ALICE SPRINGS NEWS
May 6, 2010. This page contains all
major
reports and comment pieces in the current edition.
Carey Builders shot a blank. By ERWIN
CHLANDA and COMMENT by Prof ROLF GERRITSEN.
Braitling MLA Adam Giles orchestrated the defeat of the Government last
week in a Parliamentary vote on measures to assist people stung by the
Carey Builders and Framptons New Homes scandal.
But because of Parliamentary convention, the Government is free to
ignore that vote. In fact it would not have been carried if it had put
the Government under any obligation: MLA Gerry Wood would have
abstained. All this makes the manoeuvre little more than an empty
gesture (see box this page).
Mr Giles secured the support of independents Alison Anderson and Mr
Wood to push through a motion to “establish a fund to cover the cost of
works for people whose homes were left unfinished, with that money to
be paid back after the sale of the property – whenever that is”.
Mr Giles says: “The motion sends out a clear signal that it’s time for
Government to implement its long-awaited home warranty insurance scheme
to avoid a similar occurrence.”
The NT is the only state jurisdiction in Australia without such a
scheme.
The vote is a sign that the Government cannot rely at all times on Mr
Wood’s support – but this is unlikely to be a threat to its survival.
Both the Minister for Central Australia, Karl Hampton, and Lands
Minister Gerald McCarthy voted with the Government against the motion.
Mr Hampton would not answer a question from the Alice Springs News, put
to him at the launch of the Alice Springs Cup Carnival on Friday, where
he represented Racing Minister Delia Lawrie, who was absent.
All Mr Hampton would say was: “I’m happy to make a comment next week.”
Mr McCarthy recently met with two members of the group formed by the
affected home buyers.
One of the members, Ald Murray Stewart, said Mr McCarthy had told them
“the Government cannot provide taxpayer money to assist in this case”.
According to Ald Stewart, as Mr McCarthy left he said, “I wish you guys
all the best”.
Mr Giles says the vote was a major slap in the Government’s face, but
it is under no obligation to take the actions demanded.
Mr Giles puts the majority of the blame for the fiasco on the
Government’s failure to adequately regulate builders and the building
industry, issuing Randall Carey, an undischarged bankrupt of some six
years’ standing, a builder’s licence.
And when the authorities declined to renew that licence they failed to
advise Mr Carey’s clients that he was no longer licensed.
Nor did the authorities stop Mr Carey from acting as a builder, says Mr
Giles, despite a string of complaints against him.
The Government’s authorities also failed to test an arrangement claimed
to have been made by Mr Carey to operate under another builder’s
supervision.
That builder, Damien Golding, has told the Alice News: “I am not
responsible nor liable for Mr [Randall] Carey whatsoever.”
As the News reported in its April 8 edition, Territory legislation
prevents litigation against government staff, and private building
certifiers, even if they acted improperly.
It now appears unlikely that the home buyers’ losses, said to be
running into several million dollars, can be recovered from Mr Carey.
In view of that we asked Mr Giles why the taxpayer should shoulder the
debts while there is one other player under what would seem to be a
clear obligation to provide compensation: Framptons New Homes, a
division of the local real estate franchise Framptons First National,
which had provided assurances to the clients of Carey Builders (see
Alice Springs News online edition).
Mr Giles says: “A guarantee goes so far, but [in this case the] real
estate agent is relying on dodgy government advice in relation to the
suitability of a builder who is an undischarged bankrupt.
“I don’t know if that gets [Framptons] off the hook.”
Framptons declined to respond to questions from the News about their
undertakings to their clients.
Mr McCarthy did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr Giles says “in the Carey Builders matter there were many factors
that led to the situation but the overriding one is that of the
registration of an undischarged bankrupt.
“While not blaming anyone individually I think the Government could
have done a better job to avoid this whole issue in the first place.
“Even more importantly the Government should have advised everyone who
had a contract with Randall Carey what this situation actually is.
“This victory in Parliament is a win for the victims of the NT
Government in the Carey Builders matter – we now just have to get
Government to follow through, something that will be difficult given
that Ministers Hampton and McCarthy voted against supporting these
victims.”
Just an empty gesture
The defeat of the Government in last week’s Parliamentary vote to
provide assistance for the victims of the Carey Builders collapse does
not have grave consequences – so long as it remains an isolated
incident.
CDU research leader in Central Australia, Professor Rolf Gerritsen,
says if independent MLA Gerry Wood would make a habit of “picking and
choosing what he supports and what he doesn’t,” this would indicate
that the Chief Minister does not have control over the House.
That could cause the Administrator to intervene, “have a talk to the
Chief Minister or Mr Wood”, says Prof Gerritsen, and possibly order an
election.
Last week’s vote was not about bringing in or changing legislation, in
which case a defeat could have toppled the Government. However, the
vote was about spending money.
Mr Wood’s deal with Chief Minister Paul Henderson was to not vote
against “money Bills”.
Prof Gerritsen says if the Opposition finds issues that Mr Wood can’t
disagree with, but that cost money, instability in the House could
ensue and the Administrator may need to intervene.
So far as last week’s motion passed in Parliament is concerned, the
Government is free to ignore it because it was not a Bill.
If the Opposition had brought in a Private Member’s Bill, and if it had
been passed, it would have had more serious implications.
Mr Wood, when asked by the Alice Springs News, said if the matter had
been raised in a Private Members’ Bill he would have abstained from
voting.
He said his undertaking to the Government was not to interfere in its
governing.
“It’s up to them to govern,” he says.
“The motion was not a money Bill – it was a motion.
“Motions are not binding on the Government – they can decide to act on
them, amend them or they can leave them.
“Even if this had been a Bill it would not have toppled the Government
“I have said I won’t force the Government to accept Opposition Bills as
this would make governing very difficult or impossible,” says Mr Wood.
“It is the government’s role to make the laws – it is the opposition’s
job to scrutinise the laws, not become a de facto government by passing
laws from the opposition benches.
“The Government must have some stability.
“I can vote how I like but my agreement is to support the Budget when
it is introduced.
“The administrator would not intervene unless the Chief Minister lost a
vote of no confidence, not a motion.
“I am independent but have said that I will allow the Government to go
its elected full term and then people can make their judgement over the
four years past at the polls.”
But Mr Wood said last week’s motion made it clear that the Carey
Builders matter is a serious issue, and put pressure on the Government
to take responsible action.
NT
Budget: $560m in Budget for public works in The Centre.
“More than $560 million” has been allocated in this year’s budget to
improve “schools, hospitals, housing and infrastructure” in our region,
according to Minister for Central Australia, Karl Hampton.
This compares with $750 million for Darwin’s northern suburbs; $300
million for Palmerston and Litchfield; and $253.3 million in the
Katherine region.
Specifically in The Centre there will be:-
• $38 million to upgrade Alice Springs Hospital and $19.6 million
for a new emergency department;
• $8.27 million to upgrade schools –$6.42 million for Centralian
Middle School and the Youth Hub at Anzac Hill, $2.8 million for Acacia
School and $1.25 million for Ntaria School;
• $10 million to fast-track headworks for housing at the AZRI site;
• $5.6 million to construct the Larapinta Seniors Village;
• $32 million to upgrade key roads, including $2 million to seal
seven kms of the Sandover Highway and $2 million to seal a further four
kms of the Tanami Road.
The lifting of the HomeStart NT price cap in Alice Springs is
replicated in the other urban centres of the Territory. In Alice the
cap has been lifted by $85,000 (going from $300,000 to $385,000).
Elsewhere it has been lifted by $55,000 in Darwin and Palmerston;
$18,000 in Katherine; and $5000 in Tennant Creek, no doubt reflecting
real estate price increases in each market.
Tax cuts will save first home buyers up to $26,730 (stamp duty
exemption), senior Territorians $8500 (stamp duty reduction) and
principal place of residence buyers $3500 (rebate, up from $2500).
Stage Two of the Alice Springs Youth Action Plan gets $3.47
million, including $1.5 million to run two supported group homes for 12
young people; $1.1 million to operate the Youth Hub and provide an
alternative education program for youth with extreme behaviour;
$625,000 to provide an after hours response to youth on the street; and
$250,000 to boost resources in schools to tackle disengaged students.
The Alice Springs Transformation Plan continues with $17.5 million
allocated, including $2.7 million to operate the Percy Village
Transitional Village (housing up to 70 people), Bath Street Lodge (up
to 40 visiting renal dialysis patients); eight single units in Goyder
Street; and Alice Springs Accommodation Park (up to 150 people
short-term).
“Land servicing and essential service infrastructure” in The Centre’s
“Growth Towns” gets $32.2 million, and $9.4 million is provided
for a new multi-purpose police station and office accommodation in
Imanpa.
As Environment Minister Mr Hampton announced $625,000 to
establish the NT Container Deposit Scheme by 2011 as well as planned
legislation, to be introduced this calendar year, to ban the sale of
lightweight plastic shopping bags.
Second coming.
By ERWIN
CHLANDA.
When Father Dwyer was planning the Catholic Church in 1969 he wanted to
include a large stained glass window in the baptistry, but the quote
that came back was well over the available budget.
Lindsay Johannsen (pictured), son of the noted road train pioneer Kurt
Johannsen, offered to do the job for the cost of the materials.
Ultimately applying his family’s legendary bush can-do to the
task, Lindsay saved Father Dwyer’s plan.
But it took a while to come together. Initial design attempts with pen,
paper and water color wash were unsatisfactory as draft
presentations to put to Father Dwyer.
Then one day Lindsay was in Iris Harvey’s book shop and spotted some
colored cellophane: “I bought every last bit,” he recalls – and he was
on his way.
Soon a timber frame mounted scale mockup was ready for presentation, an
abstract picture of Jesus’ Christening by John the Baptist, under harsh
sunlight by the river Jordan; green fields, the dove of the holy
spirit, the sky bursting asunder and a foreboding of the coming Cross.
Fast forward to today: the window and Lindsay are 40 years older.
It seems he’s coped better with the desert climate than the
window: the French-made panes – exposed to summer sun temperature
buildup of 50 to 60 plus degrees countless times – have delaminated
their bonding with the resin, causing the window’s bottom sections to
weaken and slump.
The top section spanning the arch is sound as it does not get the
direct sunlight, but the doors at the bottom had to be removed and
boarded in – as Lindsay noticed one day a couple of years ago while
passing the church. He stopped to take a closer look and was soon in
deep conversation with Father Knight, who was scratching his head about
what to do.
The Catholic power of persuasion prevailed again, and Lindsay, now
retired to a motor home on the mining lease pegged by his father at the
northern edge of town, is back on the job.
And yes, it’s again a labour of love.
Uproar
over ‘secure facility’. By ERWIN
CHLANDA.
A “secure facility” housing people who – according to the Department of
Health – “exhibit high risk behaviours that may threaten the safety of
themselves or the community” is being planned by the NT Government in a
rural residential area.
Last week 86 people from the area immediately affected, Cotterill Road,
off the Ross River Highway, as well as other areas south of The Gap,
and the town itself, met to mount a campaign against the facility.
It is being planned without any consultation with the neighbours, says
a spokesman for the group, Rick Hall.
The father of five young children is fearing for their safety, and says
the lifestyle of the area is threatened by prison-style structures
including high fences and lights.
One of his neighbors had a slab for his new house put down recently but
has halted work when plans for the facility came to light – by a
neighbor noticing a pink sign on the fence of the block in question.
Mr Hall says the land has obviously been bought by the health
department without any advice to residents nearby, and in clear
contravention of planning regulations.
It is expected that dozens of residents will lodge objections with the
Development Consent Authority.
The deadline for these is tomorrow, just two weeks and two days after
the plans were announced by the government via media release.
People at the meeting recalled the knife killing of a woman in Gap Road
by a brain damaged petrol sniffer.
Mr Hall says the department is dealing with the issue by spin.
Jenny Cleary, Executive Director Health Services, announcing the $13.9
million “Secure Care initiative”, says the facilities (there is one in
Darwin as well) “will provide a safe, controlled environment for
clients”.
There will be “state-of-the-art security measures to ensure both the
safety and comfort of the clients being treated” and the aim was “to
preserve the aesthetics of the area and provide a tranquil environment
for clients and staff.”
What about security and a tranquil environment for the neighbors, asks
Mr Hall.
Says Ms Cleary: “The locations ... were selected because of the
proximity to the metropolitan areas and infrastructure”.
But Mr Hall says the Alice Springs gaol on the South Stuart Highway can
be reached from town in 14 minutes, while it takes 20 minutes to get to
the Ross Highway location.
He says the group considers putting the facility near the gaol would
keep it away from residential areas, and in events of emergencies it
could get help from another government facility nearby.
Mr Hall says it seems likely that the facility, initially for 16
patients, would be expanded in the future.
The land is big enough.
The group is also investigating reports that the local branch of the
Department of Lands, Planning and Infrastructure made an eight-page
submission arguing against the location, but this was overruled.
Uranium
drilling enters new phase.
By ERWIN
CHLANDA.
The uranium miner Cameco has resumed diamond drilling exploration at
its 50/50 joint venture with Paladin at the Angela Pamela deposit south
of Alice Springs.
The work is being done by six men from local firm Gorey & Cole
Drillers operating a diamond drill rig, a unit recycling and cleaning
water (at left in the photo above) used during the drilling, and a
water tanker.
Following the drilling, sensing equipment is inserted down the hole to
measure the amount and grade of uranium found.
This is a unique process, because most other mineral exploration relies
on drill core samples essaying to determine grades, which can take up
to a fortnight.
With this method the results are available instantly: a probe is
lowered into the drill hole and readings at various depths can be taken
immediately, checking for gamma radiation and resistivity, which is the
ability of the rock to conduct an electric current. This is used to
correlate sedimentary beds.
Some core samples are also evaluated but only as a way of
double-checking the probing results.
The eastern tip of the Angela 1 deposit is just west of the Finke
Desert Race track, about 25 kms south of the town centre, and extends
at least five kms to the west, descending at an angle of nine degrees
to a depth of at least 800 metres.
Cameco’s local manager Stephan Stander says about 60 holes will be
drilled in this phase of the exploration, about 50 metres apart and
covering an area about 200 metres wide at Angela 1.
There is also testing for mineralisation towards the north of Angela 1,
including the Pamela area.
The diamond drill holes, containing steel casing for the top 12 metres,
are capped about half a meter below ground on completion and the
surface is rehabilitated.
Mr Stander says exploration will take another two to three months,
after which the data will be used to update the geological model, which
will be used for mine planning purposes and economic studies.
Cameco has only an exploration license at the moment.
If the deposit is considered viable an environmental impact statement
will be drawn up ahead of applying for a mining licence.
Currently the Joint Venture is conducting a series of environmental
studies including water, dust, and fauna and flora as part of the
process of building up a set of baseline data which can be used if in
future an Environmental impact Statement is drawn up.
Working
in remote areas: good money is not enough. By KIERAN FINNANE.
Financial incentives to attract skilled staff into rural and remote
areas have to be coupled with positive attractions in terms of
lifestyle.
A large dollar amount is not enough for most people to offset months or
years in poor living conditions – in unattractive or uncomfortable
housing, lonely and bored, a long way from their previous home, family
and friends.
And financial incentives should not be prescriptive – people will want
to apply them to different purposes, perhaps to send their children
away for school, perhaps on better accommodation, or on their
recreation.
These were among the points made in a cross border meeting hosted by
Desert Knowledge Australia in Alice Springs last week.
Most of the 35 people at the meeting were not in the room – they were
scattered around the country at 15 different sites, linked by telephone
and the web (a Wiki page so that all participants could follow
powerpoint-style presentations).
It’s not the technology that made the occasion noteworthy, but the
regular use of it for meaningful exchange. It was the 56th
meeting of its kind.
They’ve been occurring every six weeks since March 2003, sponsored by
Telstra, and it’s clear that now a genuine network exists for
exchanging information and points of view on important issues.
Last week everyone taking part was across the technology, there were
only a couple of hiccups, the conversation flowed, including
jokes.
They were talking about how to counter coastal drift of their
populations, how to turn around local skills shortages and attract new
residents.
The meeting heard that Port Augusta has a “meet and greet” program
carried out by trained volunteers.
They take the new arrivals to their accommodation, show them where to
find services, where to shop, where the local schools are.
They hold a coffee morning every Wednesday, sometimes with a guest
speaker, but mostly pitched at people getting to know one another.
Most of those coming along are the partners of migrant skilled workers
and the volunteers are organising an international food night as
another way of making them feel welcome.
There’s also a free career development service, aimed at helping the
partners find work, and a mentoring program is planned to help their
children make a successful transition to school.
This work is coordinated by Mandy Hansen in a new position created by
Regional Development Australia, Far North together with the SA
Department of Trade and Economic Development.
Speaking from Perth, Fiona Haslam McKenzie from the Curtin Graduate
School of Business, then told the meeting about the research she
conducted for the Desert Knowledge CRC four years ago on the attraction
and retention theme.
The research itself was a challenge because of the “churn” of people
through remote places – “the issues were writ large”, she said.
She found that a lot of skilled workers, including police, nurses and
teachers, were “dumped” in remote communities without any “cultural
awareness and language skills”.
In some cases it had been like “sending lambs to the slaughter”, she
said.
MORES
In other communities there would be an effort at welcome and orienting
people to local mores, including the local idiom.
For women, especially the young, a sense of safety was very important,
said Ms McKenzie.
A seemingly silent community at night could be “scarey” for young women
used to city life.
They needed to be made aware of how to be safe – for example, by
travelling with a companion, always having fresh water in their
vehicle, knowing the local emergency numbers, knowing whether it was
important to lock up at night.
She said women found it very reassuring when communities took steps to
make this knowledge available to them. Other types of welcome and local
orientation, such as Port Augusta’s program, were important as was
mentoring.
Sometimes a useful mentor can be someone familiar with the new
arrival’s professional role as well as the community even if they are
no longer present. In fact, if the mentor is at arm’s length that can
help the newcomer to feel at ease in being frank with their concerns,
said Ms McKenzie.
RANGE
It’s important for the functionality and live-ability of communities to
have the full range of people living in them – from children to the
elderly.
In this regard, authorities need to make clear what the long-term
planning commitments are for communities that grow rapidly around
industry opportunities, such as those in the Pilbara region.
For example, people need to know whether schools are going to be built,
neighbourhoods developed.
And it’s better if the planning is done at the beginning, rather than
tacked on at the end.
By way of example, Ms McKenzie spoke of a woman in Port Hedland who
left because after some time she could no longer stand living in a
house that was identical to every other house in the street. It didn’t
feel like “her home”.
Other measures that could help are:
• taxation relief, especially as remote living can be so much more
expensive than capital city living;
• adequate remuneration for the same reason;
• HECS discounts and scholarships for university students from remote
areas;
• enhanced communication – the research found that it was often
inconsistent or poor between head office and the local office;
• recognition and reward of remote area professional experience.
In a third presentation to the meeting, Linda Nadge spoke from Broken
Hill, where she is CEO of Regional Development Australia, Far West.
She was responding to a Federal Government Parliamentary Inquiry into
skills shortages in regional Australia, in particular focusing on
opportunities to support the relocation of unemployed workers from
areas of high unemployment to areas experiencing skills shortages.
She queried the inquiry’s terms of reference, saying she didn’t know of
any regional area where there was not high unemployment coupled with
skills shortages.
In her area, unemployment is at 12% (compared to the national average
of 5.3%), there are a lot of school dropouts, high recruitment
costs, an aging population and disengaged youth.
She pointed to the government’s efforts to attract doctors into
regional areas but asked, why stop at doctors.
Why not do the same for other health professionals as well as plumbers,
electricians and so on?
She also pushed for zonal taxation rebates and policies to encourage
decentralisation, saying that economic development in a particular
place is often “an accident of history” rather than as a result of more
specific reasons.
In discussion, other points came from:
• Laverton – leave arrangements need to be flexible, it needs to be
easy to get away;
• Tennant Creek, where nine people took part in the meeting – a DVD
about the town and its services has been made for use by the hospital
and school in their recruitment drives;
• Brisbane – Telstra’s John Lister reported similar issues experienced
in Cairns, where he had lived for 38 years; he also reported on the
Federal Government’s Digital Regions Initiatives, which can assist in
remote delivery of education;
• Pilbara region – a revitalisation program is underway but the Pilbara
communities do suffer from decision-making taking place far away.
Where
Alice plays pokies. By KIERAN FINNANE.
All Alice Springs households would have received by now a survey in
their letter-box asking questions about how they use gambling venues
(if they do).
This is the first step in a three year research project.
Dr Martin Young, from Charles Darwin University, said the project is
about “ground truthing” the current assumptions about “the catchment of
pokie venues” and their impact.
He said authorities work on the figure of 1.1% of adult Territorians
experiencing problems with gambling. In Alice, the figure in a 2005
survey was 1.6%, the highest in the NT areas studied and equating to
more than 15% of gamblers.
The new detailed research should ascertain whether these are accurate
figures.
As well as the usual questions to determine demographic and economic
characteristics, the survey will ask who goes to what venue and
what kind of gambling they engage in.
It will be looking at which venues are associated with certain types of
risk or harms.
Are there, for instance, an over-supply of EGMs (electronic gaming
machines or ‘pokies’) and if so, where?
This will be information useful to licensing authorities, says Dr
Young.
It will also help the venues, identifying which ones need, for example,
Amity to do training for management and staff in responsible service of
gambling facilities.
And it will tell the researchers where to focus their investigative
efforts.
Dr Young recognises the limits of mailed-out surveys – they won’t
reach, for instance, residents of town camps – but the survey will be
followed up by on-the-ground research in July and August of this year.
Getting information from Indigenous people is the biggest challenge for
good sociological research in the Territory, says Dr Young.
Mail-outs typically get a response rate of 10%; thus from Alice’s
10,400 residences the researchers should receive around 1000 responses,
although they are hoping for more.
The mail-out should tell them who is not responding and the next phase
will see an effort to contact those people, says Dr Young.
Revised
Araluen plan responds to concerns.
By KIERAN FINNANE.
The revised draft Araluen Cultural Precinct Development Plan has
responded to many of the concerns expressed in the controversy over
last year’s version.
Its vision is more inclusive of the whole community, acknowledging the
“deeply embedded sense of community ownership, pride and partnership at
[the] core” of the precinct.
While the plan still emphasises the role of the precinct as “a keeping
place of stories”, an evolution since its inception, the primacy of
Aboriginal art and social history in this regard has been
de-emphasised.
There is no reference in the revised plan to a permanent display of
Aboriginal art in Gallery Three.
Achieving goals around the display of Aboriginal art is now discussed
in terms of “appropriate facilities” to be developed in the longer
term, possibly within the precinct grounds but possibly elsewhere.
The focus of exhibition development will be on “the display and
interpretation of [Araluen] collection material”, which comprises both
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal art.
The solar air-conditioning project for the arts centre has been given
more comprehensive treatment in the plan, and the issue of its location
remains open for the time being. The community reference group for the
project is considering four possible locations: the initially proposed
area between Central Craft and the Museum of Central Australia, the
Circus Lawns, the corner of Larapinta Drive and Memorial Avenue, and
the area adjacent to the Memorial Cemetery.
The natural history display of the Museum of Central Australia is still
intended to be moved to the Desert Park.
The future focus of the Strehlow Research Centre building will be
social and cultural history.
“A feature component could be the interpretation of Arrernte stories
and history as this relates specifically to Mparntwe (Alice Springs)
township and its land forms” but there will also be stories about
non-Aboriginal history.
The displays will be developed in liaison with the precinct’s Arrernte
Custodians Reference Group and local historians.
A welcome addition to the plan is the development of a Digital Story
Centre at the Museum of Central Australia “to enable people within the
local community to create multi media digital stories”.
The plan is open for public comment until May 31.
At present it is accessible on the department’s website but printed
copies should be available shortly.
Desert
dominates the Alice Prize.
By KIERAN FINNANE.
Never has the Alice Prize, in my experience, had such a desert feel.
The winning work, Carcass by Alison Alder, and the three honourable
mentions – by Tobias Richardson, Yinarupa Nangala and Mary Ross –
all have strong inland or outback content.
Joining these among the 10 or so to be seriously considered by judge
Alan Dodge were another two – by Johnny Yungut Tjupurrula and Alex
Kershaw.
And in the exhibition as a whole, out of 51 works, in addition to the
above-mentioned six, at least another 15 are concerned in one way or
another with inland, outback or desert themes.
Among them are a number of works – I counted four or five – by artists
from interstate who have travelled to Central Australia and are
exhibiting works responding to this experience.
Though the prize conditions do not limit entries to any theme or genre,
it seems that a fairly strong selection process is taking place,
whether unconsciously by the selection panel or else by artists
themselves. Is this a good or bad thing?
Together with many in Alice Springs, I am always interested in looking
at and thinking about work that connects with the inland, its natural
environment and its cultural spaces.
But, also like many, I crave the fresh winds that arrive from afar.
Sometimes these are brought in by artists who live in our midst, like
the 2008 winner, Pip McManus, whose work had a universal reach.
In other years of the prize that sense of being taken elsewhere has
been an overall impression – experienced on entering the gallery where
images and forms of startling contrast asserted themselves. The
contrast was between the works as well as with what was more or less
culturally familiar to us.
Something that might contribute to this not being the case this year is
the lack of large three-dimensional work. There’s really only one – The
Unconcise Oxford Dictionary by Mandy Gunn.
Kershaw’s DVD work, One of Several Centres, is part of an installation
but the spatial experience of it is slight relative to the experience
of its screen images.
But the major factor contributing to this sense of being in charted
territory is the dominance of inland or desert themes worked with in
more or less conventional ways (I admired and enjoyed much of this work
but I didn’t feel challenged or surprised by it).
This is something for the hard-working Alice Springs Art Foundation
committee to think about. The prize is billed as a national
contemporary art award. What strategies can be used to ensure the
participation in it of a broad selection of reputed national artists
working with a range of concerns?
The purse has been increased to $20,000. Mr Dodge suggests that it may
need to go up by another $5000 to $10,000 to stay competitive.
The winner is also given a four-week residency in Alice Springs. This
could be contributing to artists choosing whether to enter or not; they
may not all be interested in spending that kind of time here. It might
be worth reviewing the benefit to artists and art audiences of the
residency. From memory, only one artist, Merilyn Fairskye, the 2001
winner, has used the residency to really make a deep connection with
this place, out of which arose new work.
It may be possible to make the residency in Alice optional, with an
equivalent (in dollar terms) professional development opportunity
elsewhere offered as an alternative.
The committee may also need to do some promotional work to lift the
profile of the prize amongst artists of national reputation.
In conversation with other viewers on the weekend, the possibility of
nominating themes for the prize was also canvassed.
These matters aside, the 2010 Alice Prize is well worth the visit.
It breathes beautifully in the space allocated to it by Araluen –
Galleries One and Three – and with the much remarked upon hang by
Stephen Williamson, which allowed each work to claim its own space.
At times the hang also achieved enriching juxtapositions, as with the
works Demountable Churches by Tobias Richardson and Untitled by
Yinarupa Nangala.
Between them they speak eloquently about the cultural space in bush
communities – the deep rootedness of Aboriginal belief and ways of
seeing on the one hand, the struggle of external belief and ways of
seeing to take root on the other.
Nangala’s ground is densely imbued with spirit and life; Richardson’s
churches float in a void.
Mr Dodge singled out the aesthetic achievements of both works,
commending Nangala for her “beautiful, accomplished work of high
sophistication”, her “assured touch in paint application” and
“compositional rigour”.
He praised Richardson’s “smart use of the colour and textured surface
of the back of masonite” as his “first right decision”; “the repetition
with variations of the same basic form” as the second; and “the
alternation of thin, thick and dripped paint” to provide “an
interesting visual variation for what becomes a series of symbols”.
The winning work, Alison Alder’s Carcass, is a striking rendition on a
theme often explored by artists both on its own terms and for its
symbolic resonance – the devastating impact of humankind on the animal
world.
It is precisely the theme of another work in the prize, Pamela Lofts’
Stuffed, and bears relation to the more complex work by Lofts which
co-won the Alice Prize in 1995 and was recently shown at Araluen in the
Paper Cuts exhibition – Landscape (On the Road Again).
Alder lets us know in her artist’s statement that her piece reworks
“Sidney Nolan’s grotesquely beautiful carcasses painted in the early
1950s” and refers to Nolan’s despair about “the negative impact of
post-war white settlement on northern Australia”.
Alder distills his images “to make each carcass read almost like an
ideogram”, as Mr Dodge noted, commending her decision to make a
triptych, together with the scale and medium (screen-printed gouache on
paper), all working “in favour of a powerful result”.
For me the association of Alder’s three carcasses with roadkill was
immediate and their distillation had me in sympathy with her intention
to achieve broad symbolic resonance, but the work did not take me quite
as far as she intended.
She writes: “During the current Interventionist times the carcass motif
is redrawn to visually represent disquiet regarding the influence of
government policy on both the people and environment in the outback.”
I do not think references to the Intervention or government policy are
made out in the work.
The third honorable mention by Mr Dodge is a photographic work, Camus
and Adam, by Mary Ross.
Mr Dodge found the artist’s use of light “cinematically perfect” –
“whether by design or chance”.
He was struck by the poignant contrast and tension between the driver’s
and child’s psychological states.
“She nailed it,” he said, though he thought the entry would have been
strengthened if a series of photographs had been presented.
We learn from her statement that this young artist does have a body of
work around car themes developed as part of The Mutikur Project, an
initiative of Warlayirti Artists’ multimedia program. A talent to
watch.
Other works to “stay with” Mr Dodge in his quest for a winner were
Johnny Yungut’s Untitled for its “wonderful surface tension”; Therese
Ritchie’s Dreamin for “pulling together” her fantastical landscape as
well as she does; the video work Tag by Workman Jones, although Mr
Dodge wanted some irony to take it to another level; Mostyn
Bramley-Moore’s Best of all Lookout for “its wonderful calligraphic
stroking”; and Kershaw’s “magnum opus”.
Alice Springs viewers might feel more patient with the latter than Mr
Dodge, because of our heightened interest in ways of working with local
landscape and urban spaces as well as people. But beyond the readily
acceptable proposition of its title, it is hard to get Kershaw’s drift.
It feels like the piece could go on forever, adding sequence after
sequence, but then could you not look at the multiple if not infinite
possibilities of virtually any chosen subject?
Mr Dodge admired Kershaw’s “absolutely beautiful” cinematography and
some sequences – a favourite was the chair-stacking sequence –
but felt irritated by the piece’s length and at times obscurity. He
wanted some tautness, seeing in the work the potential for “a beautiful
documentary”.
Overall, though Mr Dodge would have liked to see more Indigenous work,
he found the prize entries of a “very high level” .
“The fact that I could find a short list of 10 and by the time I got
down to six, it was getting tough, speaks very well for the prize,” he
said.
More
than a cinema. By KIERAN FINNANE.
Films that otherwise wouldn’t make it to Alice will have more of a
chance from next Thursday when a new outlet will launched.
Pop Cinema will screen around 24 films over the coming year, at
Witchetty’s.
The screenings will be events, complete with food, bar facilities, art
shows rotating monthly and live acoustic music.
An initiative of Pop Vulture’s Cam Buckley and Cy Starkman, Pop Cinema
will also hold club nights after the show in the main theatre at
Araluen.
Buckley and Starkman have scored a coup for their opening night film –
Fatih Akin’s Soul Kitchen, which opened last year’s Filmfest Hamburg.
Akin is German-born of Turkish parentage and lives in Hamburg.
His film was hailed as a “declaration of love” for that city and its
sub-cultures.
What happens in the film, the revitalisation of a flagging restaurant,
is something of a model for what Pop Cinema wants to achieve, says
Buckley.
Doors open 6pm, screening starts 7.30.
Soundburnt
at Ross River. By
POP VULTURE
with
CAMERON
BUCKLEY.
Around two years ago, I heard a certain person say that they were going
to sit down with another certain person and create a new festival. Wide
Open Space was born and the rest is history, or maybe the present.
A sensory banquet this year’s festival was a thicker, undulating
version of the first.
There were visual art installations like this giant floating eyeball
morphing in and out of a drunk kaleidoscope. And sound! Walls and
waves, the entire weekend had your brain being kicked in by sound.
Sound particles out numbered sun particles, and come Sunday afternoon
your skin after being out in the sound so long was … soundburnt.
This festival has stretched and grown, an audio-visual rhythmic bliss
octopus spreading its tentacles. With all hands on deck, tiny little
worker ant contributors muscled about the nest, homage to the vibrant
cultures that make Alice their home. Wide Open Space has done so much
more than just ‘worked’ – it has become a station for healing.
Many punters who don’t really ‘turn on’ to contemporary pop cultural
acts were confused about what acts were actually considered a headline
or drawcard, tuning in to pretty much everything they set their
eyes on. It made you beam.
And hearing word that the gates ushered through curious campers from
the nearby resort, who had just heard the noise and trekked out to see
made you wish you could quake a base line all the way back into town to
draw more moths to the flame.
The conservative attendance was up on last season also, and exposing
the general population to the counter cultures they usually only
receive regurgitated via the rumour mill and press definitely doesn’t
arrest the development of the festival.
A truly noticeable addition this year was the abundance of activities
for children. Circus acts and workshops gave the daytime much more of a
carnival atmosphere, and the kids ran loose with their own weekend
liberties.
The line up this year was as diverse as it was colourful – electro in
droves, hip hop from the political to the preacher, with our own Dr
Strangeways playing the best set I’ve seen them put together, with many
goers asking “Are these guys from Melbourne?’ This stirred things
up for the interstate travellers.
But the highlight for me was Friday night’s set by The Barons Of Tang.
They played to a big draw, with the nosebleed section turning into a
dusty maelstrom of limbs and bodies. Notes played like surgeons with
tommy guns for tools, fuelled by strings and horns, the amphetamine
gypsy sound was one of the coolest shows I’ve ever heard. Assault after
glorious assault.
Double bass, piano accordion and percussion are the new rock and roll!
The only regret taken away was there was no theatre seats to rip up.
LETTERS: What
consultation?
Sir – One of the outcomes of the Planning Forum in 2008 was to set up a
steering committee of mostly local people.
The terms of reference stated: “The Minister shall approve and
authorise the public release of the appropriate record of meetings of
the Steering Committee within 28 days days of the meeting by way of the
website www.futurealice.nt.gov.au.”
On December 5, 2009, we discovered that neither the minutes nor terms
of reference were on the website.
On December 6 we emailed the co-chairs of the committee, and on the 9th
we received copies of the minutes and posted them on
www.alicerural.org/index.php but they are still not on the NTG website.
Sometime before February 7, 2010, the “blind” link to them was removed
from the NTG website.
At their inaugural meeting, Co-chair Minister Karl Hampton said: “The
formation of the steering committee ... is an exciting opportunity for
the members and the community to shape the future Alice Springs.”
Co-chair Mayor Damien Ryan said: “This is a very exciting time for
Alice Springs and the formation of this steering committee is a first
and extraordinary opportunity for Alice Springs to define and model its
future.”
Member Brendan Meney said: “Achieving these outcomes will require
extensive consultation ...”
And yet at the next meeting, without involving the community, the
committee discussed “the responsibility ... to secure the Northern
Territory Government support to proceed with the Arid Zone Research
Institute (AZRI) land and the provision of suitable and affordable land
for housing.”
In the July 7, 2009 meeting the committee noted “the need for broad,
regular and continuous communications ... to ensure the community and
key stakeholders are kept fully informed and to ensure the Northern
Territory Government and Committee has the opportunity to respond to
any information generated.”
At the August 7, 2009 meeting the Alice Springs Rural Area Association
(ASRAA) was flagged as a key stakeholder by the Steering Committee, but
no contact for that purpose has ever been made.
At the November meeting the Steering Committee received the documents
for the proposed AZRI development.
They recorded that “the Steering Committee must express concern that
insufficient time has been made available to formally evaluate and
consider the documents to ensure the information will effectively and
efficiently satisfy the possible and probable future demands of Alice
Springs”.
The Steering Committee determined to “undertake a full and complete
evaluation of the above mentioned documents with the intention of
providing a response to the Minister for Lands and Planning as a result
of a special Steering Committee meeting to be held in Alice Springs on
November 23, 2009, and that a response be conveyed during a meeting
with the Minister” between November 24 and 26.
While the documents before them were in confidence, they still could
have discussed the issue with ASRAA. No contact was made.
They met on November 23 and stated “there is no apparent reason to
inhibit the commencement of public consultation for the development of
land south of the Gap for residential housing” although “an initial
review ... has found many anomalies and ... a full and complete
evaluation has not been undertaken”.
So, while no “full and complete evaluation” took place, no contact with
ASRAA had been made, the next day the Minister released this proposed
Planning Scheme Amendment.
We asked the department on December 6 (before we had access to the
minutes) for a meeting with the committee. It was pointed out that they
were not meeting again until February, after the initial closing date
for submissions!
So much for the “extensive consultation”, or any form of
transparency. This process is an insult to the people of Alice
Springs.
Furthermore, at its August 2003 meeting I believe the Town Council
passed a motion that it would activate its own policy of public
consultation, and consult with the ASRAA about planning issues south of
the Gap.
The council has NEVER implemented that decision.
Rod Cramer, Chair
Alice Springs Rural Area Association Inc.
ADAM'S
APPLE: Back in the best bush town.
In true Australian tradition, our capital city was created to settle an
argument. Canberra was invented because Melbourne didn’t want Sydney to
be the capital.
Before 1927 the parliament of Australia sat in Melbourne. Sydney always
knew this would be a temporary situation and wanted the capital for
itself. Clever Melbournians passed a law to ban Sydney from ever being
the capital of Australia. It’s amazing that with all this bickering
about whose city was more prestigious anything got done at all. Good to
see some things never change.
Our forefathers loved a competition too. Our flag was designed through
a competition, as was our capital and our national anthem was the
subject of several competitions and polls.
Canberra is a very pretty place. Poplar trees and rolling hills blend
seamlessly with the avenues and circuses that make up the majority of
the CBD. It doesn’t take too much imagination to remember that this
city, our country’s capital was, less than 100 years ago, plonked on
top of a paddock.
But despite its rural outlook, Canberra is a thriving city. In fact,
there are some similarities between the “biggest bush town”, as
Australian Capital Territorians like to call it and “the best bush
town” as Northern Territorians call the Alice.
Like Alice Springs, Canberra has a higher than natural population of
public servants. In fact, apart from being the national capital, it
could well be argued that Canberra is also the lanyard capital of the
world. You’re no one unless you have a small card emblazoned with your
face and name hanging from a neck loop.
While many government workers here in Alice Springs jump into the
troopy and drive hundreds of kilometres, the other Territorians jump
into the Range Rover and weekend in Batemans Bay. Like Alice, Canberra
enjoys the perks of a high public service. Relative affluence for much
of the population is a common theme.
Ridiculous rental and housing prices are also shared by the two places.
Like Alice Springs, the powers that be feel that releasing land for
housing is a chore done only under enormous sufferance.
The military are present in great numbers too. However while the
military here in Alice Springs like to do their business out of public
view, in Canberra the trappings of military might are displayed for all
to see. Royal Military College is as impressive a campus as any in the
world.
While spending a week in the “other Territory”, I enjoyed all that a
small but impressive city had to offer. I ate multicultural food in
metropolitan cafés. I shopped at stores with outrageously chic
shop attendants. I went to plays and a megaplex cinema. And I went to
shopping centres with chain stores.
It was in such a store that I realized just how lucky we are to live in
Alice Springs.
I was indulging my brief stint in a city by seeking out the big chain
stores. Computing stores, clothing stores and finally, a large and
relatively new book supermarket. This book supermarket is Nirvana for
book lovers. Its warm coloured walls and acres of bookshelves
seductively invite the consumer to enter. The leather chairs and the
globally franchised coffee shop keep you in the store adding to your
booty of books.
I was standing in this Shangri-La when a strange feeling came upon me.
I was looking through these wonderful books and, for just a moment, I
forgot that I was in Canberra. In fact for a small period of time, I
could not have told you where it was that I was.
I could have been anywhere, in Canberra or in any of the 45 other
franchises dotted around the country.
These mega chains are wonderful and seductive and we yearn for them
here in Alice Springs. But every single one of them looks exactly like
each other. There is no room for individuality. No local identity.
There is a reason we live in Alice Springs. It is a unique place and
just as seductive as the megaplexes without compromising its identity.
Back
to our
home page.