Issue 43

What happens when you set up in a popular cafe, with books of poetry scattered around and a little sign that says 'Cafe Poet'?

Wonderful things. Like catching a man's keen glance at the books as he passed with his wife. "Do you like poetry?" Sue Fielding asked. He soon let her know how much by reciting in Welsh many stanzas from the work of Dafydd ap Gwilym – "the Shakespeare of Wales".

On another occasion residents of Flynn Lodge, an aged care home, had been for a walk in the cafe gardens with their carer. Sue asked if they'd like to hear a poem. "Yes, yes," they said. She chose "The Peace of Wild Things" by Wendell Berry. KIERAN FINNANE reports.

Pictured: Benitta Robertson (left) shares a poem with Cafe Poet Sue Fielding at the Bean Tree cafe in the Olive Pink Botanic Garden.

The removal of sand from the Todd as a flood mitigation measure is based on no scientific evidence whatsoever, and in fact is contrary to the best advice, writes Charlie Carter, of Alice Springs.

Stopping live export will result in the biggest man-made animal welfare disaster in Australia's history, writes research vet Gehan Jayawardhana, of Leanyer.

UPDATED 8.10am November 7: The Minister comments

Some 200 Central Australian children bound up in the child welfare system are victims of policies that are arguably based on race politics and implemented often by inexperienced and overworked staff of the NT Department  of Children and Families (DFC), according to sources with long and intimate connections with the system. Robyn Lambley, the Minister for Families & Children Services of the new NT government, says: "Our aim is to identify and support kinship carers on communities to care for Aboriginal children rather than bringing kids into town and placing them routinely with non-Aboriginal families." ERWIN CHLANDA reports.

'Particular social and cultural needs' will be supported

How will the Country Liberal Government create change in the bush? After the unsparing picture painted by Minister for Indigenous Advancement Alison Anderson, Deputy Chief Minister Robyn Lambley got to her feet in the Legislative Assembly, focussing her remarks on her Education and Children's Services portfolio. There is not much detail yet but she did indicate that there won't be 'a one size fits all' approach. Government will listen, she said, an oft-repeated theme of the first sittings, before making this commitment: "If the community believes a unique and peculiar model of education needs to be established within their communities to meet their particular social and cultural needs, we will support that in any way we can. Of course, they will be required to go through a rigorous requirement regime. It is never easy to set up a school, but we will support and assist them to set up the types of school they think their children and their families need." KIERAN FINNANE reports. 

Sir – Not sure how common this is but I’ve attached an image I took at Uluru last weekend. We’re here for 3 months, love it in Alice!
Shane Ocean

In a first for Papunya Tula Artists, Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, one of the company's most famous living painters, has agreed to license some of his art to be used in a commercial product. Two of his existing paintings, Rain Making At Malparingya and Echidna Dreaming At Tjungaringya, have been adapted for use on iPhone covers by a Melbourne-based company called Cygnett. Others artists being used for the covers include the Tats Cru, "legends" in the New York City street art scene and Nathan Jurevicius, an Australian US-based graphic novelist, illustrator and now animator. So Tjampitjinpa is in very trendy company. KIERAN FINNANE reports. 

Work has started on construction of the aircraft "boneyard" at the Alice Springs airport.

Earth moving machines are working south of the main runway.

It is understood the facility will be used to store aircraft from all over the world at the end of their working life.

Tom Vincent, managing director of Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage, would not give details about the work but said the firm will be "releasing and publishing photographs on our website in the coming weeks". – Erwin Chlanda.

Minister for Indigenous Advancement Alison Anderson has challenged the "culture of entitlement and welfare dependency" in the Territory's remote communities, calling on Indigenous adults to "grow up", to become real adults "so that children, real children can depend on you". She said she sometimes despairs at "the reluctance of some Indigenous people to take the jobs that are already there", for instance in the "long-running mining boom". Work is "not just about the money although the money is good", it is "about status and respect, about responsibility and dignity". The Minister was speaking in the NT Parliament on November 1, the last day of the first sittings since her party, the Country Liberals, came to power. Her unsparing analysis was made during a Ministerial Statement on "The Status of Aboriginal Communities in the Northern Territory". KIERAN FINNANE reports. At left: Ms Anderson during her election campaign.

The Government claims the Renewal Management Board’s progress report released today paints a dire picture of massive debt, while the Opposition says Chief Minister Terry Mills "has put this document together as part of their plan to sack public servants and slash services to Territorians".