Issue 33

The electrical "cake" of Alice Springs is $57.5m a year. How many of these 230,000,000 kilowatt hours annually are from renewable resources, mostly from the sun, how many should be, or could be? That, in a nutshell, were the questions asked by the Alice Solar City 2008-2013 project that came to an end with the release of a handsome book this month. ERWIN CHLANDA reports. PHOTO (from the report): Part of the Araluen array.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Residential builders and home owners and builders attended a presentation of the Residential Building Cover review but the presentation was halted halfway through when it became apparent the results of the review did not actually answer any of the concerns of the residential builders present, writes Alice Springs builder Jamie de Brenni (pictured).

Recently there have been two bad accidents on Centralian roads involving small tour buses. Is this happening because the companies operating three day tours are not giving their solitary drivers sufficient down time while on tour?

Individual control over land can wipe out welfare dependency. Will our governments have the bottle to make it happen?

As a Single Female Bicycle Rider I like to be as independent as self-sufficient as I possibly can and not rely on Bicycle Repair Man, because everybody knows that BRM wears his underpants over his pants and therefore causes shame.

UPDATED with new photos (see FULL STORY), January 2, 11.20am.

There are still surprises to be discovered in the unfolding redesign of Todd Mall. KIERAN FINNANE comments. 

Some artists and suppliers to the Mbantua Festival in October are still waiting for their money as it appears the organisers have spent in excess of government funding commitments and their own resources. One of the festival's creditors is musician and performer Jacinta Price (in the centre of the photo, performing at the festival with band and folk singer Bill Chambers). She says Arrulka Business Aboriginal Corporation is in breach of its contract with her. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.

In the Northern Territory’s remote communities only 13% of kids are attending school 80% of the time, says Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Nigel Scullion. 80% is generally regarded as the minimum required to make learning progress. Describing the situation as “horrific” Senator Scullion has announced a two-year strategy to break “the cycle of non-attendance”.

Alice Springs is well represented in the Top 20 (actually 21)  results for the Northern Territory Certificate of Education and Training (NTCET). The students received their results yesterday.

Applications have been made for the purchase of a "reasonable number" of blocks in Stage One of the new Kilgariff suburb, according to a reliable source. ERWIN CHLANDA reports. PHOTO: Work on the suburb earlier this year.

Public housing stock the Territory does still have is often allowed to remain vacant for long periods of time. Why?

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

The second NT Cost of Living Report, released today by the Northern Territory Council of Social Service with support from NT Shelter, reveals that Territory households pay a greater proportion of their incomes on housing costs than households elsewhere in the country, write Wendy Morton (NTCOSS) and Toni Vine Bromley (NT Shelter).