Issue 21

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Episodic policy announcements about regions and northern Australia are evidence of political concern about non metropolitan Australia but will not solve the problems endemic across remote Australia because government arrangements are not fit for purpose, writes Fred Chaney, Chairman of Desert Knowledge Australia.

The sweeping energy of great geological movements, at the same time as the solidity of the forms created: no easy task to resolve in paint, yet he does it. Adrian Robertson, who paints at Bindi Art (Mwerre Anthurre Artists) in Alice Springs, has several modestly-sized yet striking canvasses holding their own in Talapi’s Desert Colour show, alongside large works by reputed artists of the APY Lands. By KIERAN FINNANE.

Pictured: Yalpirakinu by Adrian Robertson.

Alice Springs musician Ben Slip The Slipsta will perform at the Sydney Blues n Roots Festival on October 27. Ben (centre) is pictured during the shoot of a film clip at Bond Springs north of Alice Springs with Jessica Mauboy (at right), his wife Laura (at left), son Joe and film crew members.

An initiative by the Howard government in 2006 to stimulate commercial activity, private enterprise style, by Aboriginal people on their land has been turned into yet another source of sit-down money. ERWIN CHLANDA reports. PHOTO: The Central Desert Shire office in Yuendumu: a public asset for which lease payments will need to be made.

If busy Melbourne can share its streets with skate-boarders, so can Alice. That’s the message Councillor Chansey Paech put to the council last night. The website of the city says it "encourages all young people to use the city, including skaters." It goes on to outline a code of conduct for skaters and BMX riders. Something similar could be used in Alice, Cr Paech is arguing. KIERAN FINNANE reports.

Pictured: The City of Melbourne has encouraged a flourishing youth culture. Here a skater and street art in a back alley off Flinders Street in the Melbourne CBD.

Candidates spruiking repetitive and uninformative platitudes is an irritating feature of Australian elections which always result in the victory of one major party that is only marginally different from the other. We quickly get over it. Lingiari is different: Here the election is a matter of life and death. COMMENT by ERWIN CHLANDA.

I had a nice day yesterday: Breakfast in the Roadkill Cafe (mission statement: "You kill it, we grill it."), welcoming a young family back to The Alice and a climb to lofty heights. It doesn't get much better, comments ERWIN CHLANDA. Photo: Spring has arrived on Mount Gillen's southern flank.

One thousand truckies and partners from every Australian state are in town for their 18th annual reunion at the National Transport Hall of Fame. One hundred of them were last night inducted to the Wall of Fame which now includes 1000 legends of the nation's transport industry. PICTURED: The parade this morning, led by the newest prime mover, built in Australia, of another major Hall sponsor, Caterpillar.

There are three places I had a love affair with: Amsterdam, Tokyo and Alice Springs. What do  they have in common, I often wondered, writes SUZANNE VISSER.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

We are calling on Territorians to vote for a humane and economical approach to the issue of asylum seekers, write Todd Williams and Michael Brand, local Greens candidates.

The wish list of the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, for whomever will gain power in Canberra, contains not what it wants to get, but what it doesn't want taken away. In a swirl of rumored spending cuts, where will the money come from to drive the newly chosen direction? The 40-year-old NGO that has a budget of $38m a year, for both town and "auspiced" services. More than 70% comes from the Feds. Congress has 300 employees, half of them Aboriginal. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.

IMAGE from the Congress annual report 2010-11, as published on the web.

There is little change to the statistics for the June 2013 quarter released today of crime against the person in Alice Springs. There is a sharp drop in property crime against last year but a rise when compared with the June 2011 quarter.