.
Opening night (above): The soft sculptures of the Larapinta Valley town camp artists were much admired. In the background are the dazzling paintings from Tjala Arts, based at Amata in the APY Lands.
Slideshow: Wanampi Tjukurpa by Tiger Palpatja • Wati Wilu-Ku Inma Tjukurpa by Dickie Minyintiri • Soft sculptures by Yarrenyty Arltere artists • Hermannsburg Potters celebrate country music • Bush Pig by a Greenbush artist • Ngaanyatjarra Council’s 30th Birthday Party by Jean Yinalanka Burke • Malilanya, ceramic by Renita Stanley • Walu by Carol Maanyatja Golding • Images courtesy Araluen, the artists and the art centres.
Spoof, irony, angst and affection in Souvenir show
SLIDESHOW
By KIERAN FINNANE
In colloquial speech, to souvenir something means to steal it. This is the drift of some of the objects created for Souvenir, an exhibition at Watch This Space, the Space’s show for the Alice Desert Festival. It “explores the wilds of central Australia via the imagery of keepsake”.
The wilds are as much the cultural as the natural landscape – a large map on the rear wall identifies Alice as “Bleeding Heart Central”.
Inevitably there are works tackling the appropriation of Aboriginal identity and imagery. Humour saves them from being too PC – only just in the case of Hannah-May Caspar’s Cultural AppropriApron, addressed to “the tourist who has a superiority complex and is a racist wanker”. Beth Sometimes, co-curator together with Franca Barraclough, is more thoroughly satirical in her spoof of the guilt-ridden appropriators, who attempt to return their un-PC souvenirs to the shop where they bought them. Trouble is they don’t realise, according to her “Jimmy”, shop-owner, that most of the objects bearing Aboriginal imagery were made in China.
The archetypal Aboriginal figure is taken in a different direction by Mel Darr in her beautifully realised Fabric of Life wallpaper. She references a wallpaper design of French origin which typically showed pastoral scenes, printed in a single colour on white or off-white paper. Her ‘pastoral’ scenes are transposed to the Central Australian desert; she references, in the rendering of Aboriginal figures, the cliched silhouette of an earlier generation of representations, but they are brought to life by her keen observations of the way the figures express a Central Australian Aboriginal modernity – their use of cars, cameras, their dress – even as they go about their traditional business, such as of hunting.
In interesting relationship with all these works are the genuine souvenirs created by contemporary Aboriginal artists for the show, such as Jane Young’s Little Well and the bottle-top earrings by Tangentyere Artists. The artists’ control of the means of production apparently liberates the object from white angst about meaning and commodification.
Jane Leonard’s pieces assert the primacy of personal, emotional experience in what can be “souvenired” from experience of place. Her slogan-bearing t-shirts are about conquests of trauma rather than giant rocks, existential struggles rather than road trips. Her snow-domes cleverly put the finger on some archetypal experiences for whitefellas living and working in The Centre – surviving rollovers on desert roads, the romance of sleeping under the stars, the shock of being on the receiving end of racist abuse for the first time.
Some artists have reinterpreted the souvenir as keepsake. Kim Webeck’s “I love Alice” tea-towel asserts a positive view of Aboriginal people in the river in contrast to the often negative view expressed about just such a subject in the civic debate. Dan Murphy’s attractive range of “No snow domes” cast an ironic eye on the cultural landscape created by forms such as the Tom Brown Roundabout and Flynn’s Grave.
Anyone interested in how Alice Springs represents itself and is represented to the rest of the world will enjoy this exhibition. Its dates have been extended to next Wednesday, September 21, with discounted sales of souvenirs on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Pictured above: Shaken, Rattled and Rolled by Jane Leonard – souvenirs of life-changing moments instead of geographical places.
Slideshow: Alice Springs – Bleeding Heart Central, detail of map by Franca Barraclough and Beth Sometimes • Cultural AppropriApron by Hannah-May Caspar • The Sorry Souvenir Phenomenon, detail, by Beth Sometimes • Toile de jouy – The fabric of life, detail, by Mel Darr • Littel Well by Jane Young • “I’ve been to Alice Springs but I’ve never been to me” by Jane Leonard • Shaken, Rattled and Rolled by Jane Leonard • A Keepsake for the Local by Kim Webeck • No Snow Dome – The East Side Pole (left) and No Snow Dome – Flynn’s Grave, both by Dan Murphy.
A message from this vineyard: go horticulture!
By ERWIN CHLANDA
The Rocky Hill vineyard last year produced 1000 tonnes of table grapes. At $3 to $4 a kilogram that’s worth $3m to $4m.
Undoolya Station produces 1000 tonnes of beef a year. At $1.50 to $1.80 a kilo that’s worth $1.5m to $1.8m.
The grapes are grown on 70 hectares, the beef on 140,000 hectares.
Is there a message?
Sure looks like it: go horticulture!
The pioneering Hayes family, who in 1907 took over Undoolya, just to the east of Alice Springs, can write the book on cattle as well as grapes.
Growing plants there, strictly speaking, dates back to the days of the NT’s first Chief Minister, Paul Everingham, who encouraged cattlemen to apply for freehold plots on their pastoral leases. Ted Hayes got a block south-east of Alice Springs, straddling a major ground water basin.
It was first used for growing lucerne grass, cattle and horse fodder. The idea of growing grapes there came from a grower operating in the TiTree region in 2000.
That didn’t work out, and neither did putting in a manager. So Ritchie Hayes (pictured) rolled up his sleeves and switched careers from raising cattle to growing grapes.
The good news was that Rocky Hill grapes are ready for picking in December, in time for Christmas tables in the big cities.
That’s well before the grapes “down south” are ripe.
The bad news was that the industry he went into was full of traps set by the buyers: the grapes, so he was told, weren’t good enough. They didn’t come on time. The market had just dropped. And so on.
Mr Hayes found a solution to that: he appointed as his agent a Mildura-based grape grower and trader with massive store rooms n in Mildura and Sydney. These are largely empty when the Rocky Hill grapes come off the vines.
This agent can now stage the release onto the market of the grapes when the time and the price are right.
With these arrangements in place Mr Hayes could begin to focus on production – from scratch. He and his small crew – three or four people outside pruning and picking times – cleared the land, built the trellises and planted the vines.
And they did it on a massive scale.
There are now 67,320 vines in 132 rows, each 1.25 km long. Put end to end they would almost reach TiTree. More than 800 kilometers of wire is strung out on the trellises.
To get electricity onto the block cost $1m. A bore costs $140,000, and there are two of them. That’s not counting the cost of pumps and reticulation.
What you put into your shopping trolley is actually put together in the vineyard by the pickers: bunches of grapes are placed into boxes or bags as they are snipped off the vines. The containers are then transported to a shed for quality inspection. From there they go into coolrooms and are chilled to 1.5 degrees C, exactly. Freezing them would harm or destroy them.
The boxes, stacked about two metres high, in the early morning when it is still cool, are fork-lifted into refrigerated pantechs for transport to Mildura.
The timing of the picking is crucial: once they’re off the vine grapes don’t ripen further. Sour grapes is what you have when you get it wrong.
There are two times of high activity: pruning, needing about 20 people mid-year for a few weeks, and picking, needing about 60 people – 40 pickers and 20 shed hands – for a month, transporting the boxes from the vineyard, checking quality and stacking the pallets in the coolrooms.
The labour issues are instructive on local sociology. Mr Hayes says it’s no secret that there are hundreds of unemployed people in Alice Springs and St Teresa – each about 50 kms from Rocky Hill: “Not one of them has put up his hand for a job.” (See break-out below.)
The pruners and pickers are each year recruited from a contract labour firm in Mildura. These days they are usually Asians. They make their own way to Alice Springs, some 2000 kms. They stay at the workers’ quarters, look after their own food and are paid by the box.
They start work before sunrise and knock off after sunset. They are great workers, says Mr Hayes.
At times the camp is raided by police and immigration officers, several carloads, looking for illegal immigrants. Only one suspect has ever been found.
It is not known if Centrelink is investigating local dole recipients not making themselves available for the work. (Alice News Online has asked Centrelink to let us know.)
The handsome profit potential of Rocky Hill has a flipside, requiring nerves of steel to stay in the business. Just one rainstorm at the wrong time, or hail, worse still, can ruin an entire crop in a few hours. The grapes would split open and be unsalable. A year’s work would be down the gurgler.
Mr Hayes says he now has plastic sheets to cover the entire vineyard if rain is threatening. One year he had a low flying helicopter crisscrossing the vineyard to blow-dry the grapes.
The overall success of the venture is a powerful lesson of how horticulture could be a boom for The Centre and put an end to the notorious welfare dependency of Aboriginal people.
This applies especially to that half of the country that is held under Aboriginal freehold.
It’s around 500,000 square kilometers of Central Australia.
A well informed source says these Aboriginal owners would not have to deal with two major obstacles. Anyone seeking conversion of sections of pastoral leases to freehold suitable for horticulture now faces negotiations with native title holders that could last a decade. On the face of it Aboriginal owners would not be fettered by that – because they themselves would be the owners of the land. Nor would they have to battle with sacred sites custodians, for the same reason.
And secondly, a conversion from pastoral lease would not be needed because Aboriginal land granted under Land Rights is already freehold.
Aboriginal horticulturalists would still need to run the gauntlet of seeking permits for land clearing and preparing reports on weed management, erosion risk, feral animal management. A water license would need to be applied for.
But these are minor hurdles in contrast to the resolution of social problems that have dogged the region for decades.
(Alice Springs News Online has asked Centrefarm, linked to the Central Land Council, about its activities and projects. We will report on those when they come to hand.)
Photo below: A few hundred cabbages and cauliflowers are a nice sideline.
From our archive:
June 7, 2000: LAND COUNCIL SEEKS GROUND BREAKING DEAL. Report by ERWIN CHLANDA.
August 8, 2001: ABORIGINAL CITRUS DEAL AT UTOPIA FALLS THROUGH.
When spin becomes an artform
We tried to find out why year after year, contract pickers and pruners have to be brought in from 2000 kms away while there are hundreds of unemployed people within 50 kms of Rocky Hill. Here is an excerpt from our email correspondence.
News Online to Centrelink:
The Rocky Hill table grapes operation needs pruners and pickers once a year, some 20 and 40 people, respectively. They are getting no applications from Alice Springs nor St Teresa. What initiatives does Centrelink have to refer unemployed people to that opportunity, which would save paying some benefits?
Centrelink Media to News Online:
Job Services Australia providers in Alice Springs are the appropriate organisations to direct your query to. Centrelink assists job seekers by providing:
• information about Job Services Australia providers and services
• a referral service to Job Services Australia providers
• employment self help facilities to help job seekers with their job search efforts.
Job seekers claiming Newstart, Youth Allowance or Parenting Payment (with participation requirements) will immediately be referred to a Job Services Australia provider at their first contact with Centrelink to help them find employment.
Job Services Australia is a national network of organisations dedicated to helping job seekers to find and sustain employment.
Job Services Australia gathers vacancies from employers and matches the skills and experience of job seekers to job vacancies.
News Online to Centrelink:
Thank you for your email. I directed my enquiry to you because, on the face of it, it is Centrelink that is paying money to people who have an opportunity to work. If that is so, then the Job Services Australia providers aren’t doing their job. But it’s not they who are paying out public money, it’s Centrelink. This, it seems to me, is where the buck stops.
Centrelink Media to News Online:
I’d advise to you to contact the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations if you would like additional comments for your story. Our role is explained in the lines Candice provided yesterday afternoon, and as such we can’t comment on the work of the providers – this would be for DEEWR to address.
News Online to DEEWR (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations):
Hi … see our report at www.alicespringsnews.com.au and the email exchange below. Be great to finally get some answers!
DEEWR Media to News Online:
As discussed, I’m not sure what information I could give you that would assist you in your story more than you have already received.
Cars in Todd Mall again?
EXCLUSIVE by ERWIN CHLANDA
The northern section of Todd Mall (photo above) may be opened up for vehicle traffic again in a bid to breathe life into that part of the CBD.
This would result in Alice Plaza businesses, currently accessible mostly from the interior of the shopping centre, being open to the mall as well.
Alice Springs News Online understands this is part of CBD revitalization proposals due to be made public by the Town Council in about two weeks’ time.
Under consideration is the entire mall and the part of Todd Street to KFC at the southern end.
“Traffic calming” is suggested for where the mall feeds into Wills Terrace and Gregory Terrace, the scene of frequent prangs. Traffic in those two locations would be slowed down and pedestrian friendly areas created.
Footpaths would be widened in Todd Street between KFC and the mall.
One suggestion is to have vehicle traffic from Parsons Street turning north through the mall to Wills Terrace.
This would enhance the sails area – already a natural meeting place – by becoming a vehicle drop-off point as well.
Two-way traffic in the northern mall does not appear to be favoured.
It is suggested that the changes to the mall would be complemented by a town square on the site of the Town Council owned Hartley Street car park, linked to the mall through an enhanced public space around Flynn Church and Adelaide House.
The source says the town square could incorporate shops, parking and even residential uses, most likely in two or more story developments.
The council is treating the proposals as confidential at the moment.
Representatives from the NT Government, which has allocated $5m to the revitalization, are due to give a presentation to the council on September 27, the News understands.
According to Stuart Traynor’s Alice Springs Time Line, Todd Street was turned into a semi-mall with one-way traffic in 1978.
The semi-mall at that time was affectionaltely known as the Small.
In 1987, according to Mr Traynor, Todd Street become a full mall.
The photograph (below) shows Todd Street from the north looking south in the 1960s.
The photograph, supplied to us by Barry Allwright, comes from the Bill and Daphne Vivian Collection, Central Australian Historical Images, Alice Springs Public Library.
Creative drive in the desert goes deep
From the on-going brilliance of artists from The Lands, in the far north of South Australia, to the delightful evolution of the soft sculpture coming out of Larapinta Valley town camp in Alice Springs and the many shades of achievement in between, Desert Mob shows once again that the drive to creativity amongst Aborigines of the desert is unabated.
The exhibition, in its 21st year, keeps with its firmly established tradition of huge diversity: dazzling paintings of the highest order, drawing on ancient sacred traditions and knowledge, alongside naive works that charm with their view of contemporary Aboriginal life; fine art alongside crafts; refined crafts alongside those more simply, even crudely yet expressively fashioned.
Singular visions claim their space: amongst the offerings from Ernabella Arts, there is nothing that resembling the palimpsest-style work of Dickie Minyintiri; from Tjala Arts (in Amata, SA), Tiger Palpajta’s Wanampi Tjukurpa stands out for its wonderfully free way with paint; from Ninuku Arts (at Kalka, SA), Sandy Brumby’s work sings off the wall, on a note all its own; with fine array of works from Tjungu Palya (Nyapari, SA) each is impressively distinct, in content and aesthetic. There is a strong sense in these high order works of lives lived long, richly and deeply.
Elsewhere there is delight, playfulness and affection: Marlene Rubuntja’s character-filled Mother and babies, Rhonda Sharpe’s finely stitched Beautiful Bird in Flight (both from Yarrenyty Arltere in Larapinta Valley camp); the Hermannsburg Potters’ fond evocations of country music; Greenbush Art Group’s menagerie, fashioned from found objects such as car mufflers; Eunice Porter’s and Jean Burke’s commemorations of contemporary events at Warakurna; Lance James’ lively brumbies and Kukula McDonald’s “big mob” of red-tailed black cockatoos (both from Bindi Inc).
From some art centres there is reiteration of achievement, such as in the showing of small works from Papunya Tula (for whom the main game at the moment is no doubt the major retrospective opening at the National Gallery of Victoria at the end of the month). Everywhere there is this persistent message: this is something we do, this is something we love and are proud of.
Desert Mob is no longer just an exhibition. It is also a day-long symposium as well as a marketplace for lower-priced works and in both, many artists and their families play hands-on roles. However, the exhibition on opening night is the big event and more effort could be made to involve the artists personally in it. The opening crowd heard from chairperson of Desart, Jane Young (Tangentyere Artists), speaking assertively about the importance of art centres as Aboriginal places, but no other artist spoke.
The opening the night before at RAFT Artspace, of two shows from Tjungu Palya, showed how effectively this can be done. Artists and family members spoke from their heart in their language about the life and work of Jimmy Baker, to whom one show was a tribute. Skillful translation was provided by Diana James. The things that might not make it into a catalogue entry got expressed, that he was a good painter and a good fencer, for example. We learned that at first he didn’t want to paint, knowing nothing about it, but that he learned quickly to paint wonderfully, while the work of other family members was not very good for quite a long time – this said with laughter. Audience response to Aboriginal art is fed in part by their desire for contact with Aboriginal people and an event like the opening of Desert Mob can and should provide this, shifting the emphasis away from the frisson of big spending.
This being said, the financial return to artists and art centres is part of the affirmation of the value placed by others in what they do and this year’s opening night sales exceeded last year’s by some $10,000: $332,175 compared to $322,147. However, the rest of the weekend did not add a great deal more: this year’s total was $354,850, while at the end of the first weekend last year sales were a little higher at $363,286. As of today (Tuesday), 137 works out of 294 have been sold (46%).
There were 600 visitors to opening night and over 2000 came through the Araluen galleries the next day. Around 2000 visitors attended the marketplace on Saturday, which had lifted the price ceiling of works to $500 and asked for extended trading hours.
A major public art institution acquired the work by Telstra-winner Dickie Minyintiri; the Ngaanyatjara Council acquired to works reflecting the celebrations of their 30th anniversary; and Araluen, as always added to its collection. It acquired a major work by Nellie Stewart from Tjungu Palya; a jewel-like canvas by Carol Maanyatja Golding from Warakurna; two ceramic pieces – a vessel by Renita Stanley from Ernabella, a sculptural piece by Rona Rubuntja from Hermannsburg Potters; and two found object sculptures by Kevin Dixon from Greenbush Art Group (based at the Alice Springs Correctional Centre).
Araluen has this year taken the initiative of putting images of the entire exhibition online at <www.desertmob.nt.gov.au>. It should go live today.
Desert Mob is produced in partnership by the Araluen Arts Centre, the advocacy body Desart and its member art centres. Shows until October 23.
Photo: Opening night – he soft sculptures of the Larapinta Valley town camp artists were much admired. In the background are the dazzling paintings from Tjala Arts, based at Amata in the APY Lands.
Answers on cattle station turning carbon sink
By ERWIN CHLANDA
The Federal Government scheme which turned the Henbury cattle station south of Alice Springs into “the world’s largest carbon farm” will be a model for other pastoralists wishing to diversify, says Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke.
He says so far there no similar applications have been made for funding under the National Reserve System which contributed $9m – two-thirds of the purchase price.
The new owners, RM Williams Agricultural Holdings, are planning to turn the 500,000 hectare property “into a nature reserve, effectively removing thousands of cattle from the food chain,” as Nationals Senator Fiona Nash puts it.
She also asked what checks and balances are in place to ensure accountability for the taxpayers’ contribution and would RM Williams have to repay the grant if the property is sold?
How much of the revenue from carbon trading will be invested back into the Henbury project, and how much will go to the company’s profits?
Mr Burke replied: “By establishing the science and the economic model for generating income from carbon farming, Henbury will offer a new potential income stream for pastoralists who wish to diversify.
“A key requirement of the funding deed is an in-perpetuity conservation covenant for the property.
“If the property were to be sold, the new owner would need to manage it for conservation under the same conservation covenant.
“The contract ensures that any revenue first funds the ongoing conservation of the property.
“There are also measures for distribution of any additional revenue to investors and new in-perpetuity conservation trusts.”
Alice Springs News Online asked Mr Burke whether there is an opportunity for Aboriginal landholders to get some income from carbon credits, using Henbury as a template. If so, how would it work?
Mr Burke said Henbury “will act as a large demonstration project testing the potential to store carbon in Australia’s rangelands and to create an alternative income stream for landholders from carbon credits, including Aboriginal landholders.”
Photo above: The Finke and the Palmer Rivers flow through Henbury Station. The Finke is the oldest river in the world. Below: The homestead. Photos Federal Government.
Container deposit laws set to hit snag
The announcement that major beverage producers are seeking to overturn the Territory’s Container Deposit Legislation should come as no surprise to a Labor Government that was warned its laws were deficient without support at the national level, says Shadow Attorney General, John Elferink (pictured).
Meanwhile Environment Minister Karl Hampton today called on the beverage industry to accept the wishes of Territorians and drop their attempts to overturn the Territory’s new Cash for Containers Scheme.
Mr Elferink says he raised these issues in February:-
• The government has acknowledged it does not have the required acquiescence of the other jurisdictions under the operation of the Mutual Recognition Act 1992.
• As a consequence the Northern Territory will, in all likelihood, find itself having to fight the legitimacy of this legislation in a court.
• If this government fails to achieve its objective of winning this matter either in COAG or in a court then the government will have made a calamitous mistake in the eyes of Territorians who generally support the CDL scheme. “The Territory Labor Government has backed itself into this corner with its rushed legislation and it is Territory consumers and the community who will be worse off because of it,” says Mr Elferink.
Mr Hampton says Territorians want cash for their containers – not a legal challenge that will do nothing to clean up our environment.
“The scheme has been in place in South Australia for decades and it works.
“I am extremely disappointed to hear of industry’s plan to drag Cash for Containers through the courts to try and stop our scheme from going ahead.”
Mr Hampton called on CLP Opposition leader Terry Mills to support Territorians and join the Government in condemning the actions of the industry.
“I am extremely disappointed that Shadow Attorney-General John Elferink has backed Coca-Cola Amatil in seeking to overturn the views of Territorians,” Mr Hampton said.
“But I am not surprised. The CLP have been looking for any opportunity to walk away from Cash for Containers.”
The Government’s preference is for the beverage industry to accept the wishes of Territorians, just like they do in South Australia, but if required the Government will meet the industry in court and stand up for Territorians.
Back to drawingboard for Parsons Street high-rise
By ERWIN CHLANDA
It’s back to the drawingboard for the high-rise building planned for the former Commonwealth Bank site in Parsons Street, says Sitzler Brothers general manager in Alice Springs, Trevor Jacobs.
He says the firm had applied for six storeys but only five have been granted.
Mr Jacobs says the company is now re-assessing whether the reduced size is economically viable.
The Exceptional Development Permit for five storeys will lapse in two years.
Conditions include a roof garden to enhance the view of the building’s from the town’s hills and a pedestrian-friendly awning.
The ground level ceilings are to be 4.5m high and the car park on level two is to have minimum ceiling height of 3.1m “to facilitate further adaptive re-use”.
Other conditions imposed by Minister for Lands and Planning, Gerry McCarthy, include:-
• An “active facade treatment” for the side facing the laneway to the west, between the building and the post office.
• future maintenance of the rooftop landscaping, and surface finishes in order to enhance the building’s visual impact when viewed from the town’s surrounding hills.
• Airconditioning condensers are to be appropriately screened from public view, and located so as to minimise thermal and acoustic impacts to the satisfaction of the consent authority.
• Pipes, fixtures and vents … must be concealed in service ducts or otherwise hidden from view.
The permit says “external appearance of the building is expected to enhance the street scape by incorporating a large awning canopy wrapping around both key frontages providing all weather protection for pedestrians.
“Shadow diagrams have indicated that the adjoining properties will not be adversely subjected to shadow effect during critical times of the year.”
Stranded disaster or stolen delight?
By ESTELLE ROBERTS
There is so much on at this festival moment, it’s a little overwhelming. People are working like maniacs, busy, busy, busy. Sometimes it’s just nice to not participate and take a breath …
I’ve heard some people say to get that breath they pretend they’re going away and stock up at the supermarket like they were going bush, which indeed they would need to if they didn’t want to be spotted at the shops. Anyway the idea of a mid-week camping trip tickled all the right spots for me.
Unsurprisingly, my friends and I talked a bit about work, that thing that’s so permeating at the moment. A familiar conversation for long-term residents about how you deal with switching heads between jobs and between social times. Your job here seems to be such a defining characteristic of your identity. And even out under the stars it wasn’t a so distant memory to remember when I first arrived in Alice Springs and felt the lack of vocabulary to define myself with. “Where do you work?”
“Oh, I don’t work anywhere as yet.”
And the conversation would trail off awkwardly… It was a really strong this sensation that your work life defined you.
Wednesday afternoon, a couple of friends went through their fridges, gathering up leftovers to share once we got settled around the campfire and had taken the edge off what this festival season mania with a couple of beers.
We took the back road to Emily Gap. Maybe it would be more aptly called a sandy and treacherous track. Getting to our camp site my already crisped nerves sizzled some more, remembering that I am only on my Ps and probably not that well experienced to be winding along sandy up and a down tracks with gapping cracks and vertigoes slants to either side. Anyway got in there.
Once out from behind the wheel I noticed that our surroundings were still very smoky, a weird haze rising up from the charred grounds glowing in the setting sun. A landscape of burnt black grasses, white rock, brown bits and bobs, a thousand colors, all in charcoal. Old cars always upside down – curious, no? Maybe it’s just easier to get the good bits out that way. When the sun set we could see a couple of spots that were not just smoldering. A tree was well on fire and we took a closer look at the ones where trunks and branches were hollowed out by the fine grid marks of smoldering coals. One branch was a smoking cigar, blowing curling rings up into the night sky.
In the morning I went to drive out of the place and for a second I thought maybe I should ask one of the others to drive my van just to the dirt road. But I’d got in, so how hard could it be to get out? Maybe I was a little over ambitious but, like climbing up is easier than getting down, it’s sometimes harder to get out of a situation than it was to get into it.
I got my Ps just a few days before leaving Sydney, no window for failing, plenty wide open door for pressure! Anyway phew! I passed that test but there wasn’t anything in it that prepared me how to judge sandy banks or tracks and so yes, bogged I got. And it’s funny how quickly my mind turned to running over what was in the car … great, a bottle of water each, some leftover leftovers, a bottle of wine… Ah, a towrope not long out of the packet.
Since being here I have a couple of times heard that when in sand deflate your tires for traction. Did that. Had heard or seen on TV to wedge the tires with sticks. Did that. Got some sticks and sought traction, pushed and pushed and, sun belting down, we got it out!
The satisfaction was great. Short lived though. With all hands on the bonnet there were none around the steering wheel and well the thing just went and lodged itself even better, up another sandy ridge!
So with warming water bottles, mobile phones gone flat or out of signal range, we walked over disintegrating buffle grass clumps that shuddered silently under our feet with little breaths of crunch. Quite a lovely walk to the main road where phones came running back and a 4WD rescue vehicle was organized.
Anyway, it was a beautiful day. A stolen day. Stolen from the coffee machine and computer I had promised it to. And I guess now I’ve had that essential NT experience, I can safely leave for a holiday.
NT statehood soon? I don’t think so.
COMMENT by ROLF GERRITSEN
Photo at right: pushing for statehood online.
Photo below: The author.
Opinion polls show that Territorians are very strongly in favour of Statehood for the Territory. The opinion polls conducted by the NT Statehood Committee also show that Territorians are (by small majorities) against statehood if we do not have the same rights as other States, for example as in the number of Members and Senators in the Commonwealth Parliament or in our rights in referenda to amend the constitution. Presumably that is why the Statehood Committee’s submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Territory Statehood insisted the objective was “eventual” equality with the other States.
Unfortunately, whatever the results of the negotiations between the Territory and the Commonwealth, we will never be equal to the other States. That is because we will be made a State by an Act of the Commonwealth Parliament. So, even if all the issues to be negotiated (see below) are resolved there can be no mechanism that will protect the Territory from Commonwealth intervention. This will not be a Ministerial intervention (like the 2007 NT Emergency Response) but could be via an amendment to the NT Statehood Act, like the Commonwealth Parliament did in negating the Territory’s euthanasia legislation. It is my opinion that we cannot protect the Territory from such interventions in our affairs. Even if the NT Statehood Act contains an entrenched condition that the Commonwealth has no power in Territory affairs, this cannot bind future Commonwealth Parliaments from amending our Statehood Act (or any Act for that matter).
The Commonwealth cannot override State legislation in areas that the constitution determines are State responsibilities, unless such State legislation is contrary to international treaties to which Australia is a signatory. This is because the Commonwealth was created by the States ceding some of their sovereignty to create the Commonwealth. The States retain residual sovereignty; the Territory’s sovereignty will be by grant from the Commonwealth and could be amended by any future Commonwealth Parliament.
Let us look at some of the matters that have to be negotiated.
Territory political equality
The Commonwealth will not agree to the new Territory State having the same minimum federal representation as is the minimum for any established State (5 MHRs and 12 Senators). So we will only achieve that as the Territory’s population grows. Extra House of Reps seats will be allocated on a population quota; further Senators will only be allocated on the basis of the nexus between House of Reps Seats and Senate positions. So in 50 years time we could have a population greater than Tasmania but with fewer Senators.
Similarly the Territory will not achieve its objective of having the Territory count as a separate jurisdiction in referenda. That is because it will change the ratio of States required to change the constitution in a referendum. At present any referendum proposal has to win four of the six States. Changing that to four of the seven States will assuredly lead to vehement opposition from constitutional conservatives in the four smaller current States. I think the best solution here is for the Territory to be included in South Australia for referenda votes. Then we would have the same “rights” as other Australians in determining the success or failure of referenda. Note: before anybody gets outraged about this, remember that Commonwealth Territories are routinely included (eg Christmas Island in the seat of Lingiari) in federal electorates for national elections.
There are a number of other Commonwealth interests in the Territory that may bedevil any negotiations. One of these is that the Commonwealth wants to put its nuclear waste dump here because the other (sovereign) States will not allow such a facility. We will have to accept that waste dump if we are to be granted statehood status. Unlike in the other States the Commonwealth owns considerable lands here. The Territory wants these to be handed to the new Territory State without recompense. That may be problematic. Another element of this issue is the Commonwealth’s use of the 1953 Atomic Energy Act to control uranium resources and mining in the Territory. This issue is intertwined with Commonwealth control over particular National Parks (Kakadu and Uluru/Kata Tjuta).
Mining royalties is another problematic issue. When the Commonwealth granted the NT self-government it exempted both Ranger and Gove from the NT mining royalties regime (Canberra pays its royalties from these back to the NT). But if the Territory were to secure control over these mines then they would be paying much higher levels of royalties. That is because the NT mining royalties regime essentially garners resource rental royalties (taxes on mining profits) whereas Ranger and Gove pay an ad valorum royalty (a royalty on the value of production). The Territory’s royalty regime is designed to encourage new mines with little or no royalty costs and to tax profitable mines. So, as long established mines, Ranger and Gove would pay more and can be expected to resist this possible consequence of NT statehood.
There are supposedly 28 Commonwealth Acts that apply directly to the NT. This creates a fearsomely complex negotiating web. The NT Statehood negotiators will need great competence to secure the best deal for the NT from these negotiations.
Then of course there are Aboriginal issues at stake. Indeed some might argue that these are the most complex because the Commonwealth regards the NT with some scepticism in this regard.
Aboriginal Matters
It is an almost universal perception amongst Commonwealth policy-makers that the NT is failing to secure Aboriginal advancement, if not short-changing Aborigines with its fetish (for example) for boat ramps for amateur fisherpersons in Darwin. Securing Aboriginal interests (rights?) in the Territory Government’s fiscal allocations will have to be entrenched in any proposed new Territory constitution. Indeed this is part of a broader issue of expenditure bias towards Darwin and relative neglect of the Territories’ regions. The so-called “patriation” of the Land Rights Act would also be a complex matter. Remember that the Land Councils’ concerns about that possibility were an important factor is defeating Shane Stone’s statehood referendum. So if the Land Rights Act was put under the new Territory State, Aborigines would have to be assured that their rights and privileges were entrenched and not liable to erosion under any future amendment to the NT State Constitution.
The Way Ahead
It is clear that the NT has to create a constitution before our push for Statehood will be taken seriously by the Commonwealth. That is why next year’s Constitutional Convention is so important. We have to develop a document that the Commonwealth (and the States) consider exhibits a maturity and social and political inclusiveness that we are at present seen as lacking. Even if we achieve that result, I still see that the complexity of the negotiations with the Commonwealth – as well as our low station on the list of the nation’s priorities – means that NT Statehood is probably decades away.
$3.5m grant from Feds for landfill upgrade
The town council will get $3.5m from the Federal Government towards a $5m project to upgrade the landfill on its present site.
This will include a new waste transfer station, retail reycling shop, weigbridge, security gates and improved road network.
Mayor Damien Ryan says this will help the council achieve its goal to reduce the litter stream to the landfill by 50% over 30 years.
Mr Ryan says he’s had a “win win” with the grant which comes from the Regional Development Australia Fund on which he is the Territory’s representative.
Member for Lingiari, Warren Snowdon, says this is “a great project that will not only benefit the local community, but the surrounding regional areas as well.
“The project will create growth opportunities for business to use recycled materials, particularly glass, focus the attention of business, industry and government in the region on waste management practices and increase current staffing levels by approximately 50 per cent.
“Currently, businesses outside Alice Springs municipal boundaries are required to take hazardous waste like asbestos across state borders.”
Mr Snowdon says four local government areas will benefit from the project, including the MacDonnell Shire, Central Desert Shire, Barkly Shire Council and Alice Springs Municipality.
Meanwhile Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Adam Giles says while Alice Springs rubbish management needs are now secured for the future, it is unfortunate that funding was not made available for delivering real jobs and real economic development in the region.
“While the Country Liberals as a whole welcome this contribution, I call on the RDA Fund to help deliver on jobs and economic development in the region by, for example, looking at an investment in a training centre like the $3.25m delivered for the HIA in Darwin that would improve the employment prospects of regional youth and support local business. “The program could also consider opportunities to chip in to deliver public infrastructure that adds to tourism experiences and will attract visitors to the Centre. “The Alice Springs and Barkly regions need investment that delivers better economic development opportunities and employment so that we can get more locals into work – investment is needed getting locals a job and keeping them in a job. “This RDA funding should be just the tip of the iceberg.”
Photo: Muddy tracks at the landfill soon to be a thing of the past.
Anderson joins Country Liberals, will target shires, growth towns, commercial development, 'separatism' in education
MacDonnell MLA Alison Anderson says the failure of the super shires, fixing the “appalling” SIHIP housing program, reforming “pretend” education and training and creating meaningful economic development strategies in the bush will be among her main objectives.
Ms Anderson, who started her parliamentary career as a Labor Party member and became an Independent in 2009, last night joined the Country Liberals. This puts the numbers in the House at 12 – 12, with Gerry Wood holding the balance of power.
She says there have been “no deals whatsoever” to entice her into the conservative party, such as the offer of a ministry.
Ms Anderson says: “The shires are a mess. They are too top heavy, too much money goes into the hierarchy while services on the ground are limited.”
She says repairs and maintenance to bush homes carried out under SIHIP is “absolutely appalling. She’s had complaints from communities including Santa Teresa, Haasts Bluff, Papunya and Docker River.
“Repair crews were meant to have come back in June but still haven’t. The money goes to consultancies and layers upon layers of bureaucracy.”
Ms Anderson says the “separatism” in education must stop. She says even as a Labor Member she had admired the education policies of Opposition Leader Terry Mills.
“There should be one set of policies, not a pretend education and training system in the bush. We’ve got training for the sake of training. Some people have 20 or 30 certificates [but no opportunity of using them].”
She says the economic development efforts of the Government are a sham.
Consultation consists of getting wish lists from people, so the Government can tick boxes, but there’s seldom any follow-up.
The growth towns – Hermannsburg and Papunya in her electorate – are concepts without substance.
People aren’t necessarily happy to have a central service hub, although Ms Anderson concedes that she was the Labor Minister introducing the hub and spokes model of the growth towns.
She says there should be specific commercial proposals based on research of the available assets, markets and the preferences of the locals. She says Hermannsburg has some obvious opportunities – tourism attracted by the town’s history, Palm Valley nearby, and the proximity to Alice Springs.
The options for Papunya are not as clear, and “we will do a proper talking session [about] where we want to go”. A cultural museum and a visitor complex at the back of ranges near the town may be some options.
Have the Country Liberals done that sort of planning in the past, so as to have a strategy in place?
No, says Ms Anderson, but a start on focussed economic planning will begin this year.
Meanwhile Mr Mills says Ms Anderson’s decision to join the Country Liberals “is simply reflecting the wishes of the people of MacDonnell, who’ve told her they want to get rid of Labor”.
Ms Anderson’s application will be discussed at a branch meeting in Alice Springs tonight.
Meanwhile the Leader of Government Business Chris Burns says the claim by Terry Mills that he has not done a deal with the new member of his team Alison Anderson simply cannot be believed.
“Last year Terry Mills claimed that he had not done a deal with Leo Abbott only for a transcript to emerge where he clearly offered him a job and asked him to run as part of his team.
“What Terry Mills says and does are very different things. He cannot be trusted.
“After decades of bad blood between Alison Anderson and the CLP, why has Alison Anderson now suddenly signed up to sit with them?
“It is obvious to everyone Terry Mills has offered her a cabinet position.
“Terry Mills has said that he is ‘rapt and thrilled’ to have Alison Anderson as part of his team.
“He is asking Territorians to vote for a party that will have to keep Alison Anderson happy and content.
“The CLP claim to have a ‘New Direction’. The problem is no one can possibly know what it is.
“The business community needs certainty to invest in the Territory and create jobs.
“The CLP now offers no certainty at all.
“A vote for the CLP is a vote for Alison Anderson in cabinet,” Dr Burns said.
Photo: Ms Anderson last summer with Country Liberals MLA for Braitling Adam Giles. From the Alice Springs News archive.
People as postcards
By ESTELLE ROBERTS
Alice springs is a town full of people from other places, full of representations from other places, souvenirs from other places. How befitting then a show that showcased over 20 artists exploring representations of the Red Centre through its marketing and mementos?
I think any excuse to frock up is a good one and the opening of the Souvenir show at Watch This Space was gladly taken as one – frocked up they came. One stand out was the pinky-orange sunset frock trailed with camel tracks, with a lone camel silhouette standing on one padded shoulder.
As with most Alice Springs outings the dogs were just about as numerous as the owners and even a dingo was spotted roaming about the legs of people.
I arrived just in time to attach myself to the tail end of a bunch of tourists being taken through the souvenir shop. The jabbering crowd was quickly quietened by our knee-high socked and wide-brim hatted tour guide. She was jammed full of facts and handy hints, like keeping our fluids up in this dry hot climate. The gallery itself was jammed full of works exploring the representations of the Red Centre – postcards, trinkets, snow-domes and tea towels.
The artwork I loved most was Mel Darr’s Toile de jouy – The fabric of life. These are lino cuts screenprinted onto wallpaper backing paper, referring to a European design of an earlier century for wallpaper and furnishings, typically depicting scenes from everyday life, and here showing images from the central desert of Australia.
It made me think of my French mum really strongly. I pictured her in France on holidays – whilst I sat by a fire with a film being projected onto a parked troopie nearby – and thought about her and how much she would love this work. I saw it as such typically French wallpaper, a play with an otherworldly luxury and the present day depictions of an everyday life far from the likely hangings of that style. I like that intersection and their beautifully complementing contradictions. I guess the reason it rang with me really strongly is because it comes from two very different places, but places I feel strong attachment to, particularly now with my mum overseas. It’s from that familiar French heritage design and the not-so-familiar but very captivating strange pull that this part of country has. And I booked a ticket yesterday, to another rather iconic travel destination, Paris.
I camped on a lone red sand dune the other night and as I was running the most velvety red fine sand through my fingers and toes, I thought how impossible-to-represent a place like this is and how little justice trinkets do to a place. Don’t get me wrong though, I love the kitsch and the keepsake, maybe because they remind me just how unattainable a place is just through their holding.
On the red dune in the diminishing light I watched the bush fires grow brighter and the daylight dimmer, and the town lights brighter and the daylight ever dimmer. From somewhere in my memory the line, “You never never know unless you never never go”, rambled through. I only just remembered that was in fact a jingle from NT Tourism spruiking the NT as a travel destination. And I guess when I get to Paris, for some of my family I will be some sort of representation of this place.
Souvenir is on at Watch This Space as part of the Alice Desert Festival, till September 18.
The town is safe in public servants' hands: forum told
Report figures on the proportion of Aboriginal people expected in Alice by 2030 “way, way off”. Researcher now says she got it wrong.
By KIERAN FINNANE
“Rest easy, the public servants are onto it. But if you’ve got any (cost free) new ideas, let us know.”
This was essentially the message from Tuesday’s feedback forum on the Alice Springs Community Action Plan. The fact that the forum did not cover new ground or open up a space for new insights, directions and initiatives would have given comfort to the boycotters (see separate report), although Alderman Eli Melky did attend.
First up, consultant Jane Munday summarised the report she had compiled, “intended as the first stage in developing” the action plan. This is described as a “research report”, commissioned by the Department of the Chief Minister. Ms Munday is experienced and well-qualified in public relations and marketing. Her report is essentially about a number of consultation exercises she conducted; its “research” is not of the probing kind. For instance, she repeats what is frequently heard in public fora, that “the proportion of Aboriginal residents (now 21%) is expected to increase to about 45% by 2030”. She sources the figure to a presentation at the Kilgarrif forum by the Department of Lands and Planning.
Such an increase would be huge, a radical change to the demography of the town and with potentially far-reaching implications, but it is “way, way off” according to Dean Carson, Professor for Rural and Remote Research at Flinders University.
Professor Carson explains: “Alice Springs has about 20% Indigenous population. We would expect 2011 Census to show about the same – the increase from 15% has taken about 15-20 years. So, [with] another 20 years, and even a similar rate of proportional increase, you may have 23-25% Indigenous at a stretch.
“This is different for the region as a whole – where, outside of Alice Springs and Yulara, Indigenous people are as much as 80-90% of the population in specific locations. So a regional 40-45% is about where it sits now, and about where it is likely to sit for the next 10 or 20 years (going up a percent or two, but staying pretty much in the same band).
“Even if you make major ‘tweaks’ of the assumptions of population distribution (a much larger out-migration of non-Indigenous people and in-migration of Indigenous people, for example), you still don’t get anywhere near 45% for the town itself. In fact, you have to have pretty drastic assumptions to even get to 30% or so.
“Compare with Katherine, for example, where the 1998 floods resulted in a substantial out-migration of non-Indigenous people and an in-migration of Indigenous people. The population base there is much smaller (about 7500 people compared with 30,000 people), but still the proportion of Indigenous [people] only went from about 20% to about 25% during the ten years of transition in that population.”
This is only one example but it is about a very fundamental issue in terms of planning for beyond this summer, and it is about time that the government, and its consultants, got on top of the data so that everybody knows what we should actually be talking about.
The meeting then heard from John Adams, the government’s coordinator of youth services, based at the Youth Hub, whose presentation was particularly futile. He read, word for word, from a two and a half page document an account of the so-called Youth Action Plan. This is something everyone could have done for themselves as copies were available at the door of the meeting room.
A good part of the document has been the subject of various government media releases since the announcement of the Youth Action Plan in 2009. What may be new were some numbers quoted on young people transported to a safe place, notifications, provisional protections and so on, but without any data on the size of the problem – that is, numbers of young people at risk or who are a risk to others, such as those who were creating trouble on the streets last summer – how meaningful are such figures?
Mr Adams then nearly put everyone to sleep with an account of the various committees, implementation groups and interagency meetings that the government has set up. Not a single insight into who the young people they are dealing with are, how they come to be in a situation where they are vulnerable, neglected or abused. Not a single story, let alone a quantum, of a young person’s life changed by whatever intervention, or of a family managing a whole lot better as the result of whatever effort. No account whatsoever of the young people who fall through the cracks; no analysis of how that happens and what can and has been done to try to prevent it. No shadow of doubt that everything is hunky-dory in youth services land.
We heard about the provision of extra safe houses and that they have never been full but no analysis of why that might be the case. We heard that there are no duplications of services, but this was not substantiated by, for instance, explanations of the ways different groups are being catered for.
The next presentation was from the NT Police’s Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations, Mark Payne, who had the good sense to not read a blurb. He briefly described the dimensions of the problems: that property offences last January and February had been at an “all time high”, that violent offending had gone “through the roof”, that there was a level of public drinking that police “hadn’t seen before”. He said police had made a promise last March that they would return the town to the state it had been in before and “I think we have been successful”. He cited one figure on decreased offending to support this, but did not say how much of the reduction was due to the normal decline of offending in winter months.
Critical to police being able to deal with the problems, he said, has been the availability of short-term hostel accommodation, the increased capacity of safe houses for young people, and the ability to direct young people through the Youth Street Outreach Services towards a coordinated response.
He mentioned the usefulness of the coordinator position for patrol agencies and the work of the Interagency Tasking and Coordination Group. He described all this activity as “community-based problem solving”, saying it means that the town will not be in the same position that it was in last Christmas.
He also said there had been increases in school attendance but did not supply figures.
On dealing with alcohol-affected people, Commissioner Payne said that legislative change had given police wider grounds on which to take people into protective custody. Officers are able to rely more on their own observation and conclusions about what a person may be likely to do, to themselves or to others: “This has opened up some doors for us,” he said.
In preparation for summer, he said a taskforce operation similar to the one in March is being planned, it will be trialled over September, October – when there are expected spikes in the influx of visitors – and be ready to go from December 1 through the summer. If required, the “big guns” will be brought in from Darwin.
Challenged from the floor on enforcement, for instance of the “2km law” (banning public drinking), Commissioner Payne replied that it is enforced daily and that the only reason that police would not be “terribly proud” of their arrest rates is that they are too high.
This speaker from the floor was the only one to become heated. This says something about the attendance at the meeting. Those needing to vent – the ones who feel frustrated and powerless – had largely stayed away. In their place were many public servants and members of non-government organisations.
A prominent figure from the NGO sector, Jonathan Pilbrow, asked about composition of the committee, commenting that it did not have NGO nor general community representation. From Mayor Damien Ryan’s explanation, it seems that he and co-chair Catherine Liddle had asked specific individuals to join them on the committee. Mayor Ryan said Brad Bellette, Neil Ross and Jenny Nixon were all non-government people.
Alderman Sandy Taylor asked Mr Adams about how many Family Reponsibility Agreements had been entered into. Mr Adams said “16, from memory”. She asked whether they include agreements around sending children to school; he said “yes”.
She asked Commissioner Payne whether there was room in the future for introducing a curfew for continual youth offenders. He said this was a policy issue for government, not for practical policing, but added that many things that are being done now have the same effect as a curfew, for example, if children go to school during the day, they are less likely to be on the streets at night.
Reverend Kate Fraser offered the expertise in restorative justice of a member of the Uniting Church. Mr Adams said he would be happy to talk to this person, adding that the youth justice review, the results of which will be announced soon, will see changes in the responses to youth offending.
Graham Buckley emphasised the importance of early childhood programs, to which the consultations had paid some attention, and said he was “heartened” by the meeting.
Hal Duell asked about parents of juvenile offenders being held financially responsible for the damage their children cause – it would give them a “vested interest” in ensuring that their children didn’t get involved in offending. Mayor Ryan thought it a “very good point”. A person from the Justice Department said this can be “part of the conversation” in the existing restorative justice process managed by the police, though it varies from case to case.
Ald Melky lamented the state of affairs whereby the town’s youth is “now the bad guy”, reminding those in attendance that it was not long ago that they were young too. He turned to speak directly to Minister for Central Australia, Karl Hampton, who was present at the back of the room (he did not speak at the meeting). Ald Melky charged him, “as the only one in the room with the power”, with the responsibility for keeping the streets safe.
Mayor Ryan commented that it was the responsibility of “each of us”. Ms Liddle suggested that a “mechanism” could be found to promote “some of the good things our young people do”.
Ian Sharp wanted to know if there was any data about the impact of negative publicity about unsafe streets on the tourism industry. He referred to recent comments by Michael Toomey, manager of commercial and retail operations at the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Alice, that big picture national and international factors are a much greater influence on the current flattening of business than specific factors such as negative publicity.
Peter Grigg, general manager of Tourism Central Australia, said he has encountered “very, very little” by way of negative perceptions in the consumer shows that he has attended. When he did hear concerns, he was able “to put people’s minds at ease”. He said the town’s residents are the best ambassadors for the town and they need to get it out there that they love Alice Springs.
Ald Liz Martin, who is on the committee for the action plan, asked Commissioner Payne whether forensic investigators would be brought in help find who is responsible for the many recent deliberately-lit fires. He replied that the “greatest resource” for detection is people keeping their eyes open and reporting suspicious behaviour to police: “That’s how we catch people and we have had some success.”
The meeting was wrapped up at this point, but further enquiry by the Alice News revealed that the “success” amounts to one arrest and a couple of leads.
Meanwhile, the report and other materials as well as a list of actions that people are invited to prioritise is on the NT Government’s Safe Communities’ website.
The Family and Children’s Services number to call if you are concerned about a young person is 1800 700 250.
Jane Munday replies:
Michels Warren Munday is a communication consultancy that, among other things, specialises in community consultation.
We were engaged by the Department of the Chief Minister to put together a community action plan. The first step of this exercise was community consultation – the ‘research’ you refer to. Consultation means listening. Our job was to listen to the community.
We were not engaged as demographers or economic modellers. However, we do recommend strongly that there is a need for mobility and social research like the previous Tangentyere mobility study to provide accurate data on a range of issues, including population trends.
Having said that, I have made a mistake in one of my dot points on page 9 of my report. ABS figures show the proportion of Aboriginal people in the town of Alice Springs was 21% in 2006. Government projections are that 43% of people in the Alice Springs region (including its hinterland) will be Aboriginal by 2021. As the Alice Springs News has reported previously, there have been comments made that the Aboriginal population in Alice Springs will rise to 70% by 2030 – all the more reason for a study to provide accurate data and bust the myths.
I would be applauding public servants for showing up to after hours meetings and caring about their town. They are also members of the community. Although some people in our report wanted the public service to ‘shrink’ or disappear, the actions they wanted are almost entirely dependent on government spending and public service delivery.
It can be daunting to stand up at a public meeting. Sniping doesn’t seem like a just reward. One of the findings of our report was that people want change, they want to work together but the barriers they reported were a prevailing negativity, personal attacks and divisions through just about all sectors in the town.
I am not sure why meetings are successful only if people ‘vent’. Venting is important when people are angry. There was a lot of venting in our community consultation and it was important to listen to this and understand people’s frustrations. However, once people have vented, they are more prepared to listen respectfully to other people’s views. This week’s public meeting was our feedback session, reporting on what the town had to say. If previous meetings you have attended were full of fire and brimstone, perhaps this is because people hadn’t had the chance to ‘vent’ and be heard. We report on the community’s feeling of disengagement from government that is the probable result of this.
Our report was intended to be the conversations of Alice Springs people. It is only the first stage. We welcome any further feedback but hope people can move forward constructively.
Photos: Top the crowd thins as boredom sets in. Centre: NT Police’s Assistant Commissioner, Mark Payne. Above: Julie Ross, the head of the Chamber of Commerce, and Mike Steller listening to Ian Sharp.
Not too late to reduce fire fuel loads & trusties can help
By KIERAN FINNANE
Senior Station Fire Officer in Alice Springs, John Kleeman, says he would welcome the assistance of prisoners in reducing the fire fuel load south of the Gap, as is being pushed for by the Town Council.
Aldermen passed a motion last night to write to the Department of Lands and Planning “regarding engagement of Correctional Services” to help with this task “south of Heavitree Gap to the Municipal Boundary, incorporating the river and parklands”.
Mr Kleeman says the fire service has been doing control burns in the area – including around Amoonguna “where a lot of people have been throwing matches” – and are continuing to do so today, as well as north of Emily Gap.
He says government contractors have also done a major slashing job along the river from John Blakeman Bridge to Colonel Rose Drive. The “trusties” (prisoners) could help to do more slashing, especially in areas where it’s hard to get front-end loaders in to clear firebreaks.
While with slashing the fuel remains on the ground, having the grasses lie flat reduces the intensity of a fire that may go through.
Mr Kleeman says the town has been lucky so far to not lose property or life, but the situation could go “pear-shaped” at any time. He encourages the public to prepare their properties and report to police anyone acting suspiciously with fire.
Anti-talkfest lobby crashes and burns
By KIERAN FINNANE
With deliberately lit fires continuing (80 in the last week) and coming to symbolise a reckless lawlessness threatening the security of the town, a rearguard action on law and order issues by Aldermen Eli Melky and Murray Stewart crashed and burned last night.
It was the Town Council’s end of month meeting. The public gallery was more than ordinarily full though not crowded. It included, significantly, MLAs Alison Anderson (Independent) and Adam Giles (Country Liberals), president of MacDonnell Shire Sid Anderson, controversial would-be Country Liberals candidate Leo Abbott, prominent activist couple Steve and Janet Brown, and outspoken general manager of Ingkerreke, Scott McConnell.
In public question time at the start of the meeting Steve Brown put the issues on the agenda, asking council to discuss them in the open part of the meeting. He said he and others in the gallery were “thoroughly tired” of the “forum process”, alluding to this evening’s community feedback forum on the so-called Community Action Plan to combat crime and anti-social behaviour. The forum will be held by a government-appointed committee, co-chaired by Mayor Damien Ryan and local woman Catherine Liddle, and will consider the plan, said to be based on “the direction set by the community”, according to Minister for Central Australia, Karl Hampton.
Mr Brown said there was no room for further forums, the time had come for action. He said he and those he was speaking for would not participate in tonight’s meeting, nor in future meetings likely to run through until the next election, as part of the government’s “propaganda machine”.
Mayor Ryan said council would take Mr Brown’s request on notice and discuss it later in the evening.
Policing in Alice Springs was on council’s agenda through the initiative of Alderman Rawnsley. The recommendation before aldermen was to write to the Chief Minister and Minister for Police, Paul Henderson, and the NT Police Commissioner John McRoberts to express the community’s concern about crime and anti-social behaviour and the need for the same level of police resources and focus to be in place this summer as was put in place (as a crisis response) last March.
Ald Melky, somewhat incoherently, attempted to amend this motion, arguing that the response need to go beyond policing, that the police
were part of the solution but not all. His amendment was seconded by Ald Stewart, who went on to undermine it by arguing in favour of the original motion while suggesting – too late for council processes – that there should be another stand-alone motion rather than the amendment. A likely ally, Ald Samih Habib Bitar, was absent, on personal leave.
Nor surprisingly the amendment was defeated (voted against by all except Alds Melky and Stewart) and the original motion passed, with only Ald Melky voting against it, left sitting out in the cold after Ald Jane Clark called for a division.
Undeterred, Ald Melky returned to the issue in Questions Without Notice, revealing that he had attempted to put a motion on the meeting agenda, with 11 “items” on law and order issues, but that it had been put into the confidential part of the meeting by acting CEO Greg Buxton (council meeting agendas are set by the CEO). Mr Buxton said he had made that call because he considered that discussing the motion in open would “prejudice the interests of the council”. Mayor Ryan took umbrage at Ald Melky’s suggestion of the possibility that Mr Buxton had conferred with him on the issue and Mr Buxton assured Ald Melky that he had not. Mayor Ryan said Ald Melky should put any further concerns in writing.
Finally the discussion returned to the community feedback forum as requested by Mr Brown. Mayor Ryan opened, expressing his view that the forum will allow people to hear about what has happened as a result of a series of consultations held earlier in the year and will be a good opportunity to “bust myths” about what has and has not been done as a result.
Ald Melky moved to suspend standing orders, which would allow a more free-flowing discussion. This was seconded by Ald Stewart, opposed by Ald Clark, but supported by the rest, including the Mayor. Ald Melky then challenged Mayor Ryan about chairing the committee. Is the committee more powerful than the council, he wanted to know. Would Mayor Ryan be representing the council on the committee, or was he on it in a personal capacity? How would he satisfy the expectations of the community in the role? Isn’t the council the best body to pass resolutions and lobby the government on law and order issues? And why hasn’t it done so?
Mayor Ryan replied that the “passion” Ald Melky was showing on the issue had been shown by many others (240 of them) through the consultations. He reiterated that the forum was the opportunity to report back to the community. He said there are “small wins and big wins” that the community is looking for. He said “the future of our community has a lot to do with education and finding real jobs but that doesn’t help with summer”. For this summer, the community needs to hear what has been put in place by the Department of Children and Families, by police and for youth.
Ald Stewart took up Ald Melky’s challenge to the Mayor, suggesting that “as the most powerful man in town” he was being compromised by being on a “push-through committee for government spin”. He expressed the same concern regarding the participation of Deputy Mayor Liz Martin.
Ald Martin acknowledged the frustrations people were feeling about inaction but rejected Ald Stewart’s remarks on her participation as “insulting”. She said she would avail herself of any opportunity to be in a line of communication to government and would support the committee’s process “at this stage”.
Ald Brendan Heenan, in his mild-mannered way, wanted to know from Mayor Ryan what he hoped to achieve from the committee. He also would have liked to see more Aboriginal people on it as well as people like John Adams, coordinator of youth services at the Youth Hub.
Mayor Ran said Mr Adams will be present tonight to talk and answer questions about what is happening at the Youth Hub.
After a bit more to-ing and fro-ing, standing orders resumed. Again Ald Melky entered the fray, attempting to have his 11 items on law and order discussed as Other Business. To do that he needed the majority support of other aldermen, but only got it from Ald Stewart.
The open part of the meeting was over. As the public left, Ald Melky and Mayor Ryan were in a head to head, though Ald Melky soon joined the ‘no more meetings’ group lingering outside the chamber. Ms Anderson wanted to know why shire presidents were not invited to be on the committee and, for that matter, representatives of town camps: “It’s their children who are out there on the streets at night,” she said.
Mr McConnell thought at the very least the committee should be bi-partisan, with MLAs Anderson and Giles – both of whom were very active in highlighting the problems last summer – asked to participate. And why not Ald Melky too, he asked, although at the same time, he was of the view that the time for committees was over: “It’s now up to the Chief Minister and Karl Hampton to do the work and deliver,” he said.
Pictured: Fire in the ranges above the MacDonnell Range Caravan Park on Monday. It and other fires burning along the range east of the Gap came from the control burn the Fire Service undertook on the weekend, to bring a maliciously lit fire on Undoolya Station under control. Senior Station Fire Officer in Alice Springs, John Kleeman, says these fires will be useful to reduce fuel load in the ranges and that there are major breaks between them and nearby infrastructure. Meanwhile, there have been 8o deliberately lit grass fires around town.
LETTER by Alex Nelson: And the talkfests go on …
Sir – I note the advertisement for the upcoming 5
In the dim dark recesses of my mind, a memory is stirred – this seems vaguely familiar.
Checking the website revealed this Forum is the fifth one – of the current series.
One of the earliest initiatives of Territory Labor when it won office a decade ago was to host the Indigenous Economic Development Summit in November 2001, which established the IED Forums held biennially since that time.
As for history prior to August 2001 – well, somehow that’s irrelevant, isn’t it? Yet it’s amazing how the same themes repeat from one regime change to the next.
It’s also a decade ago that Charles Perkins passed away; and local Aboriginal business identity Ted Hampton followed in January 2002.
Both men were instrumental in organising the first National Indigenous Business Economic Conference (NIBEC) held at the Araluen Centre on 5 – 8 September, 1993.
Perkins was the chairman of the Arrernte Council of Central Australia which presented NIBEC, of which Hampton was the manager.
It was a big event, featured as a four page spread in the Centralian Advocate (3 September, 1993), and it attracted over 500 delegates in attendance.
NIBEC 93’s objective was to “bring together and unite the indigenous people of Australia to establish a support, educational, financial and growth mechanism that will release Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and individuals from the current dependency welfare economy”.
Charles Perkins did not mince his words: “Aboriginal people have to stop looking towards white people ‘in positions of influence’ to solve their problems”.
He said “it remained patently clear that that the Aboriginal people were seeking remedies for the solution of their problems apart from governments, the politicians and bureaucrats who could not even manage their own responsibilities” (“Perkins: self-help vital”, Advocate, 3 September, 1993).
It’s interesting to note how other events today echo that period of the early 1990s; for example, Alison Anderson’s contemplation of CLP membership mirrors Perkins’s support of former Liberal leader Dr John Hewson at a CLP Annual Conference in Alice Springs in 1991.
This year’s IED Forum will follow in the wake of the revelation of a secret federal Department of Finance report highlighting the dismal results for annual taxpayer expenditure of $3.5 billion on Aboriginal Affairs, especially in the NT.
In 1991 Charles Perkins slammed the state of Aboriginal Affairs: “In Australia there are 2000 organisations, 16000 people employed and a budget of $1000 million but Aboriginal affairs is going nowhere. It cannot go on like that” (Advocate, 30 January, 1991).
The second NIBEC meeting was held in Brisbane in August 1995. It followed the publication in March that year of a major report entitled “Black Money” in Australian Business Monthly, which asked: “What happens to the $2 billion Australian taxpayers pour into Aboriginal programs each year? And why isn’t it ever enough?
“Waste, rorts, duplication and mismanagement squander much of that money while Aborigines continue to live in shameful squalor”.
The article details many problems which remain familiar to this day.
I’m sure the delegates that attend this year’s Indigenous Economic Development Forum hosted by the NT Government will leave all fired up to do something about the plight of Aboriginal people and hugely inspired by all that untapped economic potential out there, with lovely warm fuzzy inner feelings.
I need to lie down – I’m feeling dizzy from all this endless spinning round in circles.
Alex Nelson
Alice Springs
Sharp rises in parks fees, mining policy in doubt
By ERWIN CHLANDA
Fees for camping in the most popular locations of the West MacDonnell Ranges, one of several parks in Central Australia being transferred from public to Aboriginal ownership by the NT Government, have been increased sharply at very short notice.
Meanwhile today (Wednesday) Shadow Environment Minister Kezia Purick says Minister for Central Australia Karl Hampton is refusing to confirm Territory Labor’s policy on the co-existence of mines in Territory national parks.
The tourism industry says the increase in fees will be “very confusing” for the public and operators.
From Thursday camping at Ormiston Gorge will cost, per night, $10 for adults, $5 per child and $25 per family.
This is a sharp increase from $6.60, $3.30 and $15.40, respectively.
The rates at Redbank Gorge and Ellery Bighole will be $5, $2.50 and $12.50, respectively, up from $3.30, $1.65 and $7.70.
Peter Grigg, of the industry lobby Tourism Central Australia, says his organisation had no prior notice of the hikes, nor has it been consulted.
Ms Purick says Mr Hampton, “as Environment Minister should know his Government back-flipped on mining in national parks.”
She says then Opposition Leader, Clare Martin, who also initiated the parks hand-over, was committed to prohibiting mining in national parks in the lead-up to the 2001 election, a decision that Labor in Government reneged on only months after winning office.
“The reality is mining and national parks can co-exist – and the Minister should have known this and sent out a very strong message to the industry that the Government supports mining and sound approval processes,” says Ms Purick.
“Instead we heard Minister Hampton banging on about his ‘principles’ and family heritage, which are of no interest or benefit to Territorians. It isn’t about Karl Hampton, it’s about growth and regional development.”
Pictured: Ormiston Gorge.
The flip side of the coin
A very interesting segment from the article “The lighter side of lawmaking”, published in the Alice Springs News on 11 August, 2011, is repeated below:
Shadow Treasurer John Elferink says under Labor, the Territory’s net debt has blown out to $6.7billion, including liabilities. A dollar coin weighs 9 grams, is 25mm in diameter and 3mm thick. There are 111 dollar coins in a kilo, 111,111 in a tonne.
He says the Territory’s debt takes on mind-boggling proportions when considering:
– It would take $2.2million to fill a 20 tonne road train trailer and $6.7million to fill a three trailer road train.
– It would take 1000 road trains – extending about 50km – to haul the Territory’s debt plus liabilities.
– A $1 coin covers an area of about 500mm square and it would take $2million to fill 1km square.
– Darwin’s area is 112km square. Placing all our dollar coins within Darwin’s footprint would make a stack 90cm high.
– Stacked on the Parliament House footprint, which is 12,900 metres square, the Territory’s debt with liabilities would make a stack 7.8km high.
– Joined end to end, the $6.8billion debt with liabilities in dollar coins would stretch 167,500km – over four times around the world.
– Under Labor, the Territory has accumulated a mountain of debt – approximately $29,000 for every man woman and child and $56,000 per taxpayer.
Says Mr Elferink: “The Labor Government is addicted to spending – and Territory taxpayers are paying.”
John Elferink’s hammering of the current NT Labor Government on the issue of net Territory government debt is yet another issue that has a long pedigree in recent NT history.
Mr Elferink – who, incidentally, first joined the Alice Springs Young CLP branch in January 1987 (I was in attendance at the meeting and still have the minutes) – might be interested to read the Viewpoint article entitled “ALP’s tired old story still going strong” by former CLP Chief Minister Marshall Perron, published in the Centralian Advocate edition of 23-24 April 1991.
The points made in this article published two decades ago, especially about the need for capital works projects, sounds awfully familiar in the current debate; it’s just that the boots are now being worn on the other feet!
“Opposition leader Brian Ede has made a quiet start to his term in Labor’s top job and he had me and others fooled into thinking the new broom was preparing to sweep clean.
But the resurrection of the same tired story about the NT’s per capita debt seems to show that new ideas in the Labor camp are few and far between.
Mr Ede’s contention that per capita debt is some sort of problem is misleading, irrelevant and highlights the fact that Mr Ede still doesn’t understand government finances.
Government debt is incurred to build schools, roads, hospitals, police stations and other important items of capital works.
These items are built with debt because it would be inequitable for the taxpayer of today to pay up front for assets which will be used for decades.
Any reasonable person will agree – except Mr Ede, who appears to be suggesting that if we build a $5 million school the local parents should pay a one-off levy of $20,000 each to pay for it.
So that is why we have debt. Next question – why is Territory per capita debt relatively high in comparison with the states?
Simply because at self-Government, less than 13 years ago, we did not have the facilities the States enjoyed and with the full approval of both Coalition and Labor treasurers over that period we embarked on a capital works program to bring our facilities up to scratch.
What the states have built up over two centuries we have had to build up in just over a decade. That’s why our per capita public sector debt is relatively high.
So why is it not the problem Mr Ede says it is? Well, this is the bit Mr Ede never tells you about.
The Grants Commission, a Federal Government body, has assessed the cost to all states and Territories of delivering services to the public and it recommends distribution of Federal funding on that basis.
Because of the difficulty of delivering services to so few people scattered across a sixth of Australia, the NT rightly gets about five times as much in per capita funding as do the heavily populated states, NSW and Victoria.
So while we have a slightly higher per capita debt than Victoria we have a far greater ability to pay for it.
To illustrate this in simple terms, imagine two people. One has a $100,000 mortgage and earns $50,000; the other has an $80,000 mortgage but earns just $20,000 a year.
The one with the $100,000 mortgage has a higher per capita debt. But everyone except Mr Ede would agree the person with the low income is the one with the problem!
If Mr Ede wants to talk about governments with financial problems he can tell how his Labor mates have almost bankrupted WA, Victoria and SA.
But in the NT’s case we use less of our income to pay debts than any State but Queensland, our financial position is sound and the Estimates Review process is ensuring future funding shortfalls caused by the Federal Government’s inability to run the economy are addressed before they become a problem.”
Perron’s reference to the Estimates Review process in the final paragraph is especially noteworthy in light of current circumstances.
Perron presented the Report of the Northern Territory Government Estimates Review in the NT Legislative Assembly on 23 April, 1991 – the same day as the publication of the article reproduced above.
It introduced sweeping changes across almost the whole of the NT Public Service and government authorities aimed at sharply reducing costs and increasing revenue for the NT Government within the context of a worsening national economic recession (infamously described by then Federal Treasurer Paul Keating as “the recession we had to have”).
In particular one’s attention can be drawn to – at first glance – a rather bland and non-specific statement located under the banner for Lands and Housing: “The Government’s overall involvement in housing will be reduced and available resources directed primarily to those in need.”
Here we find, in light of subsequent history, the origin of the current chronic shortage of land release for urban development across the Territory, especially in Central Australia, through which the NT Government has maximised its revenue derived from stamp duty.
But that’s another story.