Issue 10

There is a lot of oil and gas in Central Australia, so much is clear, but there is usually a massive gap between proven reserves, and undiscovered resources interpreted by industry to exist on the basis of known geology, but which are not demonstrated. Fracking may become part of the game, but not in the immediate future, says Ian Scrimgeour, Executive Director, NT Geological Survey, who was at the 15th Annual Geoscience Exploration Seminar attended by more than 200 delegates in Alice Springs this week. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.

With her election as Deputy Mayor last night not yet four months in the job, Councillor Kylie Bonanni's honeymoon continued alongside the excruciating spectacle of Cr Eli Melky's increasing and mostly self-driven isolation. KIERAN FINNANE reports. 

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

The indefinite incarceration of an intellectually impaired Aboriginal woman, Roseanne Fulton (pictured), in a WA prison is a national shame. NT Chief Minister Adam Giles and his Attorney-General and Health Minister are bungling the issue, writes Ian McKinlay, of Alice Springs, Ms Fulton's legal guardian.

See UPDATE Wednesday 8:15am at FULL STORY.

The café attached to the Institute of Aboriginal Development (IAD) will close in a few days. Neither IAD nor the café’s manager were prepared to be interviewed about the closure. But a former manager says a new Federal scheme gives hope for improvements in the training of young Aborigines.  ERWIN CHLANDA reports. PHOTO: The cafe in its heyday.

Few artists have turned their gaze fixedly on the modern town of Alice Springs and how its settler population lives within it. This is the fine contribution of Scottish artist Iain Campbell who arrived here in 1975. An exhibition at Araluen, Reflections, brings together work from across the decades around this theme, which the artist pursues to this day. The show also takes in enough of the other strands of Campbell's oeuvre to give some sense of the breadth of his achievement, evoked so well in the opening speech by MIKE GILLAM, artist photographer and long time friend, which we publish here (in extended version).

Police are investigating the vandalising of several signs and shopfronts in the Todd Street Mall over the weekend.

One of our current Town Council’s better success stories would be the new-look tip. The transfer station with the attached shop are a significant piece of new infrastructure servicing Alice’s future. The northern mall's going to be fine and let's enjoy our 90 parks!

Senator Nova Peris (pictured) says an indigenous woman is 80 times more likely to be hospitalised for assault than other Territorians.  In 2013, domestic violence assaults increased in the Northern Territory by 22 per cent. ALCOHOL WATCH #14 by Russell Guy.

See UPDATE 9:30am Tuesday. Public hearing on Wednesday, April 16. See FULL STORY.

A developer wants to squeeze 60 two-bedroom and 15 one-bedroom units into the 11,034 square meter site of the old bowling club, between Gap Road and South Terrace. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.

Three visitors from the Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy, part of the welfare reform drive led by Noel Pearson, have been in central Australia this week as guests of the Member for Namatjira, Alison Anderson. Not content to wait for the outcome of her government's review of Indigenous education (final report due in April) Ms Anderson is seeking to build a relationship between the ambitious academy and the schools in her electorate. KIERAN FINNANE reports.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Low-security prisoners have completed 108,760 hours of gardening and maintenance works at the homes of eligible elderly and disabled Territorians and non-profit organisations in the 2012-13 financial year, visiting the yards of 929 pensioners and disabled persons each month and performing various duties including cleaning, rubbish removal, mowing and raking, writes John Elferink, Minister for Correctional Services (pictured).

It appears the CLP Parliamentary wing room isn't the only place where bullying conduct can take place behind closed doors, reports ERWIN CHLANDA. PHOTO: Councillor Eli Melky who is alleged to have made unwarranted threats of legal action in Town Council meetings closed to the public.