Alice council heading for Donald Trump style dynasty?

By ERWIN CHLANDA
 
Is Alice Springs heading for a Donald Trump style political dynasty?
 
Joshua “Burgs” Burgoyne (at right), a candidate for the town council election on August 26, is engaged to Lisa-Marie Ryan, a daughter of Mayor Damien Ryan.
 
She is his media advisor.
 
One of the main planks of Mr Burgoyne’s election platform is “kerbside recycling to help reduce the amount of waste that goes into landfill, and ultimately, prolong the life of the current waste management facility”.
 
Mayor Ryan is on the record of wanting to keep the landfill in its present place for as long possible, rather than moving it away from what Councillor Steve Brown says is the centre of the municipal area.
 
Cr Brown has suggested Brewer Estate as one of the possible locations for a new landfill site.
 
However, it has been mooted in council to expand the dump to the west where it adjoins the Desert Park national park, a move understood to be opposed by traditional owners.
 
In Cr Brown’s proposal the landfill transfer station would remain in its current location, for the convenience of the public, but the current disposal area – in view of people entering Alice Springs from the south – would be covered with soil and rehabilitated.
 
The change would also allow the re-opening of access to the scenic gullies on the southern flank of the MacDonnell Range, a major potential tourism attraction.
 
Re-opening the road past the transfer station would bring the gullies, all of them leading up to the spectacular ridge top, into easy walking distance from the town’s tourist accommodation precinct.