University researchers found that oil and gas industry propaganda is telling only part of the fracking story, writes Naomi Hogan of Lock the Gate NT.
Story Archive » Volume 23 » Issue 8 »
Alice electrician powers largest independent hospital ship
Local sparkie Nathan Foote (pictured) gives charity a hand looking after thousands of people in Africa needing medical care, writes Melissa Mason of Mercy Ships Australia.
Opal fuel turns 10
The low aromatic fuel has cut sniffing by almost 88% in 17 communities but some servos still refuse to stock it, writes Blair McFarland (pictured).
Fresh breeze of confidence in the CBD
New style convenience store, bakery take up corners of the Alice Plaza. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
‘Average kids’ make up half of those in care
Dysfunctional homes my be driving them into the care of the state. By ERWIN CHLANDA. IMAGE from the Facebook site Abandoned Prams of Central Australia. FULL STORY »
Family ties ‘could feature in Indigenous tourism’
Professor Rolf Gerritsen (pictured) says combine obligations to rellies with guiding tourists, writes CDU Media Officer Katie Weiss.
Will shale gas fracking release greenhouse gasses?
“Clean” Territory gas would have dangerous methane as by-product writes Naomi Hogan (pictured), of the Lock the Gate Alliance NT.
Strengthening public interest in government advertising
No taxpayers’ money for political advertisements pledges Michael Gunner (pictured), writes media advisor.
Council millions for cradle to grave welfare schemes
Central Desert Regional Council which, on a per-capita basis has a budget six times greater than the Alice Springs Town Council, is fine-tuning activities in child and aged care, education, law and order and the local economy. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
Grog: Stop TBL, bring back BDR, says CLC
Central Land Council also calls for more government support for victims of “extreme rate of alcohol consumption”. PHOTO: Tipping out alcohol outside the Congress shop in 1990. Alice Springs News Online archive.
Darwin gets ‘vibrant’ minister, not Alice: Lambley
But Gunner will work with the town council to breathe life into the Mall, writes Robyn Lambley (pictured).
Growing food up north? Small is clever.
Our north the nation’s food bowl? Self-sufficiency may be a good start. ERWIN CHLANDA reports. Photo: David de Vries with a planting pot he designed for outback conditions.
Royal Commission’s broad inquiry: ‘the way kids live their lives’
“The difficulty will be to draw together all these strands into recommendations that can be implemented.” KIERAN FINNANE reports. FULL STORY »
Election of Trump could impact Alice Springs: Mayor
Pine Gap is significant to the economy, employment in Alice Springs, says Damien Ryan. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
UPDATE November 10, 10:30am: “Donald Trump Doesn’t Understand the Value of US Bases Overseas.”
FULL STORY »
Fracking survey details will not be released
Pauline Cass (pictured) disagrees with the Government’s version of what happened with online submissions on the fracking inquiry. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
UPDATE 4:45pm: Vowles slams lid on submissions.
UPDATE October 16: “Open and transparent fracking consultation” claims Lauren Moss, Minister for Environment. FULL STORY »
UPDATE October 20: No details of the survey to be released.
Call for more ‘investment’ for ‘largest land owning group’
Northern Land Council CEO Joe Morrison (pictured) grapples with the notion that Aborigines are land rich but development poor. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
UPDATE 1am November 9.
Major reforms underway in youth justice, child protection
“If we just keep locking kids up, we just keep growing the business of locking kids up,” says newly appointed Deputy CEO of Territory Families, Jeanette Kerr.
Interview by KIERAN FINNANE. FULL STORY »
Woman’s face bashed during home invasion
And children steal 17 mobile phones and $1000 worth of grog, police allege. FULL STORY »
Namatjira project: a film and a legacy
After six years the Big hART project has reached an ending of sorts but hopes for a lasting legacy. KIERAN FINNANE reports. FULL STORY »
Demand for middle-range homes grows three-fold: agent.
Stamp duty relief, renovation grant maKe “amazing difference,” says real estate Steffi Hart (pictured). Report by ERWIN CHLANDA.
Everyday realities dosed with humour and hope: TV series
These are stories “the world doesn’t see”, said co-director Warren H Williams at the premiere of all four episodes of the series Our Place. KIERAN FINNANE reviews. FULL STORY »
Council president arrested for aggravated assault
His arrest co-incides with the launch of the Central Desert Regional Council’s Family Wellbeing Strategy. ERWIN CHLANDA reports. PHOTO: President Adrian Dixon.
UPDATE October 18
Judges and people on song for Wearable Art’s top prize
“Queen Aero Naughtical” got the tick, a homage to pioneer women pilots. Words by KIERAN FINNANE, photos by ERWIN CHLANDA. FULL STORY »
RSPCA loses court case against cattleman
Failure to have cattle de-horning declared as animal cruelty is a “significant win for the pastoral industry,” says defendant’s lawyer. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
UPDATE October 17: The RSPCA replies.
‘China visit focus should be on renewables, not fossil fuels’
China is the world’s biggest investor in non-fossil energy. Gunner should have talked about that, not gas, writes Jimmy Cocking.
Traynor’s Alice Springs: more than tale of heroic white men
This new book drives home just how heavily imprinted on the present town map is its colonial history, but author Stuart Traynor tells a more multifaceted story. KIERAN FINNANE reviews. FULL STORY »
Before and after that famous handful of sand
Historian Charlie Ward’s book, A Handful of Sand, recasts the moment not as the start of something, but as coming in the middle of a process of enormous social change. KIERAN FINNANE spoke with the author. FULL STORY »
Alice Turf Club silent on financial issues
Taxpayer funding puts “issues” into the public interest domain. Club chairman Craig Lambley is in the centre of the photo. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
Youth detention Royal Commission can summons parents
The decision to do so lies with the counsels assisting, Peter Callaghan SC (left) and Tony McAvoy SC (right). ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
Beef producers to be surveyed on fracking
Results will go to the AGM of the Cattlemen’s Association in March and to the NT Government, says Tracey Hayes (pictured). ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
A Dorothy Dixers free day and pollies’ interests on web
… and the Speaker will be an Independent, Kezia Purick at the moment, says Natasha Fyles (pictured).
‘Town council neglects its duty of care over Pine Gap’
Alice has no civil defence measures in case of a nuclear attack on the base, writes Bevan Ramsden, of Lambton, NSW. PHOTO: Kristian Laemmle-Ruff.
Top female police officer takes new role
The role, in Territory Families, brings together domestic violence, child protection and youth justice under one coordinated umbrella. FULL STORY »
Tourism, parks under one hat: great opportunity
An Indigenous cultural centre in Alice Springs, tourism from Asia, the revheads’ NATS, battling buffel and the Parrtjima festival (pictured) are all works in progress. ERWIN CHLANDA speaks with new Minister Lauren Moss.
Fiasco in government’s fracking survey
The website recording comments wasn’t working for part of the brief consultation period. Fracking opponents demand an extension of the deadline. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
UPDATE 10:10am.
More doubts on Gunner’s fracking policies
Advisory body’s focus is far too narrow, says Katherine action group as deadline for public comment nears. ERWIN CHLANDA reports. PHOTO provided by the group shows industrialisation of the hydraulically fractured Jonah shale Gasfield, USA.
See UPDATES.
Tuesday, 5:40pm: The exploration licence given by the Giles Government to Origin just days before the election will not permit the company to use fracking while the new government’s moratorium is in place. FULL STORY »
Yuendumu break-ins: culprits are small children
A reliable source says they smashed windows, damaged cars and in one office, set light to files. Aged eight to 10, they will not be prosecuted, say police, who are working with the children’s families. KIERAN FINNANE reports.
Homes get cheaper, web buying hammers traders
Boost as new government brings back stamp duty rebate for first home buyers, says senior industry source. PHOTO: The industrial area where the commercial and industrial rental market struggles.
Industry, government working together sparked visitor boom
Generous grants to operators for promotion and infrastructure improvements went a long way, says Rex Neindorf (pictured at left in the photo), of the iconic Reptile Centre. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
Prisoner rehab missing or inadequate: Hamburger review
Some prisoners “sentenced to a job” were declining parole so that they could keep their paid work, a “perverse consequence” of the over-emphasised scheme which came at a cost to other programs. KIERAN FINNANE reports. FULL STORY »
Drunken violence on NT women massively above Oz average
… and only in the NT the rate for women exceeds the rate for men: Curtin University study. ERWIN CHLANDA reports. PHOTO: Altercation in the CBD.
  FULL STORY »
Thousands share in the fun as Masters Games start
A torrent of people parading through Todd Mall last night to usher in the 16th Masters Games. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
Put detention millions to better use, Royal Commission told
It’s money going “down the drain” if you want to rehabilitate. KIERAN FINNANE reports from the Royal Commission’s visit to Yuendumu. FULL STORY »
Council’s one sentence Pine Gap policy is 30 years old
… and the impending review has no guidelines. When it comes to the “space base” local government sees no evil, hears no evil and speaks no evil. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
Tourism bonanza in final CLP year
Town outperformed The Rock in 2015-16, says the research. Alice is being seen as a destination in its own right rather than a place on the way to somewhere else, says Chamber of Commerce CEO Kay Eade. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
Government silent on unsupervised street kids in its care
Department for a new CEO, Ken Davies (pictured) but kept its old habits of lacking transparency. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
UPDATE 11:35am with information from the department.
Volunteers are beating buffel
The Old Eastside’s Spencer Valley has turned into a sea of yellow flowers. The grey clump is dead buffel. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
UPDATE October 28: St Philip’s students in war on buffel.
Pine Gap: protection or threat?
Bigger and more powerful than ever, Pine Gap is part of “a great upsurge” in American military presence in Australia, an expert tells a packed public meeting in Alice Springs. KIERAN FINNANE reports. FULL STORY »
Despite protests Pine Gap bigger, more powerful than ever
The biggest and hardest lesson from past campaigns is that we are now much further from closing Pine Gap than we were (or at least we thought we were) 30 years ago, writes RUSSELL GOLDFLAM. FULL STORY »
Pine Gap: Important talks but who was listening?
Pine Gap protests: Days of debate ignored by most. By ERWIN CHLANDA. Photo: Senator Scott Ludlam (black shirt) speaking at the gates to Pine Gap.
UPDATE 11:30am
UPDATE 1:45pm
UPDATE 10:42pm on October 4.
CLP preselected some wrong people, says Steve Brown
The Country Liberal Party chose the wrong candidates, says Steve Brown (pictured), long-time member and candidate for Araluen. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
Greens Senator: Investigate those who led us into the Iraq war
Scott Ludlam (pictured) tells Pine Gap public forum that the Australian Prime Minister’s office is just another “jointly operated outpost” of the United States. ERWIN CHLANDA reports. FULL STORY »
Red faces for Federal police bringing peace activists to court
They forgot to apply the letter of the law and the charges were thrown out. KIERAN FINNANE reports. Pictured from left, activists Tim Webb, Franz Dowling, Jim Dowling and Margaret Pestorious. Not shown, Andy Paine. FULL STORY »
‘Out of home care’ system broken, Royal Commission told
Children are consigned to untrained staff, long waiting lists for counselling and health needs, hasty reunification with family who are then not supported to care for them: these are among the failings of the ‘out of home care’ system. KIERAN FINNANE reports from yesterday’s community meeting with Royal Commissioners Mick Gooda and Margaret White (pictured). FULL STORY »
Aboriginal sites authority gave no cultural advice
Claim by festival organisers are contested. ERWIN CHLANDA reports. PICTURED are Giles Wesley (left), lighting projection artist, and Anthony Bastic, director of light, from AGB Events, at the launch of the event last Friday.
‘This beautiful body of knowledge’ at the Strehlow Centre
SHAUN ANGELES, an Indigenous Repatriation Researcher at the centre, speaks of working with a collection whose essence is “all about sacred land management practice and human wellbeing management”. FULL STORY »
Historian, archeologist changed ‘imagination of a nation’
And “there is no one who has done more work on the Central Australia of 100 years ago and there probably never will be”, according to Alice Springs historian Dick Kimber. FULL STORY »
Pool ban: Councillors have ‘no power to direct or control staff’
They are “more like a board” and the Local Government Act denies them hands-on management, says Cr Eli Melky (pictured).
Batchelor Institute students get 149 certificates
But the training facility is mum on some questions about jobs for students and its budget. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
75,000 domestic violence cases in three years
Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw (pictured) calls for a Violent Offender Register so people like Carlie Sinclair don’t have to die any more.
Festival in Light ignores local advice, talent
A dreamtime story, millions of taxpayers’ dollars and the local creative community left out in the cold: The Festival in Light gets heavy. ERWIN CHLANDA reports. Video: The hunter and the dog on Mount Gillen.
White guilt flopped but Okine’s braggadocio worked
Comedian Matt Okine (pictured) takes aim at cooking shows, haters on social media, the badness of Mondays and vegan guilt, writes reviewer MORGAN RICHARDS.
Ironman barred from pool says he is denied natural justice
Council firm on six month trespass notice, makes offer which Kevin Coyle (pictured) considers “unsuitable”. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
SA power cost blow-out: Some will say I told you so.
When the wind stopped electricity costs in South Australia went through the roof, writes Tony Wood, of the Grattan Institute.
Benefactor was there at the start of huge art movement
$100,000 birthday present for Olive Pink Garden from Peter Fannin (pictured), one of the co-founders of the world famous dot painting movement. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
Alanya making ‘dreams come true and bigger’
Young people from Warburton Ranges celebrate contemporary youth culture on the Ngaanyatjarra lands and lay the foundation of a social enterprise. KIERAN FINNANE reports. FULL STORY »
Misleading zoo comparison as wallabies get blasted with light
Spin doctors are getting into high gear ahead of Chief Minister Michael Gunner’s dinner to launch the Festival in Light. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
UPDATE 3:45pm
UPDATE 12:50pm September 23
Domestic violence: criminal justice system ‘not suitable for purpose’, says Coroner
Two deaths that were the subject of the recent coronial inquest into “extreme domestic violence” were the tipping point for Coroner Greg Cavanagh. KIERAN FINNANE reports on his findings, handed down this morning. FULL STORY »
Government stops ‘excessive surcharges’ by taxis
Taxi credit card charges reduced from 10% to 5%, night rides must be pre-paid, writes SIMON SAUNDERS, of the NT Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics.
UPDATE September 30, 1:45pm re surcharges
Little kids have the key to our future
Talking, reading, playing and lots of praise: It all needs to happen in the first thee years of our children’s lives, says Congress CEO Donna Ah Chee (pictured) in her keynote address to the Chronic Diseases Network Conference. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
Fresh irregularities at Lhere Artepe native title body
ORIC takes elected officials, included Rosalie Kunoth-Monks (pictured) to task over suspension of members, decisions at meetings, appointment of directors. EXCLUSIVE by ERWIN CHLANDA.
Groundwork laid for NT film industry future
After 12 years at the helm of Screen Territory, retiring director Penelope McDonald looks back on the industry’s progress and forwards to her own future. KIERAN FINNANE reports. FULL STORY »
Storm in the town pool: Ironman banned
Swimmer training for international event says he’s left high and dry for six month without coherent explanation. PHOTO: Mates in the pool (left to right) Deanne Ward, Tamara Shirvington, Nat Stepan, Lynn Treis, Fiona Coyle, Kevin Coyle, Duncan Rogers.
UPDATE: 11am September 23
The apple a day message got a bit more complicated
Single teenage mothers and irresistible energy drinks span a wide range of topics at the Public Health Association conference. ERWIN CHLANDA reports. Photos: Limin Buchanan and Jackie Bradshaw (at right).
Pine Gap: wake-up call for Alice Springs
An artist focusses our attention on the military base about which we have become so blasé, writes KIERAN FINNANE. FULL STORY »
Michele Castagna, 1944 – 2016
The feisty disability advocate and state finalist for Senior Australian of the Year 2015, passed away this morning.
Gunner on fracking: Change of words or heart?
Five words are at the centre of a row between the environmentalist sector and the new Chief Minister. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
Gunner ‘backflipped’ on fracking moratorium
The anti-fracking lobby, which has played a major role in the NT election campaign, is outraged over what new Chief Minister Michael Gunner has announced this morning about the moratorium that was a cornerstone of his policies. ALEC spokeswoman Nicole Pietsch (pictured) has joined the Lock the Gate Alliance in an attack on the new Chief Minister.
UPDATE 4:50pm
For richness and breadth there is nothing like Desert Mob
The annual exhibition from art centres, in its 26th year, offers an inspiring survey of priorities for Aboriginal people in our region. KIERAN FINNANE reports. FULL STORY »
Peace President Obama dispatcher of drones killing innocents
Unmanned warplanes will be the focus of protests and convention talks in Alice Springs as participants call Pine Gap staff “polite murderous citizens” and demand closure of the base. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
Protest at a price?
Permits to protest under Town Council By-laws can cost $80 a day but is this democratic and fair, asks Councillor Jade Kudrenko. KIERAN FINNANE reports. FULL STORY »
Wakefield in inner cabinet. Paech, McConnell assistant ministers.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner (pictured), in the announcement of his team, has apparently re-named the national indigenous art and culture centre in Alice Springs to which both major parties gave much attention in the campaign. It is now called “Iconic Indigenous Art Gallery”. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
We need to bring trust back to government: Dale Wakefield
“I am not afraid of full and frank public discussion,” says the new Member for Braitling (pictured with Federal Member Warren Snowdon). “That’s how we get to good outcomes, to be brave enough to have these difficult conversations.” She spoke with ERWIN CHLANDA.
Stop the light show, says petition to Gunner
The “Parrtjima – A Festival in Light” should be cancelled because it will harm rock wallabies, claims a petition on a global website. ERWIN CHLANDA reports.
The lady who provides the link to outside
Three yellow daisies from a little girl among other gifts marked Enid Harland’s 20 years as volunteer.
Desert ‘mysteries’: start by asking the locals
“Fairy circles”: they sound like something out of a Disney film but the term is actually at the heart of a scientific debate being conducted at the highest level. KIERAN FINNANE reports. FULL STORY »
When an elder is an elder
The term “elder” is generally linked to the person having knowledge and how to be wise to speak on or share the knowledge, writes Michael Liddle, of Alice Springs. FULL STORY »
More rain doubles average winter falls
Some roads may be cut. PHOTO courtesy HANS THOLSTRUP: Low clouds sit on top of the Olgas.
Lambley calls for action on palliative care hospice
The government needs to honour its commitment on palliative care hospice in Alice, writes ROBYN LAMBLEY (pictured).
Flowers to brighten up a rainy day
The annual flower exhibition will open at the Residency this afternoon. ERWIN CHLANDA reports. FULL STORY »
Missing link: no Minister for Local Government
An Assistant Minister for A Vibrant Darwin CBD yet no defined focus on Local Government? Mayor Damien Ryan is concerned. KIERAN FINNANE reports. FULL STORY »
