ALICE SPRINGS NEWS,
November 2, 2005.



JUVENILE PROGRAM: LITTLE TO SHOW FOR $650,000. Report by ERWIN CHLANDA.

A two-year program to divert young offenders in the Papunya region from being dealt with by courts has little to show for the $650,000 in Federal money spent on it.
The police are in charge of the $24m Territory-wide program, the result of a deal between Prime Minister John Howard and the Territory's CLP Government in power during 2000.
A spokesperson says the money for the Papunya - Haasts Bluff (Ikuntji) program has been fully acquitted.
But there has been no professional evaluation of the program.
The spokesperson refers to expenditures for improvements to community centres in Papunya ($102,000) and Haasts Bluff ("on a smaller scale"), the purchase of a vehicle and repairs to two others, and the employment of a youth worker for six months - instead of two years.
The police say: "The Papunya Community Centre continues to provide an opportunity for 350 to 400 people to participate in a range of activities including discos, movies, indoor concerts, dance competitions, community meetings and other functions."
It does not say how many people are actually attending and what the benefit of that may be, for example, how many were kept out og gaol, what effect did it have on the crime rate. Asked why sniffers were not being admitted to the functions and are usually pursuing their habit outside, the answer was: "Any local decisions regarding access by petrol sniffers are beyond the control of this program.
"It is understood that many communities do not allow sniffers into activities whilst they are affected."
The Alice Springs News received no clear answers to these questions:- "In what way do the functions at the community hall benefit the target group of the diversionary program?
"What professional and systematic rehabilitation has been carried out?"
A professional familiar with the conditions at Papunya says a considerable amount of money - reportedly $200,000 - was spent at the Town Bore outstation to set up a rehab center for sniffers.
The outstation's owner, Kenny Lechleitner, says he had an arrangement with the Juvenile Diversion Program (JDP) for the use of the place in exchange for the renovation of buildings that had been vandalized.
He says the agreement was for three years but he understood the initiative had failed.
A flyer of the "Papunya Ikuntji Youth Services", dated March 18, 2004 - nearly half way through the program - says: "Townbore is not going to be used as a sniffer drying out camp."
The police spokesperson says only a small amount of the costs for the Town Bore facilities had come from the juvenile diversion program.
The flyer also says: "Activities are yet to be finalized but some ideas are cultural story telling, hunting, cooking lessons, paint ball, plant propagation, sports and mechanical bull riding."
The program never managed to employ long-term a youth worker - a key objective.
The police spokesperson says the program "experienced similar difficulties to other remote youth programs in attracting suitably skilled applicants.
"On two occasions coordinators were appointed but failed to take up their position, while another held the position for just six months prior to moving on in October 2004."
However, a survey of Central Australian NGOs by the Alice News indicates that they have no difficulty attracting high-calibre applicants.
The Ikuntji Council, which had carriage of the program, had reportedly five CEOs in one year, and Papunya, four.
Neither council would comment, and Police Minister Paul Henderson was not available for an interview.


HAYES FAMILY 100 YEARS IN THE CENTRE. Report by ERWIN CHLANDA.

One hundred years ago William and Mary Hayes bought Undoolya cattle station to the east of Alice Springs.
Today four girls and a boy, aged 18 months to 10 years, are the sixth generation of Hayeses living in the beautiful old homestead 30 km from the town.
And their mum, Nicole, is the first ever woman president of the Centralian Beef Breeders Association, formerly the domain of prominent men such as Grant Heaslip, Gary Dann and Bill Prior.
A century down the track, raising cattle isn't just a bloke's game any longer.
"It's more of an equal partnership now," says Nicole.
The wives, more adapted to using modern computers and software to cope with increasing demands for keeping records, have found a role in that part of station management which gives their husbands painful brain locks.
"We now work with bar graphs, annual budgets and accurate forecasts of when our busiest times are," says Nicole.
Even the old ear tag has been replaced by implanted micro chips that carry precise information for every head of stock, instantly readable by scanners and computers.
They've been mandatory in the NT since July, says Nicole, and are likely to become an important selling tool in the future.
At the same time the stockmen have moved from horses to quad bikes, helicopters and gyrocopters.
And the Hayses have branched out into growing table grapes, at a plot near Rocky Hill.
Picking of the third vintage will start at the end of this month.
Unlike cattle, that enterprise is drought proof because the vines are irrigated with bore water.
Little has changed in the pattern of station ownership in The Centre: while in the Top End the cattle leases are in the hands of national or multi-national companies, around Alice they are still predominantly family owned.
Several pastoralists have entered into lease arrangements with Aboriginal owners who have recently been assisted to acquire leases.
The station folk's relationship with "town" has also changed.
"These days you don't see as much of each other as you used to," she says.
"We used to have different events, things like camp drafting, where everybody used to come together.
"Now there's a gymkhana and camp draft only three times a year - at Harts Range, Aileron and, last Saturday, in Alice Springs, including also a rodeo.
"The big one is still the annual show.
"Station people come into town at Christmas time when the stock and station agents put on their end of year parties."
Often contact between the stations is the result of necessity.
Four years ago everyone lent a hand to fight bushfires throughout the region.
Last Saturday Nicole's husband, Ben, was helping a mate, Aaron Gorey, with a muster.
"Someone needs a hand, you help out, or there might be machinery you need to borrow," says Nicole.
And, of course, there are "a lot of meetings these days," from the NT Cattlemen's Association to Landcare and Beef Breeders.
These draw the cattle folk into Alice Springs - but otherwise contact with "town" is diminishing.
"It's only [concerned with] tourism these days, it seems like it, anyway," says Nicole.
"A lot of stations shop on-line these days, so they don't need to go to town as much."
She guesses about half the supplies now come from interstate, mainly South Australia.
Nicole says she prefers buying locally but like most, she logs on to "shop around for the best price".
Even grocery shopping is done electronically, with the big stores offering "bush orders" delivered by truck.
Nicole's Undoolya is only 30 km from town and she commutes daily to take three of her five kids to school.
But the kids of her sister-in-law, Jane, on the Gardens Station to the north, "go" to the School of the Air, now using sophisticated computers - a long shot from the pedal or battery powered high frequency radio transceivers of even the recent past.
The new gear needs 240 volt power, and cost of diesel powering the generators as gone through the roof.
Nicole's main focus is organizing the cattle section of next year's show.
"It will be time to get together again," she says.
The show has been popular with children for five or six years now, featuring special cattle events to suit them.
And again there will be bull classes, with local and interstate entries.
It's a turn-up for the books: In the early nineties the industry was in crisis and and one show even went without cattle during that period, due to drought.


TOUTING TOURISM WITH BEER AND BANTER. Report by ELISABETH ATTWOOD.

Forget millions of dollars, fancy advertising campaigns, expensive brochures and a hard sell. Beer and banter is the way to promote Alice Springs Territory-style, says Wayne Kraft of the Overlanders Steakhouse.
Krafty, as he's better known, is one of three unofficial ambassadors for Alice Springs, and has just returned from a trip to Adelaide where he held a tourist industry "famil" with a difference for 130 people. The Great Alice Blowout was held on a budget of just $4000, and was based on a simple idea: "A relaxed, low pressure lunch with plenty of beer and steaks. We had a bloody good time," laughs Krafty.
"Banners, business cards, beer and banter. No brochures, no hard sell. We had a dynamic invite list, with limited speeches and characters from Alice Springs.
"The idea of talking face to face to people who are at the forefront of selling Alice Springs to tourists is a really good one.
"The result was an overwhelming sense of family and a feeling that they belong in our country."
And talking face to face he did over (several) beers - along with other characters from Alice's tourist industry, including "Snakeman Rex" from the Reptile Centre, who entertained the guests by introducing them to some of Central Australia's native creatures. National and international travel agents were in attendance, tourist industry wholesalers including AAT Kings, APT, Scenic Tours, Great Southern Rail (which operates The Ghan) and the Royal Automobile Association.
"Guest lists were also drawn up by the suppliers and sponsors - it was very much driven by the stakeholders," says Krafty.
Krafty meets every two years with his suppliers in Adelaide. It's an informal, cost-effective approach that has worked for him over15 years - "otherwise I wouldn't do it".
The Great Alice Blowout is "the town taking ownership of its own marketing future - and we have fun doing it.
"I only wish more operators got more excited about promoting Alice Springs and not relying on CATIA and the NT Tourist Commission. People marketing the NT need to have a vision themselves and it should be headed by locals."
He says that the industry people he spoke to had a general knowledge of Alice but "we're competing against a huge market place - the world".
"It's important to keep Alice Springs in the forefront of their minds."
Neil Aitkin of Redback Productions, is the operator of thealice.com.au, a website based on this mateship approach. He was one of the Blowout's financial supporters and displayed a "ginormous" banner with the name of website surrounded by stunning photographs of the region
"It's all about giving information but it's not just a website," says Neil, "it's friendly and the words we use bring out the character of the town. The first line is ŒG'day, welcome to our country'.
"At the moment we've got some information on encouraging people to see Alice while it's green - we can be dynamic and drive this stuff from Alice Springs and do it effectively.
"It's about everyone working together to sell the town, not just to Australia but to the world."
And teamwork is vital in promoting the Alice, says Krafty - who secured $1000 of funding apiece from the town council and the NTTC, as well as pledges of $500 from The Masters Games, and $400 pledged from seven other supporters.
Krafty's next challenge? "To replicate Alice's Blowout in Melbourne and Sydney."


CLARE MARTIN: QUEEN OF SPIN. COMMENT by ERWIN CHLANDA.

Oh dear, how the story is getting twisted in Clare Martin's warped world of spin!
For months she has been complicit in then candidate and now MLA for MacDonnell, Alison Anderson, declining to come clean about allegations of financial mismanagement in her home community of Papunya, and her role in ATSIC, involving hundreds of thousands of dollars.
It's cute that Ms Martin is now demanding the release of an audit by the Commonwealth into the matters: if she really wants to know what happened with the money why doesn't she just ask Ms Anderson?
And the Chief Minister, pledged to fight to her last breath for transparency and open government, is claiming "this whole exercise was launched as part of a political campaign cooked up by the CLP".
Ms Martin is wrong. It's yet another example of her massaging the message, pushing spin to the edge of public deception. The questions about hundreds of thousands of dollars unaccounted for were first raised not by the CLP, but by the Alice Springs News, in a report on April 27.
The exclusive story followed a leak to us (not to the CLP), and detailed serious concerns by an auditor of the community's council.
The auditor referred in part to money paid by ATSIC, of which Ms Anderson was a commissioner, to the Papunya Council, whose CEO was her now estranged husband.
Following our scoop, the CLP and sitting member John Elferink took up the issue - no surprise there - and so did the Melbourne Age and other media.
It was the kind of public interest reporting Ms Martin would - or should - have been doing when she was a journalist. It is the kind of reporting which now, as Chief Minister, she is doing her best to stifle.
To be sure we'll be pushing hard for Nick Minchin, the Federal Minister for Finance, to release a copy of the report. But what's in it would come as no surprise to Ms Anderson, although she has steadfastly ignored requests by the Alice News for an interview on the issues.
It will be interesting to see to what extent Ms Anderson has cooperated with the Federal probe into what happened to all that public money.
Also, the Commonwealth may well have a strong motive for the report to be less than comprehensive: after all it was Canberra that gave to ATSIC taxpayers' money that under Ms Anderson's auspices was channeled to Papunya and then, according to the audit report, disappeared.
Let's go back to our story of April 27:-
"Assets that couldn't be located, CDEP time sheets that weren't signed and purchases that were made without authorisation are among the irregularities disclosed in the audit report, leaked exclusively to the Alice Springs News, of the Papunya Community Council during 2003-04.
"The report also refers to Œgrants and contributions received in the current and prior periods which were obtained on the condition that they be expended on specific purposes, but which are not yet expended in accordance with those conditions'.
"During the report period the current Labor candidate for MacDonnell, Alison Anderson, was the regional commissioner of ATSIC, the council's main funding body, and her husband, Steve Hanley, was the council's CEO.
"Information in the audit by the accounting firm Deloitte raises questions about the CDEP Œjobs for the dole' scheme, suggesting that there were some 50 participants. However, sitting MLA for MacDonnell John Elferink (CLP) says his own observations indicate that there are no more than four or five CDEP employees, and people on the community he has spoken to confirmed this.
"The audit report also indicates that some $150,000 of ATSIC money earmarked for Warumpi Arts was spent elsewhere, and gives no details to whom $179,000 - nearly $100,000 more than budgeted - was paid in Œartists payments'."
The News has since learned that the CDEP time sheets were kept by the Papunya council, which in turn notified its accountant in Alice Springs by fax each week of the names and hours of participants, so that they could be paid.
It wasn't the job of the accountant to verify the accuracy of these details - he was acting under instructions from his client. But it certainly was Ms Anderson's obligation: surely she was making sure that the public money she was channelling to the Papunya council, run like a private fiefdom by her and members of her family, was being spent properly. Or was she?
All we know for certain so far is that she won't give any details, or answer any questions.


MACADAMIA OF THE CENTRE? Report by KIERAN FINNANE.

"Let's not allow to happen to the bush tomato what happened to the macadamia," says Maarten Ryder, Adelaide-based leader of the Desert Knowledge CRC's Bush Foods Project, in town recently for project meetings and trial horticultural planting of bush tomatoes.
"Macadamia production is now a mature industry but 40 years ago it didn't exist in Australia.
"It went off-shore and was developed in Hawaii before Australians woke up. It is only in the last 10 years that Australia has become the world's leading producer of a product that is native to our shores."
Dr Ryder says that research and development supporting bush tomato production now could lay the foundation of a flourishing industry in 20 years' time.
He says the wholesalers buying bush tomato harvested in the wild are all reporting steady growth in demand.
Horticulture would appear to be an effective way to sustain that demand, in terms of the consistent quality and quantity that is usually demanded by the market.
This need not spell the end of people gaining an income from wild harvest.
"I'm no expert but value adding locally, particularly in terms of packaging a product from the wild for tourists and using it in local restaurants, would seem to be a way of doing that."
He is reasonably optimistic about the prospect of horticulture on Aboriginal communities. "We know there are failures and we should learn about why, but we can also point to some successful examples, which are being supported at the moment by Charles Darwin University's horticulture staff."
Dr Ryder says produce gardens on Indigenous communities need on-going support "as does the horticulture industry anywhere", citing as an example the support given to market gardeners north of Adelaide by the Virginia Horticulture Centre.
He says the trial horticultural plots should allow headway to be made on basics like variety selection and plant improvement, and Desert Knowledge CRC is beginning to look at ways in which this can be done in partnership with Aboriginal people.
"It's taken hundreds and in some cases thousands of years to domesticate the plants we commonly eat, but with today's scientific know-how that process can be much quicker."
Another branch of the project, involving scientists in WA, has been looking at insect control for the bush tomato, especially in relation to its storage.
"They've done an excellent job, identifying the pest and a low-tech heat treatment." As well, scientists at the University of Queensland will be doing a "value chain analysis" which "will tell us more about what to invest and where".


CROC FEST KIDS REACH FOR THE SKY. Report by ELISABETH ATTWOOD.

Having your chest listened to and your blood pressure taken by a six year old girl wearing a pretend stethoscope with their arm in plaster isn't a usual day in the office - but it wasn't a usual day for the children of Yipirinya School either.
The class was taking part in the Red Cross's health expo session at the annual Croc Fest, held at Blatherskite Park. The children were fascinated by a dummy of the human body complete with removable lungs, kidney, heart and intestines, and were spellbound when health professionals from the National Rural Health Network put their arm in plaster as a way of explaining about broken bones.
Shiree McCormack wasn't shy in showing me what she'd learnt that morning: "This is the heart, this is lung. I know the kidney as well.
"I want to be doctor," she said as she took out the plastic body parts and then put them back into the dummy in the right places. She showed me how to use the stethoscope to listen to the dummy's heart - and her classmate, Shaqulla Lynch, couldn't get enough of looking inside the dummy's ears with the medical equipment. "I want to be a nurse. This is fun," she told me.
Learning through unconventional methods like playing is an effective way to teach children like Shiree and Shaqulla says their teacher, John Clarke: "You can't teach these kids in the normal way.
"For many of these kids English is their third language. They can't read or write it but if they hear it orally spoken and see the gestures and signs, it helps them understand it.
"By having learning like this in a friendly, open atmosphere, it's showing the kids that it's not all bookwork and reading English as a language."
The Croc Fest, held over three days last week, was a celebration of youth culture with an emphasis on education and health learning through 27 different activities from mud painting to learning about reptiles.
The Apprentice Scientist activity was run by CSIRO, encouraging children to carry out experiments on running shoes, wooden cars, scales and coloured liquid.
"You have to be realistic about what these half hour sessions can achieve," said CSIRO's Adam Gromadzki, also a science teacher. "But we're teaching them what's involved in science through hands-on experiments which are fun. And it gives teachers ideas to take back to the schools."
"Doing the racing [experiment] was fun," says Ian Price of Aniltji School, a homeland school near Utopia.
His classmate, Ian Price, looked like he really enjoyed using coloured paperclips, marbles and wooden blocks to count with.
"The Croc Fest is fun - we've been swimming and done beading and we're going to see reptiles," he said. "And I played the drums [in the Afro Cuban drumming workshop] and Richard played the tambourine."
For some of the older students attending, it was the "I Want to Be" workshop that impressed them the most, giving information and advice about what to do after school.
"It's been good today. It gives the opportunity to look at jobs," was one comment.


CANCER SURVIVORS IN BIG MONEY RAISING SPORTS DAY. Report by ELISABETH ATTWOOD.

Thirty survivors of cancer took part in the Cancer Council's Relay for Life last weekend, an 18-hour relay event which ran from 6pm on Friday night to 12noon on Saturday.
They were joined by around 150 other competitors who had all been touched by the disease in some way.
The 15 teams, which had to have at least one member on the track at Ross Park oval at all times, are expected to have raised $15,000.
At 9pm a candle lighting ceremony was held, and lights were placed on a sign with wooden letters spelling the word "hope".
The event began with a survivor's lap, led by local people who have beaten the disease. Gail Tuxworth, who was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2003, said it was something she'll never forget: "The survivor's lap was very emotional. It was very difficult. It's hard to describe what it was like but it was a time to share what we all had in common."
Gail was part of the LJ Hooker team which raised an incredible $6000. "I feel so proud to be working with the team. The competitors were just fantastic and I was absolutely thrilled with the commitment of the organisations who put teams in, it was terrific. Local businesses have been so caring and giving."
It was the first time the Relay for Life has been held in Alice Springs, but the organisers say they hope it will become a bi-annual event.


ALICE NEEDS MORE PUBLIC ART. Report by KIERAN FINNANE.

If the association of Alice Springs and Aboriginal art is obvious to anyone casually strolling up Todd Mall, it has yet to be honoured in our town centre by the commissioning of a major work of public art.
Ceramic artist Pip McManus told the town council recently the most significant piece of public art in Alice Springs is the stained glass window at Araluen based on a painting by the late W. Rubuntja.
However, as she pointed out, the window is located in a place where you expect to see art. Where are the works in our everyday public spaces that acknowledge the contribution of Aboriginal art to our cultural life and our economy?
There are a few, notably in and around the Aboriginal-owned Yeperenye Shopping Centre - the floor mosaic in the carpark, based on a painting by Bessie Liddle, the murals on the eastern and western facades.
There is also the often-overlooked floor mosaic at the airport, based on the painting "Snake Dreaming at Yippa" by Dick Pantimatju Tjupurrula.
But as yet there is nothing in the mall or at the civic centre redevelopment, nothing even on the drawing board, despite much discussion over the years.
There is acknowledgment of the historic contribution to Alice by Afghans at the civic centre site - the crescent-shaped feature on the corner, the paving outside CATIA (designed by Ms McManus) - but, astonishingly, there is no reflection of Indigenous people and culture.
This is despite, as Ms McManus said, the presence of the Papunya Tula Gallery in Todd Street directly opposite the council chambers for the last 30 years (the gallery moved into the mall last year).
Other centres far more remote from contemporary Aboriginal life and art, have sought to inject its vital connection to the ancient, the spiritual by commissioning work for their public spaces. The forecourt of Parliament House in Canberra, adorned by a mosaic based on a painting by Papunya artist Michael Jagamarra Nelson, springs immediately to mind.
Ms McManus also referred to the major commission underway in Paris, in which the work of eight Australian Aboriginal artists is being integrated into the very fabric of the new museum of world indigenous art, Musée du Quai Branly. The artists include, from our own region, Pintupi woman Ningura Napurrula and Pitjantjatjara man Tommy Watson.
The museum will feature more than 300,000 art works and artefacts from Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Americas, but the work of the Aboriginal painters will probably be the only work by contemporary artists. It will be lit at night and visible from the street, making for a round-the-clock display for as long as the building stands.
If anyone, perhaps jaded by the abundance of medium to poor quality work on display in many of the commercial galleries in Alice, doubted the continued vibrancy and international reputation of the best contemporary Aboriginal art, think again.
"Paris is putting us to shame," said Ms McManus.
Alderman Marguerite Baptiste-Rooke appreciated the point but asked, "Where is the money going to come from?"
Ms McManus had an answer: she showed the aldermen the wide range of public art works that now grace Western Australian government and community buildings, thanks to that state's "Percent for Art" scheme.
Founded in 1989 this scheme allocated up to one per cent of capital costs for public building projects costing more than $2m to the commissioning of art. In little over a decade more than 400 works of art had resulted, involving 200 individual artists, and the state government's example had begun to be followed by local governments and private commissioning bodies.
The measure is transforming the public spaces of the West, with marvelous murals, floor features, street furniture, paving, shade structures, sculptures, playgrounds. "By using expertise, good design and for a little extra expense you can get really beautiful results," she said.
To the Alice News she added: "It is likely that the percentage of artists (both Indigenous and non-Indigenous) per head of population in Alice Springs and Central Australia is higher than anywhere else in the entire nation.
"The Namatjira Arrernte Landscape School of Art is unique to Central Australia. There are also many well recognised non-Indigenous artists working here. There are many opportunities for the town to actively promote a public image which reflects this unique identity - not just in commercial shop windows but in public parks and street furniture, playgrounds and streetscapes."
It is not too late for council to do something to remedy the absence of art on the civic centre site. With a little imagination and nous, as well as the right set of priorities money could be found and a wonderful opportunity created, one that would have significant cultural as well as social and economic benefits.
Meanwhile, south of the Gap with the development of the Desert Knowledge Precinct a host of new opportunities for public art are unfolding. Let's hope they won't be overlooked.


"BUSHIES" COME TO TOWN. Report by ELISABETH ATTWOOD.

Alice Springs hosted a Bushman's Carnival on Saturday - the first time the event has been held in town for 15 years.
And the 1000-strong crowd and competitors who travelled hundreds of kilometres across Central Australia, from as far away as Queensland, loved it.
Organised by Steve Turner of the Saddle Horse Club after a renewed interest in horse events in recent years, Steve says the aim of the day was to get the bush and town back together and provide a competition for local people of all ages and abilities.
"We'll definitely be holding it again next year. We've already got more sponsorship from local businesses set up than we had this year!"
Like the Harts Range and Aileron bush sports days, events included a junior and senior gymkhana, as well as a saddle bronc competition, children's whip cracking, bareback riding and women's barrel racing. Fun events included a ladies' donkey race and the best-dressed boy and girl cowboy.
One of the highlights was the two rounds of bull riding - 32 cowboys took part, all locals from stations including Mount Riddock, Numery Station, Love's Creek and Roe Creek as well as Kulgera roadhouse. They chose from 45 untrained bulls (the Alice Springs rodeo held earlier in the year, used trained animals).
Rob Wheatley was the third competitor out on a bull called Numb Nuts.
"Alice Springs doesn't offer that many shows. The ones they do have, we really appreciate it and love taking part in," he says.
Tiani Wade and Loretta Cook traveled 730 kms from a station on the Tanami to take part in the barrel race and steer undecorating, and the donkey race.
Gary Down from Aileron had come to town with his family: "The more of this the better. With the Hart's Range and Aileron races, it's formed a good little circuit. It's good for the town, and everyone who is involved."
Martin Regen is a cattle station worker from New Zealand, now working as a builder in town: "I've been here all day. It's a good way of bringing different people together. It's more of a community event than a competition. People are here to take part."
RESULTS
Bull riding and saddle bronc: Robbie Cook, Supplejack Station. Bareback riding: Arron Ross, Alice Springs. Ladies steer undecorating: Rebecca Cadzow, Mount Riddock. Ladies barrel race: Donna Weir. Gymkhana best rider under 12 years: Tom Edmunds. Gymkhana best rider under 17 years: Rachel Ogilvie. Gymkhana led class: four year old Darcey Turner (won five out of five events).


BLIND DATE PERFECT MATCH. Review by KIERAN FINNANE.

Blind dates aren't always a perfect match and that was borne out by the experience of local artists in the Blind Date project, the results of which are on show at Watch This Space.
Conceived of by the Darwin Visual Arts Association and supported by other Territory art centres, the project involved linking artists in paired collaborations.
Alan Bethune regrets having been matched with a man, all the more so since the man - "really nice, a great storyteller" - wouldn't have contributed anything to the project if Bethune hadn't dropped in on him in his home town of Katherine.
From the experience Bethune salvaged mementoes of the road trip, presented in the gallery as a found object installation of distinctly Outback character.
His match knocked up the canvas in the piece while Bethune was visiting.
Franca Barraclough was matched with a like-minded woman - not easy either as their ideas were too similar. There was no tension to work off, says Barraclough.
Nonetheless the pair's work, in separate manifestations, includes some effective imagery of feminine domesticity juxtaposed on the Territory environment in a way that stresses the absurdity of arriving in this country with too much baggage.
Barraclough has strong performance skills and is well attuned to the absurd and downright silly - it would be nice to see more from her.
Janine Stanton experienced a real mismatch but also had "an affair" on the side, which resulted in some genuinely collaborative woven baskets.
Meanwhile, her original "date", feeling spurned, has let it all hang out in two graphic drawings that pursue to bitter conclusion the show's playful concept.


A witness to your life. COLUMN by STEVE FISHER.

I was a professional juggler I wouldn't get a job in a circus. I drop too many balls.
But in the juggle which is my life I have to keep going, keep picking up the balls and trying again.
If I manage to perfect or become very good at a particular skill, I'm thrown new tasks or challenges and brought back to basics.
After the cool of winter, summer is always a new challenge despite years of experience. It often feels like a good time to run away to somewhere cold and wet, anywhere but here.
Getting together with friends for coffee the other morning we discussed something one of us just had read about western as opposed to eastern attitudes to action. In the West we might say, "Don't just stand there, do something", while in the East they might say "Stand there, do nothing".
Some situations demand action, others that we leave them alone or just let them go. To me the heat is frustrating because it makes me feel tired and lethargic and I have chores I want to get done. I want to push but I have no strength to do so. Instead of fighting I could say I won't let the chores bother me right now. They will be there later when it cools down. Often forcing issues or events doesn't actually make them happen faster, but instead, builds up irritation and frustration creating an unnecessarily stressful situation.
Maybe we want to be seen as productive or important and high in demand, or we might think that if we just do something, anything, we will feel better. Rest may be something we have been brought up to believe we have to earn. After six days of work we get one day of rest.
It amazes me how much of my way of thinking is tied up in my cultural background. Nothing is just the way it is, but the way it is within a particular context. Yes, I might well be starting to show the early signs of sun-stroke, but there is more to living with six moths of summer heat than coping and turning up the air-conditioning.
Although the children get more irritable after a long day at school when it is hot, they recover remarkably quickly when they are left to pace themselves. A little nap in the early afternoon does wonders if you are able to have one.
We have organised our society according to a northern European pattern, to a climatic situation very different to the actual one we have, especially here in Central Australia. We could have picked the southern European version with siestas and a café culture instead. But we insist that this is the right way. The way most of the western and developed world operates and therefore the logical. Or we don't even reflect on how and why we are doing things.
We could create a unique society within Australia where solar energy and technology is an integral part of how we operate our town and where we adjust to the natural environment and existing climate more.
We could send our children to school earlier in the morning in summer than in winter and introduce siestas and evening trading for the shops. We could get a more produc tive and harmonious town where instead of fighting the heat with the frustrations and irritations it creates, we would take advantage of it.
We are not all musical and many may have experienced the awkwardness of not dancing in time with the beat of the music, but equally we may have had moments when it flowed and we found the rhythm. The feeling is uplifting and energizing.
I think it is possible to find that rhythm in whatever climatic situation we find ourselves but we have to let go of what we think we have to live up to and adjust.


Stop fighting the heat. COLUMN by VIKTORIA CORMACK.

If I was a professional juggler I wouldn't get a job in a circus. I drop too many balls. But in the juggle which is my life I have to keep going, keep picking up the balls and trying again. If I manage to perfect or become very good at a particular skill, I'm thrown new tasks or challenges and brought back to basics.
After the cool of winter, summer is always a new challenge despite years of experience. It often feels like a good time to run away to somewhere cold and wet, anywhere but here.
Getting together with friends for coffee the other morning we discussed something one of us just had read about western as opposed to eastern attitudes to action. In the West we might say, "Don't just stand there, do something", while in the East they might say "Stand there, do nothing".
Some situations demand action, others that we leave them alone or just let them go. To me the heat is frustrating because it makes me feel tired and lethargic and I have chores I want to get done. I want to push but I have no strength to do so. Instead of fighting I could say I won't let the chores bother me right now. They will be there later when it cools down. Often forcing issues or events doesn't actually make them happen faster, but instead, builds up irritation and frustration creating an unnecessarily stressful situation.
Maybe we want to be seen as productive or important and high in demand, or we might think that if we just do something, anything, we will feel better. Rest may be something we have been brought up to believe we have to earn. After six days of work we get one day of rest.
It amazes me how much of my way of thinking is tied up in my cultural background. Nothing is just the way it is, but the way it is within a particular context. Yes, I might well be starting to show the early signs of sun-stroke, but there is more to living with six moths of summer heat than coping and turning up the air-conditioning.
Although the children get more irritable after a long day at school when it is hot, they recover remarkably quickly when they are left to pace themselves. A little nap in the early afternoon does wonders if you are able to have one.
We have organised our society according to a northern European pattern, to a climatic situation very different to the actual one we have, especially here in Central Australia. We could have picked the southern European version with siestas and a café culture instead. But we insist that this is the right way. The way most of the western and developed world operates and therefore the logical. Or we don't even reflect on how and why we are doing things.
We could create a unique society within Australia where solar energy and technology is an integral part of how we operate our town and where we adjust to the natural environment and existing climate more.
We could send our children to school earlier in the morning in summer than in winter and introduce siestas and evening trading for the shops. We could get a more productive and harmonious town where instead of fighting the heat with the frustrations and irritations it creates, we would take advantage of it.
We are not all musical and many may have experienced the awkwardness of not dancing in time with the beat of the music, but equally we may have had moments when it flowed and we found the rhythm. The feeling is uplifting and energizing.
I think it is possible to find that rhythm in whatever climatic situation we find ourselves but we have to let go of what we think we have to live up to and adjust. With global warming and overpopulation as real threats to life on this planet, alternative energy sources as well as new ways of living will be essential to our continued existence.


LETTERS: The selfish and the cynical.

Sir,- A few of weeks ago I, and I understand many other Territorians, received a letter from the Chief Minister, with accompanying full-colour flier. It outlined the NT Government's response to the Federal Government proposal for a low- to intermediate-level nuclear waste repository in the NT.
A written response to the Chief Minister has thus far elicited no more than an acknowledgment from her office. In the interest of a balanced debate, and hopefully generating a more reasoned response from the NT Government, I reproduce my letter, slightly modified, below.
Dear Chief Minister,
There are no inhabitants of the political landscape I despise more than exponents of the peculiarly selfish Not-In-My-Back-Yard philosophy. Running a close second in the contemptibility stakes are those who cynically exploit fear and ignorance for their own ends.
Many of the statements in [your] letter strike me as wildly overstated to the point of appearing deliberately misleading. Not least of these is the contention that "it has become clear that the majority of Territorians do not want (the facility) to be built here". Just how was this determined?
I certainly don't remember being asked for my opinion. Such a sweeping, apparently groundless assertion makes your concern that "this proposal has been made without consultation with Territorians" appear particularly hypocritical.
Especially egregious are the statements appearing under "Is this radioactive waste dangerous?" in the flier accompanying your letter. None are applicable to the types of waste to be stored at the proposed facility.
Rather, they are transparently calculated to play on the worst fears of the ignorant about nuclear and geological science, and the nuclear industry generally.
In a way, I hope these statements were made cynically, as this is preferable to the thought that the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory actually believes such tosh in relation to the Commonwealth's proposal.
If the NT Government is truly interested in informing Territorians, why are sources of more objective information such as http://www.radioactivewaste.gov.au nowhere indicated in your paper or online material, even in a qualified fashion?
Crowning your hypocrisy is the fact that the NT is already a significant player in global nuclear commerce through its uranium export and exploration industry. The NT Government appears quite content to accept the jobs and revenue that flow from these. And so it should be, given that this is the greatest contribution the NT can make toward addressing the genuine environmental emergency that is global warming.
Mark Duffett
Alice Springs

Sir,- I am writing to commend The Alice Springs News for your article "Rock Revisited After 20 Years" (October 26).
As you correctly point out, visitors to the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park face a plethora of restrictions which even the most "culturally aware" person would find difficult to understand. There is also, as you note, draconian regulation of both filming and photography.
The latter is an area that particularly concerns me as I make part of my living from being a travel writer and photographer. Recent changes to the ŒImage Capture' Guidelines at Uluru might mean that writers no longer have to submit their copy for Œfact-checking', however such graciousness doesn't extend to image-makers for whom the democratic right of free speech doesn't seem to exist.
Currently still in place at Uluru are the Federal Government's absurd Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Regulations, one of which can make it an offence to take any pictures whatsoever at Uluru-Kata Tjuta if the Director of National Parks so desires.
At Uluru, so-called "commercial" photographers have to wade through multiple pages of tedious documentation in order to get a permit. Then on top of that they have to experience a full-on lecture in myopic political correctness from the park's media officers.
Compare this to Tasmania where, for instance, I can photograph and write about their magnificent World Heritage areas without needing to contact anybody, or fill in any forms.
But what is particularly troubling is that the bizarre Uluru rules may soon spread Territory-wide if Clare Martin's regime gets their way on the privatisation of the Northern Territory's other national parks and reserves. This would be a truly horrendous situation.
At the time the Federal Labor Government made the announcement in late 1983 that Uluru would be handed back to "traditional owners", then Prime Minister Bob Hawke said that the transfer was on the basis, "That the area would continue to be used as a national park which would be available for the use and enjoyment of all Australians and the many thousands of visitors from overseas who travel to the park every year".
I can assure the "Silver Bodgie" that my use and enjoyment of our premier national park has been severely impaired by the management regime that he set in place at Uluru. No doubt many dozens of other media photographers would say the same thing.
Yet similar platitudes to that uttered by Bob Hawke in 1983 have been mouthed by Clare Martin in recent times, who blithely assures us that the intended privatisation of parks will be "fair" and maintain access for all. After the Uluru experience, I, and many others, have every reason to doubt her word as well.
Ross Barnett
Sydney

Sir,- I write concerning Nyangatjatjara College (Alice News, Oct 26). I am a great admirer of your newspaper but this article is disappointing.
I read that there is a social disaster at Mutitjulu and in the Ayers Rock region and there is but one high school struggling to turn things around.
Windows are broken, of course they would be, high staff turnover, what else would you expect, wild allegations of fraud, no doubt from those staff busted by the present principal for cleaning up the school up. Didn't I read that there were staff who were drug dealers at the school?
Of course some people are campaigning against the principal who sacked them and is putting a stop to drug dealing that is poisoning the Mutitjulu community.
What is this government review that is mentioned by the CEO? You speak for anonymous ex-staff of dubious character but what of this review, why don't you tell us what that says?
Jacki Curtis
jackipc@yahoo.com.au
ED - We gave comprehensive right of reply to the CEO of the Ng Corp, Clive Scollay. The Commonwealth review wasn't to hand, but we quoted Mr Scollay as saying that the reviewers were basically satisfied with the way things are being run at the college.
The Alice News, as usual, will report further relevant information that may emerge on this issue of public interest.


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