Seeking details for a book set in The Center

Sir – I am a 76 year old retired Taxation Consultant, now turning to writing.
I have already written and had published six books, mostly on Catholic Religious issues, and two joke books.
I am now writing a fictional account of a young Aboriginal boy who was orphaned at the age of eight months, and taken in by a white family for whom his parents had worked.
Jack and Belinda White, his adoptive parents, are the third generation of their family who own and operate a cattle station somewhere in Northern Territory (near Alice Springs at the moment).
I have a number of questions which I can’t answer, and I am hoping one of your readers may be able to assist. The questions can best be answered by someone who runs a cattle station in NT, and has experienced  drought.
If such a person could write to me at PO Box 164, Coonamble NSW 2829, or phone/ fax on (02)6822 1474, or email at bevellis@dodo.com.au I will tell them what information I am seeking, and reward them with a copy of each of my two joke books (one suitable for children and the other one not), and if they are Catholics, one each of my Catholic books.
Thank you!

Ellis Ryan

Porn advice 

I would like to genuinely say thank you to Frank Baarda of Yuendumu for helping me to understand the indignation behind the sign “If you want porn, go to Canberra”.

I have always felt concerned about the Government Intervention in the Northern Territory. It was so strange to send in the army when people needed doctors and medical centres. It didn’t involve consultation with Aboriginal people so the changes could build on some good programs that were already happening.

I wonder how things are now. Are they better or worse or the same? What is needed now?

Rosemary Walters

Palmerston ACT 2913

Sept 8, 2011

Where is John?

Sir – It’s a year today, August 1, that John McDouall Stuart’s statue was unveiled and still this gift to the Alice Springs community is hidden from sight.

What is happening and when will the statue be erected on the council lawns where it is meant to be?

I and many others do not approve of this cowardly behaviour of the mayor and others who have decided to hide our gift away from view.

It is time elected members represented the democratic rights of the people and ignored the rantings of left wing green bigots with their concerted efforts to move our towns and country into a future of Communist rule.

We have moved a great distance from freedoms we value under our democratic system in the western world to be bullied and abused by a minority of socialist extremists.

These people continue  to attack our freedoms and penalise those who work in the private sector,  the true creators of economic growth and wealth in a free western country.

We are rapidly being stifled by a burgeoning bureaucracy that  removes our freedoms and places restraints upon our lives at all levels.

Quite frankly, this just removes the joy of being a true Aussie.

Our start here in Alice is easy. Stand up and be heard. We want our statue. Our gift on the lawns of council for all to see and to say clearly to those socialist extremists we will not be bullied and threatened any more.

And let’s all pray that our stand sends a strong message to the rest of Australia.

We are the majority and this is our country and we will no long allow socialist extremists to remove our Aussie way.

The Australian way is back and there is no room for socialist propaganda.

Oh, and by the way Mayor Damian Ryan and elected aldermen: By the end of the month we the people want to see our statue unveiled on our council lawns. This is not a request. Do the right thing by our town.

Janet Brown

Alice Springs

NT tops the chart

Tenants in the Northern Territory are paying more rent per room compared to the rest of the nation.

A study of our website’s users and types of accommodation on offer shows that NT tenants are paying on average $809 a month per room, while Victorian tenants are paying an average of $553 per month, making it the cheapest state in Australia.

Other states: WA $672, NSW $650, SA $607, Queensland $600 and Tasmania $585.

Michal Nowak

Easyroommate

Melbourne

She knows how we feel

Sir – I’m glad that Rosemary Walters took umbrage to the Yuendumu “if u want porn go to Canberra” signs. She proved the very point we tried to make.

To stereotype whole communities as being dysfunctional and infested with drunks and paedophiles, as was done with the Northern Territory Emergency Response (The Intervention) is highly offensive and unjust. To paraphrase Rosemary: “I live here and I don’t think Yurntumu-wardingki are very interested in porn. Before the Intervention many people here had never heard of pornography.” Yet we’ve lived in the shadow of the “No Alcohol No Pornography” signs for over three years.

Frank Baarda

Yuendumu

Prisoners who need to stay behind bars

Sir – Prisoners convicted of sexual offences, who are likely to re-offend, can be kept behind bars, under a plan by the Country Liberals.

The Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act will see criminals who are still considered dangerous stay behind bars.

If there are prisoners who authorities believe will commit further crimes on their release, we will make sure they stay where they belong – in jail.

This is not a form of double jeopardy, where the prisoner is sentenced to another term for the same crime; rather it’s an order of indefinite detention to protect the community.

There is similar legislation in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, and it’s time the Northern Territory moved to keep dangerous criminals behind bars.

Under the plan, the Attorney General can apply to the Supreme Court for “Public Protection Orders” which would allow a prisoner to stay in jail beyond their head sentence.

The government would have to convince the Supreme Court there was a high chance the prisoner would re-offend.

Meanwhile the Northern Territory continues to lead the country in violent assaults.

A compilation of Bureau of Statistics figures released today (July 26) show the Territory has the highest number of violent assaults in the country.

During the 2009-10 financial year, there were 6,800 instances of physical assault in the Territory, meaning 5.3% of the adult population were on the receiving end of violent crime.

The next worst jurisdiction is Western Australia with a 3.9% rate of physical assault, followed by Queensland (3.5%); South Australia (3.3%); Tasmania (2.9%); ACT (2.7%); Victoria (2.6%) and New South Wales (2.4%).

While there has been a slight reduction in physical assaults against the previous 12 months, the level of violent assault in the Territory continues to come from a very high base, but I suspect it’s on the way up again.

The ABS figures show Territorians are also the most likely to be the victims of malicious property damage, car theft and break-ins in the country.

The Government should release the latest crime statistics immediately.”

John Elferink

Shadow Justice Minister (Country Liberals)

RSPCA ‘radicals’

Sir – Far from being the “protector” of animals that they claim to be, the RSPCA is showing they are nothing but a bunch of radical extremists, hell bent on ruining the Northern Territory economy and putting hundreds of families onto the welfare queue.

The RSPCA’s recent online publication for schools focusing on northern Australia’s live cattle trade demonstrates they are more interested in misleading students and teachers and creating economic and social mayhem than they are about animal (or human) welfare.

The ‘resource for schools’ lifts the veil on the RSPCA and shows their true colours, which are out of step with educational values and highlights their hidden agendas. Through this supposed educational resource they are misrepresenting an industry that is the lifeblood of the Territory and is a vital social component of the country.

Rather than work with graziers to assist in lifting Indonesia’s animal welfare standards, they call for a complete ban on all live exports. The consequence of this would be tens of thousands of cattle slowly starving or being shot where they stand on Territory and Australian farms, while at the same time ceding all influence over what standards apply overseas.

It shows the RSPCA has no regard for the protein needs of some of our poorest neighbours and no regard for Australia’s quarantine risks if a country like Indonesia is forced to source beef from countries not declared foot and mouth disease free.

Providing material for students and teachers that is not linked to the curriculum shows how little the RSPCA is concerned about proper and decent student education. Far from being a “non-government, community-based charity dedicated to protecting the welfare of all animals – great and small, the RSPCA is showing themselves up as not being a friend of the Northern Territory and its people.

All Territorians and Australians, especially those in the north, should visit the site before considering supporting the RSPCA – there are plenty of other non-profit groups that care for animals but don’t pose such a threat to our way of life.

Kezia Purick

NT Shadow Primary Industry Minister

Government doesn’t care about animal welfare

Sir –  Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig’s decision to lift the ban on live cattle exports to Indonesia—despite the fact that Australian officials have not inspected any Indonesian abattoirs and there is no system in place to ensure that cattle are stunned prior to slaughter—shows that the government doesn’t care about animal welfare.

Instead of requiring Indonesian abattoirs to make meaningful animal welfare improvements, Australia’s government has bowed to pressure from the livestock industry. This comes less than a month after footage showing horrific cruelty in Indonesian abattoirs—including cattle being beaten and having their throats hacked and their eyes gouged out—aired on ABC’s “Four Corners”, sparking massive public outrage.

While the public is rightfully shocked by this cruelty, PETA has known about this and similar abuses occurring in the live export industry for years. In 2006, after a joint PETA and Animals Australia investigation showing abattoir workers in Cairo chasing cattle, slashing the animals’ tendons and beating them with heavy metal poles, Australia temporarily halted live exports to Egypt, but these too have since resumed.

Living beings should not be treated worse than cheap cargo. It’s time for Australia to do the right thing and ban all live animal exports for good. To learn more, visit PETAAsiaPacific.com.

Jason Baker

Director, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Australia

Carbon tax pre-empted?

Sir – A comment on the purchase of Henbury Station by the Federal Government in cohorts with a private company R M Williams.

Have I missed something? Has the Parliament already legislated a carbon trading scheme?

If not, why are we pre-empting that legislation by buying up productive land for carbon sequestration?

How long do we allow the absolutely ridiculous speculation in carbon trading schemes to continue before we put a stop to what amounts to blatant land speculation?

A new round of the schools and insulation fiascos?

If allowed to continue unchecked, proposals such as these will eventually threaten the food security of our nation.

The announced purchase of Henbury Station just to the south of Alice Springs serves to highlight the absolutely farcical nature of these poorly thought out opportunistic carbon sequestration schemes.

It’s proposed to de-stock the property, supposedly allowing it to return to a “natural state” which would apparently sequester more carbon than it presently does.

But would it? The property will only grow what the rainfall will allow. Given that cattle eat grass, not trees, I think you will find the property already supports the number of trees per acre that it will naturally grow.

De-stocking will result in more grassy growth which when left uneaten will result in more fires.

Repeated fires lessen the fertility of the soils resulting in the suppression of tree growth which eventually results in grassy plains which means more fires and eventually hardly any trees at all.

So you end up with no carbon sequestration, no pastoral industry, no income, and no jobs for locals. What a great outcome!

Removing food-producing acreage lessens not just our nation’s but the world’s total food supply.

Given that we are not producing enough to feed the world, the removal of any production means somewhere somebody starves!

How long before that person becomes us? Further, if our nation is dumb enough to foster this and other proposals like it, why in the hell are we doing so in conjunction with outsiders, instead of the people who live in the immediate surrounds?

These are people who have depended for generations on the surrounding pastoral industry for work. This entire proposal is a threat to The Centre’s viability, traditions, and lifestyle! It must be stopped.

Steve Brown

Alice Springs

We welcome your comments:

Email: letters@alicespringsnews.com.a