ALICE SPRINGS NEWS, November 9, 2006. This page contains all major
reports and comment pieces in the current edition.
ALICE LOBBY GAINS PACE.
By ERWIN CHLANDA.
A group will be formed at a meeting on Sunday to provide guidance to
governments and major organisations about the social and economic
development of Alice Springs, especially tourism.
Second generation Alice Springs resident Steve Brown, a member of the
White Gums Brown family which played a key role in establishing the
town, has instigated the formation of the group.
He says since speaking out about the issues previously (Alice News,
September 21, www.alicespringsnews.com.au/1338.html) he’s been in touch
with some 60 people wishing to join the group, utterly frustrated about
the lack of constructive leadership and progress.
A core group of about 12 people will set up a structure and prepare for
a public meting to be held before Christmas.
Mr Brown says these people are in private business or in the public
service, some of them current members of organisations set up to
promote development, or in local government, but “mired in
procrastination, bureaucracy, indecision and lack of vision.
“In fact I haven’t found anyone not interested in forming the group,”
says Mr Brown.
He says the group would be non-party political, “because politics has
let us down badly.”
The main focus would be the Alice Springs Town Council’s inability to
serve the town better.
“They have not managed to create leverage from themselves in the
political arena. It seems instead of the council running its
bureaucracy, the bureaucracy is running the council.
“It has failed the town, is unable to look to the future, makes ad-hoc
decisions and lacks vision,” says Mr Brown.
“The Mayor [Mr Brown’s cousin, Fran Kilgariff] is identified with the
Labor Party. We’re living for the moment, like a mining camp whose ore
is about to run out.
“But this town will still be here in 100 years, and that’s what our
planning should have in mind.”
He says the group will have a broad focus.
For example, the new 110 and 130 km/h speed limits are “barefaced
tokenism” and an admission that the government is unable to enforce
present road rules, which are adequate, and fix the roads – including
the Lasseter Highway – which are in a “dangerous” condition.
The extra policing that will be required will detract from keeping
anti-social behavior in check.
A key issue for the group will be redirecting the focus for promotion
from Ayers Rock Resort, whose creation and development was the
Territory’s “single biggest mistake”, draining visitors not only from
the remainder of Central Australia, but the NT as a whole.
The resort contributes little to The Centre’s economy, employing
backpackers from abroad and sourcing its supplies largely from
interstate.
He says another resort should be built adjacent to the Uluru National
Park to provide some competition, and keep prices in check.
“I remember about 360 buses in town for Henley on Todd in the
mid-eighties.
“The whole town was swarming with visitors, tent cities in the caravan
parks.
“Now these numbers just don’t come here any more.”
The group will deal with specific issues (for example, the Ilparpa
water pipeline will need to be replaced) as well as broad policies.
“When it’s fixed we should not just replace the old pipe, but look to
the future and gauge what’s likely to be needed decades from now,” says
Mr Brown. “Always try to create a positive from a negative.”
For example, Alice has been too slow off the mark to capture Federal
funding for the nation’s first major solar power station (it’s going to
Mildura), but we should get the second one.
Fruit and veg in our shops is often second-rate, and mostly imported,
despite excellent horticultural opportunities here.
Mr Brown says the group will set up a structure to make decisions fast
and efficiently.
'QUIT THE PATH TO CULTURAL SUICIDE, BEING A VICTIM'.
Land and culture are necessary but they are not enough for Indigenous
people in the 21st Century.
Keynote speaker Rosalie Kunoth-Monks (pictured above with daughter
Ngarla and granddaughter Ruby) spelled out why at the Desert Knowledge
Symposium in Alice Springs last week.
You could have heard a pin drop in the auditorium as Mrs Kunoth-Monks
urged her people to make the necessary adaptations to become “citizens
of the globe”.
Aboriginal identity, underpinned by land and culture, has to allow for
individual response to change, she said.
Culture cannot be taken away; it is given away or reinforced with every
decision an individual makes.
“Many think romantically we can respond to new situations out of old
eyes,” she said, but “we need new knowledge ...
“We are on a path to cultural suicide if we continue to smash up
against today’s world ...
“Being a victim cannot be part of the identity we seek.
“Aboriginal identity has to take us beyond land and culture.”
Mrs Kunoth-Monks chairs the board of Batchelor Institute of Indigenous
Tertiary Education and also works as an interpreter in the legal
system.
Born in 1937, she lived at Utopia until the age of nine.
She attended school in Alice Springs, where in 1953 she was chosen for
the lead role in Jedda, by filmmakers Charles and Elsa Chauvel.
The film became an Australian classic.
Later she spent a decade as a nun in the Community of the Holy Name in
Melbourne. She left to set up the first Aboriginal hostel in
Victoria.
In 1970 she married Bill, settled in Alice Springs and became involved
in social work and politics. She was an advisor on Aboriginal
affairs to the then Chief Minister, Paul Everingham.
She stood for election to the Legislative Assembly in 1979, in order to
fight the proposed construction of a dam north of the Telegraph Station
which threatened sacred land. In 1992 a 20-year moratorium on the
construction put the issue on hold.
Subsequently Mrs Kunoth-Monks returned to live at Utopia.
LAND AND CULTURE - NECCESSARY BUT NOT ENOUGH FOR THE FUTURE.
By ROSALIE KUNOTH-MONKS
There have been many fine words written and spoken about Aboriginal
land and culture over the years.
I would like to heartily endorse all of the positive sentiment that has
surrounded these writings and the good intentions of the writers.
It has long been argued passionately that without land we are nothing
and the combination of land and culture provides us with the “compass’
to life.
If I look back at my past I can see where there is a picture of great
cohesiveness within a tribal group that has arisen from a strong
connection to land and culture.
It is in this setting that the caring and sharing was real.
In the past sacred objects were positioned in places where they were
essential to survival.
The old people had the ability to read the environment and know when
shortage of food or water or some other life-giving force was
imminent. They would tell us something was in short supply and we
had
to tighten our belts as it were. We were instructed not to hurt
or
take certain species until they had regenerated.
In these times there was a reason for discipline, skin relations,
sacred songs and performance of ritual because it strengthened
survival.
Today I am left wondering and as a leader I am torn by my heart and my
memories and at the same time I have to be honest with myself and my
people and face the realities.
When I visit my community now I no longer find cohesion. In place
of
caring and sharing I find sickness, violence and self-harm.
The sacred objects and the sacred ceremonies are few and far
between.
People are not attending, they take less time to learn and perform,
stories are short cut. In many situations that I have been
personally
involved in, where traditionally people mourned the dead and absolved
the family and relations, I now find people can’t wait to split the
limited possessions of the dead.
Where once I would pass my coolamon on to my grand-daughter now people
are worried for the car and the fridge and the clothes that are fought
for around the graveside.
When I look for people seriously attempting to sustain themselves on
the land, there are some who are hunting for recreational
benefit, but
few people seriously believe that hunting is more than this in
sustaining life these days.
Some family are on small parcels of land but don’t have a plan for that
land, even one that manages the availability of the resources on that
land. There is very little denial in times of shortage and little
adjustment to lifestyle or discipline involved in management of the
environment.
We now want rewards in the form of money and possession, even though we
don’t convert these to new forms of wealth. Group hunting is
gone, we
don’t bring common goods back to the community. Rather people stay out
bush, consuming things on their own.
The breakdown of law and order and the conspiracy of silence is a
serious new issue to some. It is a concern to me that this has in
fact
been disappearing for some time and there is no longer a strong
framework of land and culture to provide for and sustain the harmony
and responsibility we were known for in the past.
It is the case that in many parts the only dreaming is that of the
people who yearn for the past and wish to tie us back to that
past.
Here I include Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
Increased technology and mobility in cars and phones etc has hastened
these changes – and we can’t go back. Our Indigenous instinct has
been
to try to adapt and connect on our own terms – but it is increasingly
difficult.
In essence I am proud of my memories and my history but I am not proud
of what we currently see and the way our younger generation is
responding.
We face a clash of cultures. We are all on personal journeys but
ultimately we are all on a journey of change. We are not static
museum
pieces and we are now citizens of the globe not just our small ‘nation’
on traditional land.
The irony is that the nostalgic view of Indigenous people is that we
survived through adaptability and resilience – yet in the face of
globalism we appear unable to adapt.
Some of our young Indigenous response has been to adapt and resist by
borrowing from other cultures. How did hip hop get in there?
So what is it that is important to retain in this process of
change.
In times where land and culture appear to have forsaken us, what is it
that we need to establish more than anything.
I put it to you that if we are to accept change then it must not come
at the expense of identity.
The concept of identity is complex and includes the symbolic importance
of land and culture but it also allows for an individual response to
change. Identity as an Aboriginal person, acceptance of yourself,
is
the most important piece of knowledge that Aboriginal people can have
for the future.
Identity is not a right as such, rather it is something you develop
yourself.
A lot of our people today do not know where they belong. They can’t go
forward and they can’t go back and they are becoming aggressive and
self-destructive.
You lose your culture through the choices you take or the choices
circumstance forces you to take, albeit reluctantly. Culture
cannot be
taken away; it is given away or reinforced with every decision that an
individual makes.
The other reason I think identity is important is that it focuses on a
personal approach to the future by providing a sense of self that can
survive outside land and culture. If we rely only on identifying
with
land and culture we become tied to customary practice rather than
facing the future and what needs to be done today.
We can no longer be tied to the land through the old ways, although
there are many as I said earlier who think romantically that we should
always respond to new situations through customary eyes and practices
without adopting new approaches.
This is why the groups I am involved with have spent so much time
working with desert knowledge, because we need new knowledge and the
situations we face are new situations.
The knowledge of the past is captured in the land and cultural
practices that bound it together and made sense of it. Our
knowledge
for the future requires more than this.
As an elder if you ignore this reality you are not being real to
yourself or a true leader to your people. We can’t get our
rich
history back; in fact many of the older people I talk with don’t
actually want it back. People are responding with their feet
where
they can. Where people have new knowledge and full understanding
of
that they make responsible and good decisions that help them to further
establish their identity as Aboriginal people in 2006.
If we seriously look back at our attempts to live our culture over the
changes of the last 30 years we would have to admit that we have not
been able to sustain culture in the way I described it earlier. What it
has done to our men, our women and our kids is now before us and it is
not good.
I think we have reached a point where we need to know our culture to
what ever level is appropriate for our particular living circumstances
but then move on to the decisions we have to make today to enjoy the
benefits of living in 2006.
Noel Pearson talks about our ability to move in different orbits.
His
comments are carefully crafted around Cape York history and
opportunities.
I am worried about desert peoples.
In that regard one thing is sure. No longer is reliance on land
and
culture sufficient. People more and more use these as an excuse for not
performing and not taking difficult decisions – they are locked into
stationary orbit.
One of our problems is that everyone else is trying to think of the
solutions for us instead of resourcing us to learn lessons and make
mistakes on our own.
What I am finding in the shared journey through the desert knowledge
work is that we are able to learn side by side more.
We are at a cross roads, we need to choose carefully and quickly.
I am hurting inside and I say this with huge pain – but for our
survival this is where we need to go.
We are on a path of cultural suicide if we continue to smash up against
today’s world. We have to begin by accepting some blame ourselves
for
the choices and decisions we have taken and accept responsibility for
our future.
Being a victim cannot be part of the identity that we seek.
Political correctness will not get us over the line.
The keys to discovering our identity are in self-awareness, group
awareness and our ability to access new knowledge through education and
shared life experiences.
In the past we found identity through separateness. Our new identity
has to be part of a much bigger picture. Aboriginal identity has
to
take us beyond land and culture.
Many people have been confused about the recent policy debates around
viability and sustainability of communities and mainstreaming of
services. These matters are seen by some as urgent issues.
It is my belief that the confusion will only be resolved through a new
sense of identity, because through that people will connect to future
pathways of local, national and international interests.
Government may shape the policy and funding environment, newspapers
will provide commentary, but we are the ones who decide to accept or
reject the opportunities presented.
I am sure that the significant population of Indigenous people in the
NT will mean identity in desert Australia will be very different to the
sense of identity on the east coast.
The catalyst of change that we talk about in the Desert People’s Centre
[the combined Batchelor Institute and Centre for Appropriate
Technology] has to begin with individuals making decisions to
change.
Neither the decisions nor the changes can be forced. The DPC is
not
compulsory education – it involves choice, commitment and a desire for
change. For these reasons the DPC may be a point for debate and
discussion but our desire is to bring a positive contribution to
people’s journeys.
The DPC will work with people and create an environment where they can
explore their identity as global citizens living in desert Australia.
PUBLIC SHOULD GET MULCH: ALD KOCH.
If there is more mulch than the town council can use in its own
operations it will be made available to the public at cost, says
Alderman David Koch.
“That is our intent anyway.”
Ald Koch says there is no excess at present, but when there is –
usually occurring two to three times a year – “we’ll advertise, it’ll
be on a Saturday or Sunday and bring your trailer”.
“It would be at our normal discount rate, about half the retail rate, I
believe. It’s not yet fully resolved but that’s what most aldermen
would be happy with.”
By contrast, technical services director Eric Peterson says there has
been “no change to council’s decision”.
This, in September, was to make the green waste operation at the
landfill an internal operation only, after high net losses over the two
years during which council operated it as a business.
Making any excess available to the public “is not under consideration”,
says Mr Peterson.
Did the council seek business advice?
Mr Peterson says the original business case on which the whole proposal
was set up was flawed: “It contained a significant error. The original
expectations could not be realised.”
It is not clear whether council then sought further advice.
The operation was staffed fulltime by two employees serving the public
and processing the waste. However, sometimes there was no waste to
be processed.
“We hope that by making the business part of our internal operations,
we can utilise these employees in other areas,” said Mayor Fran
Kilgariff in September.
But what about utilising them in other areas anyway, and only opening
to the public during limited hours?
Mr Peterson says public access to the product was only one issue to
consider; he did not wish to elaborate on the others.
QUANTAS TAKES US FOR A RIDE.
By ERWIN CHLANDA.
Qantas has been stonewalling enquiries by the Alice Springs News for
more than a month about strong anecdotal evidence of sharp fare
increases.
According to a tourist industry source, flights to Adelaide, Melbourne
and Sydney have gone up about $200 – 50% on the lowest rates – since
Virgin stopped flying to Alice in September last year.
It seems Alice Springs is being ripped off while relatively competitive
fares are still available for the coastal cities.
There are still cheap seats but fewer of them are being offered.
We asked the airline, now the only scheduled carrier in and out of
Alice Springs, to quote the average cost of tickets to Adelaide and
Darwin.
We asked for this to be done on a monthly basis, for the two months
before Virgin dropped its Alice service, and since.
We asked the average to be calculated on the basis of the various fares
available, and how many people had been using them.
The airline’s media personnel emailed a general statement, which did
not respond to the questions, and two people rang to say they were
working on a reply, but it still hasn’t been provided.
Meanwhile locals are saying they are being taken for a ride by the
airline:-
• Several relatives of one family known to the Alice News were forced
to abandon plans to attend a funeral because they couldn’t afford the
airfare.
• Flights are frequently fully booked and people have to cancel their
business or social engagements.
The industry source says flights to Sydney are “horrific” – in terms of
costs and availability: this week, for example, if you manage to get a
seat, it will cost you $900 to $1000.
Return flights to Adelaide cost around $340 to $370 in the Virgin days.
Now they range from $440 to $1200, only part of which is due to fuel
surcharges.
There are cheap flights in January and February, when tourist traffic
is at a low ebb.
Darwin flights are usually half full with public servants for whom the
governments pay full fare, a windfall for Qantas.
The source says Australian domestic fares are a joke when compared with
overseas.
You can fly from London to Istanbul for $150 including taxes.
Tiger Airways flies from Darwin to Singapore – four hours – for $78
plus taxes of $140 from Singapore, $240 from Australia.
By comparison the Drawin to Singapore fare of Qantas offshoot Jetstar
is $800.
The situation in Alice Springs is exacerbated by events such as the
Masters Games or big conventions, says the source: participants all
come and go at the same time, snapping up all seats. And while the
event is in progress, no-one comes because there are no rooms.
BIG PLANS FOR MISS PINK'S GARDEN.
By KIERAN FINNANE.
As trustees and friends of the Olive Pink Botanic Garden celebrate its
fiftieth anniversary on Saturday, they will also be looking forward to
a bigger celebration next year, one to which they’ll invite the whole
community.
For the first time a collection of Miss Pink’s watercolours, painted in
the 1930s and 40s when she was living in Central Australia will be
brought here to be displayed at the garden.
The paintings are kept at the University of Tasmania and are mostly of
plants but also some birds. Accompanying them will be work by
contemporary local artists whose eyes also turn to the botanical, Pat
Weeks and Sally Mumford.
This is but one of the plans afoot to bring the community more often
into the garden.
2006 has been an eventful year: it saw the sad passing of long time
curator Clarry Smith and the appointment of Colleen O’Malley as his
replacement.
Ms O’Malley says the garden, under the guidance of Mr Smith and his
predecessors, has done the science side very well. Now it’s time to
honour more the legacy of Miss Pink, the garden’s history and cultural
landscape, and to develop more its relationship with the community.
It is hoped that the custodians for the important sacred site within
the garden’s boundaries will become more involved, with cultural and
bush foods tours being one possibility.
“Olive Pink was a pioneer of self-determination and equal rights for
Aboriginal people, so it is very fitting that we go down this path,”
says Ms O’Malley.
Equally Miss Pink was ahead of her time in her vision for the then
“flora reserve”: the idea of a botanic garden in the arid zone was
quite novel when she started.
“It was nothing short of heroic what she and Johnny Yannarilyi achieved
during the 1960s drought,” says Ms O’Malley.
BUCKET
They would have been carrying water to plants by bucket; they didn’t
have mulch; and they would have been dealing with rabbits. They made
small ponding banks and dug in pipes at 45 degree angles in order to
pour water straight down to the roots.
Johnny Yannarilyi was a Warlpiri man who worked for Miss Pink. She
wrote of him: “He is a born entomologist and somewhat of a botanist too
(I am neither!!!).”
“Miss Pink saw the garden as a place for conserving and teaching,” says
Ms O’Malley.
“To date this has mainly been for the dedicated few. Now we want to get
the community involved, bring them in even while we retain the ‘old
world’ feel of the place, the feeling of sanctuary.”
Ideas include more interpretive walks, for instance through the Miss
Pink’s own surviving plantings, a garden sculpture competition, hands
on planting demonstrations, a children’s playground with a difference,
and more interpretation of the garden’s history and culture.
A vision document is being developed and will be put out for public
comment in March.
“We have also got to get the garden heritage listed. It’s on the
national estate register but it’s not heritage listed in the Territory,
we are working on that now,” says Ms O’Malley.
THINK NEW, ADAPT & GO FOR IT.
By KIERAN FINNANE
Don’t allow people to stay as leaders of community organisations for
more than two to three years.
Rewrite constitutions to ensure this.
Get away from committee structures for organisations in favour of task
forces that self-destruct after the goals are accomplished.
Take these steps to increase the vitality of your town.
These were some of the ideas to emerge from roundtable discussions on
the future of inland towns at the Desert Knowledge Symposium in Alice
Springs last week.
Other ideas to get strong support were:-
• Generating a shared vision of the town.
• Promoting education, technology and training.
All these ideas coincide with some of the recommendations of a report
looking at innovation in rural Queensland, titled “Why some towns
thrive and others languish”.
One of the report’s authors, Ian Plowman of the University of
Queensland Business School, was the facilitator of the session and
clearly had a passion for his subject.
Eight small rural towns with similar economic and geographic
circumstances participated in the research.
The report names them only as towns A to H because that allows you to
think about “8000 towns, instead of eight”, says Mr Plowman.
Three of the four authors are psychologists and the report was
particularly concerned to look at the innovative impact of individuals
on their communities, particularly those in leadership, managerial and
executive roles; in non-supervisory technical and professional roles;
and in administrative and support roles.
An underlying theme to emerge from the 65 interviews conducted
with prominent citizens in the eight towns was that in the least
innovative communities when the question “Whose job is that?” was asked
the answer was “theirs”. In the most innovative communities, the
answer was “ours”.
The report asserts no town has a “right” to survive: “To survive,
a town needs to be flexible and adaptable, to provide amenities and
services to its members and to those outsiders which interact
with it.
“Atrophy or decline awaits those towns that are not innovative or
adaptable.
“However, becoming or remaining an innovative town is a very big
challenge indeed because, as many observers and writers have pointed
out, homogeneity, conservatism and conformity exert a constant
pull.”
Some of the characteristic of the more innovative towns as identified
by the report:
• Positive trends in people willing to stay in residence or take up
residence.
• Growing populations though size and rate of growth do not necessarily
determine levels of innovation (of the eight, the smallest town,
population 600, was the third most innovative).
• A higher proportion of home owner-occupiers as opposed to
renters.
• Increasing levels of employment and declining levels of unemloyment,
though the levels were small.
• A higher average level of education.
• More frequent and longer periods of overseas travel by
residents.
• More mobile.
• A higher proportion of residents whose prior town was larger rather
than smaller or same size.
• More “creative” occupations and industries.
Interstingly, the most innovative of the eight towns, by its own
estimation as well as that of three independent raters, “celebrates its
creative artistic dimension in a very public way ... Artisans in
this town work hard to involve the broader community in the
artistic/creative experience”.
The second most innovative town “recognised a large artistic population
scattered in its midst but had not brought that population into its
mainstream communal life”.
And the least innovative “made no mention of artistic or creative
aspects of their towns”.
The report also emphasises as important:
• Administrative and managerial capacity to run and promote the town:
“Such capacity helps citizens of the town to feel good about living
there. It also serves to attract outsiders, thereby bringing the
multiple benefits.
• Variety of expertise, “the essential first step in the improvement of
anything. The greater the variety of specialists, the broader is the
knowledge base and the greater the cross-fertilisation of ideas.
Whether it is imported or home-grown, expertise serves as a catalyst
for innovation or, at least, maintenance of the status quo. Absence of
expertise of any sort favours atrophy, decline or decay.”
• Clusters of expertise: “Although variety of expertise across
disciplines ... increases the range of ideas available to a
community, so too, do clusters of expertise.
“Coalitions of experts from within the same discipline can
cross-fertilise with like minds and test new ideas in a safe incubating
environment, thereby increasing their leverage for influence.”
• Professional development: “Experts who work at growing their
knowledge and skills, usually through some connections outside of the
community, are able to diffuse that new knowledge and skill back into
their community.”
• Technical experts help in the ‘translation’ of technology into
local application.”
• Decentralisation of decision making: “The concentration of
decision-making authority prevents innovative solutions, while the
dispersion of power is necessary for innovation.
• Informality: “Flexibility and low emphasis on rules facilitate
innovation. Low formalisation permits openness, which encourages new
ideas and behaviours.”
• Community participation: “A common comment across all towns was that
participation was welcomed, but that most people were passive and that
community involvement remained with the willing few.
“Participatory environments facilitate innovation by increasing
community members’ awareness, commitment and involvement.
“Sharing the load also increases opportunity to develop civic skills
and it decreases the probability of ‘burn-out’ by the willing
few.
• A positive managerial attitude toward change: “New ideas in
management often seem to flow from ‘outsiders’. Council seems to
contain higher levels of conservatism.
“Managers’ favourable attitude towards change leads to an internal
community climate conducive to innovation.
“Managerial support for innovation is especially required in the
implementation stage, when coordination and conflict resolution among
individuals and community groups are essential.”
• Availability of slack resources, in other words, resources not
stretched to the limit: “Slack resources allow a community to afford to
explore innovations, absorb failure, bear the cost of implementing
innovations and generally just ‘have a go’.
• Exchange of information with the outside world: This allows
communities to reinvent themselves “as they blend their attributes with
those the external world requires”.
• Internal communication and idea sharing, which “facilitates
dispersion of ideas within communities and increases their amount and
diversity, which results in cross-fertilisation of ideas. It also
creates an internal environment favourable to the survival of new
ideas”.
- See on the web http://www2.dpi.qld.gov.au/business/14778.html
Leaders must lead
Communities wanting to become innovative should encourage the concept
of “leadership” and discourage the concept of “leaders”, the report
recommends.
Those interviewed for the report recognised the importance of
leadership and the importance of the roles that the town council
and the mayor played in that leadership.
Being too long in a role was perceived as both common and undesirable.
The most innovative towns had councils that were proactive and staffed
by excellent and visionary administrators.
Other towns found leadership outside of their elected councillors —
leadership that in some cases formed productive partnerships with the
council.
In another case, the informal leadership and the elected
leadership seemed to walk parallel paths driven by creative tension
between them. Some councils had a vision largely confined to
roads, rates and rubbish. Others were more progressive and
strategic, sometimes to their own cost.
In several of the towns examined, the council had demonstrated
leadership beyond the capacity and grasp of its constituents, resulting
in criticism and, in one case, virtual abandonment of an initiative
where the council’s leadership overstretched its capacity to fund its
own initiative. Then it became a case of once bitten, twice shy.
A town should have three forms of leadership, the report recommends:
• Legitimate leadership, such as the mayor, to represent the town in
external environments or on symbolic occasions.
• Effective or situational leadership, in other words the best person
for the job, regardless of position, status or title. The most
innovative town seemed to enjoy the highest level of effective
leadership through having the highest number of participants who
identified as experts; the least innovative towns seemed to have
substantially less.
• Empathic leadership, for when people need encouragement, support or
nurture. This is a role often filled by religious organisations. It can
also be filled by any individual or body that is perceived as
compassionate.
“Rarely, if ever, are these three forms of leadership embodied in
the one person or body. Nor are they necessarily static. Public
understanding of these three important roles would be beneficial.”
- The report recommends some form of public debate on these roles and
boundaries within a community.
When the would-be civic leaders produce little more than blah,
frustration sets in: On Monday David Chewings left his “calling card”
at the town council offices for the second time this year. All the talk
about town camps being part of the town, and becoming a council
responsibility, is just so m uch rhetoric, he says. For years a
voluntary, upaid rubbish collector in public places, Mr Chewings says
the garbage in the camps is getting worse, flowing over into public
areas.
FROM GILLEN CLUB TO A 21ST.
By ADAM CONNELLY.
Alice Springs has some excellent parties. There is perhaps no other
postcode where you can so often bump into Fred and Steve at a black tie
do on Friday and then see them again at John’s poolside barbie on
Saturday afternoon.
With such a variety of social gatherings, there are a couple of
inherent pit falls for those who dive headlong into the Alice Springs
social scenes.
Last weekend was a shining example of the variety of gathering.
Thursday afternoon I was at the Gillen Club. I don’t mind the Gillen
Club.
It’s close to home, the drinks are cheap and it reminds me of a lot of
the pubs and clubs from where I grew up.
A workers pub with a bistro and a place for the kids to play while mum
and dad discuss everything from socialist macro economic reform to
Macca’s new engine.
The men and women who call the Gillen their own don’t stand on too many
graces and men are blokes.
This is the Territory under a roof. It’s probably not all that prudent
to start discussing the new cushions you bought for the lounge or your
favourite chick flick.
And it helps if, from time to time, you throw in the odd obscenity.
(For “from time to time” read “every sentence”.)
Friday was slightly different. I tried to get out of work early because
I had some showing off to do.
Friday I cooked for a group of women (and a couple of blokes for whose
attendance I am eternally grateful) at a Bodyshop party.
These home business parties like Tupperware, Bodyshop and the like, are
a forest of nightmares for the XY chromosomed.
Every man has been to at least one of these and the thought of spending
a couple of hours surrounded by femicentric products and the women who
want them seems only slightly less appealing than invasive surgery.
But I have to say that handled properly, you can not just survive but
enjoy an event such as this. It’s all about being adaptable.
Always be yourself. But if you are the type of bloke that would rather
be at the Gillen Club, then perhaps Macca’s afore-mentioned block isn’t
the appropriate conversation to be having with Kathy from sales.
My advice is you should be man enough by now to dive on in. Get
involved and have a good time.
But just make sure everyone there knows the golden rule. What goes on
at the home party, stays at the home party.
From the heady world of exfoliating shimmer creams and talk about
monthly cramp to the confusing scene of the 21st celebration.
I’m 31 so not quite old enough to be thought of by these Generation
Yers as fully ensconced on the Oldies table. But not nearly young
enough either to actually be worthy of their conversation.
I don’t ever remember being that small. What have we done with our
children? They all need a good feed and another English lesson.
There was about 50 teens at this function and maybe one of them was
over sixty kilos. I’m not sure what happened between 1975 and 1988 but
I think there might have been an evolutionary step somewhere in there
that science has missed.
These tiny people speak like they’re sending a text message. And none
of the boys have the ability to put the collar down on their polo
shirts.
To be successful at these very different social occasions requires a
little forward planning and the ability to improvise. Always be on your
toes and don’t be afraid to get in and get amongst it. Either that or
drink a lot.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
Sir,– A speed limit on the Stuart Highway and demerit points for
traffic offences fail to deal with the “route” causes of road
fatalities in the NT.
The Opposition remain totally opposed to these measures. If elected we
will repeal the speed limits on open roads.
The measures I have announced deal directly with the fact that it is
drivers between 18 and 25 years of age who are most likely to die on
our roads.
Our policy includes an Extended Driver Training component and an
increased emphasis on Road Safety Education for our youth.
The most effective programs occur where schools, police and government
work in partnership with parents, hence our Road Safety Education
program provides young people with road safety education throughout
their school career.
Further the Extended Driver Training will improve young drivers’
knowledge and understanding of the road traffic environment; the
behavioural skills necessary to survive in the presence of traffic and
an increased knowledge of the causes and consequences of road
accidents.
Other measures include a small newer motor vehicle incentive scheme
that will reduce on-road costs for young drivers buying newer smaller
cars.
There will also be restrictions on what young drivers can do including
no towing for learners and provisional drivers, 120 hours of supervised
driving experience to be log booked for learner drivers, passenger
number restrictions between the hours of 10pm and 5am for the first
year of provisional licence, and extending the provisional licence to
three years for those under the age of 25 years.
In contrast, to Clare Martin’s “all stick, no carrot” approach to the
issue of road safety, the Opposition would provide a free license
renewal for any motorist who isn’t convicted of a traffic offence
during the previous licence period.
Under a Country Liberal Government, a clean record for five years gets
you a five year licence renewal for free.
Jodeen Carney,
Opposition Leader
Sir,– At their last meeting, the Alice Springs Town Council agreed to
fund crucial repairs on the Gap Youth Centre but couldn’t decide what
to say about the dongas.
Watching this positive step forward followed by a hesitant step back, I
realised the demographic changes in Alice are having a hard time
getting acknowledged, let alone accepted.
If the national drought/global warming gets a good grip on the Centre,
and if the Federal and NT governments continue to hollow-out homeland
funding, then almost everyone living bush will move to town. It really
is that simple.
The urban drift over the last 10 years has caught us so unprepared that
when a Federal Minister recently drove through town distributing
second-hand dongas, we were actually better off.
Now we get to decide on where in Alice they can go. A permanent
location for a temporary accommodation facility is a hard place to
find. I understand it needs to be on Crown Land not near a residential
area.
Tyeweretye, on Len Kittle Drive, looks set for a gong, but there are
objections to Dalgety Road. The council noted these objections
and added their own, but failed to suggest an alternative.
So here’s an idea.
Unless the council has already claimed it for a car-park, the large
vacant lot on the corner of Whittaker St and the Stuart Highway might
be available. With a good fence and PAWA connections it could be
a good choice, close to the shops and handy to the hospital.
Somewhere along the line we need to stop being frightened of each
other.
Hal Duell
Alice Springs
Sir,– The Territory Government’s announcement on the
implementation of a maximum speed limit displayed the contempt in which
it holds Territorians and Territory businesses.
This announcement is just another way of the government telling the
world to go away, we don’t want your business.
Many of the world’s leading marques used to bring new vehicles to Alice
Springs for testing, a major injection into the Red Centre’s economy
during the quieter months.
You can bet they won’t be coming now that they can’t get out of second
gear.
And will two of the Territory’s prestigious tourism events be
threatened by the new rules?
I’m not sure whether the Finke Desert Race, a major event on the
Centralian calendar, can be run under the new rules.
The new rules must also greatly affect the next World Solar Challenge,
which had grown into an iconic event in its own right.
The winner of the 2005 race, Nuna III, averaged better than 100kp/h for
the trip and reputedly had a top speed during the event in excess of
170kp/h.
Will the teams still bother coming to Australia if they can’t test
their vehicle’s full capacity? I doubt it.
Of course, Clare Martin can turn around and say the rules don’t apply
to those events – but if she says that what about the Cannoball Run?”
Planning for the next Cannonball Run is proceeding despite the Chief
Minister’s decision.
Allan Moffat and Graham McVean will be starting the safety audit of the
proposed route on Alice Springs on November 20, as planned.
The ALP seems uncomfortable with the notion that Territorians are
different. But Territorians don’t apologise for being different – we’re
proud of it.
Those fools won’t be in power forever and we have to get everything in
place to ensure the event will go ahead as soon as the Territory is rid
of Clare and her clueless mates.
Nigel Scullion
CLP NT Senator
Devils clinch first
victory for season
Rugby Union blew out the cobwebs on the weekend with the first round of
the season.
Federal Devils defeated Eagles 17-15, and in a replay of last year’s
grand final, the Kiwi Warriors again triumphed over the Dingo Cubs,
43-17.
The first game was a cliff-hanger, going to the wire before the
decisive score.
The second game was marred by some “unsavoury incidents” and “bad
language”, says CARU vice-president Simon Pettit.
“Anyone performing like that again will be ejected from the oval,” says
Mr Pettit.
“The CARU executive do not want to see this kind of behaviour when
there are families around.”
The Warriors are at the head of the table on percentages, equal with
Devils on points.
“The team efforts, which is what we are interested in, were pretty
good,” says Mr Pettit.