Alice Springs News, Issue 23, July 14, 2011

How will he explain to the conference that his government, with
blatant political opportunism, during the run-up to a by-election,
cancelled the exploration licence it had issued to Cameco Australia Pty
Ltd for the Angela Pamela site, after Cameco had spent millions of
dollars there?

How will he explain away the haplessness of that action, given that
Labor had Buckley's chance of winning Araluen, and of course did not?

And how will he explain to the Greenies that, now the by-election is out of the way, he is all in favour of uranium mining?

Is it any wonder we're laughing stock of the nation. COMMENT by ERWIN CHLANDA.

By ERWIN CHLANDA

The air traffic control tower at the Alice Springs airport, built in
1968, may soon become a relic, and four jobs may be taken out of the
town.

Airservices Australia is planning a trial beginning late next year of
"remote tower technology," allowing controllers to be based elsewhere
in Australia – and conceivably, overseas – working with images and data
transmitted by broadband or fiber optic cable. If the scheduled trial is
successful – in operational terms – will it take skilled people out of
the town? There is a poignant quote from Judith Brett's insightful essay
into the depletion of rural and outback communities (Quarterly Essay
Issue 42), commenting on the effects of the banks' downsizing from their
"imposing historic buildings" in the main-streets: "Rural towns were
dismayed. Since the founding of these towns, banks had brought in new
families: bank managers to join the local golf club and chair
fundraising drives, and tellers to play in the football team and marry
their daughters. Now all they had was an ATM."

The other argument in this context worth keeping an eye on is about
the high speed broadband: Will it bring expertise to the bush, or take
it away?

Photo from Flight Safety magazine.