There has been a lot going on in Clown Town since our last edition, including a certain “senior officer” being stood down…eventually. It’s clearly time once again to wallow in the misdeeds, malfeasance and asinine behaviour of our leaders and explore that sweet corruption-incompetence nexus that makes us all feel at home in the Great Territory Lifestyle.
The proposed Darwin civic centre should convey a powerful sense of place, honour its surroundings, with a design that evokes the memories of one of Australia’s most significant – even if now intangible – places in which it will sit, but what Darwin Council is offering does none of that, writes Dr Peter Forrest.
In a democracy, government should not cut funding to organisations just because they oppose the policies or decisions of that government, writes lawyer Greg Barns, particularly in a place like the Northern Territory, where there is no upper house to keep a check on executive government.
Conducting hazard reduction burns during the Wet is a strange phenomenon, maybe even paranormal, writes Gerry Wood.
The most disturbing and depressing aspect of the performance by the Attorney-General and the DPP is not that it provides further evidence that our court “system” is in collapse but worse – writes barrister John Lawrence – it also shows the community that the leaders within our system choose not to admit the truth, face up to it and demand its rectification.
The inclusion of the Nuclear Waste Prohibition Act in the Territory Coordinator bill could reflect a desire for administrative flexibility to manage projects or decisions that intersect with reactor wastes to be stored in the Northern Territory, writes Justin Tutty.
Tropical houses rose slowly after World War II and proved to be one of life’s great mysteries to boffins in Canberra, and while under threat from their earliest days, they made Darwin unique amongst the capital cities until Cyclone Tracy exposed their fragility, writes elevated house aficionado Steven Andrews.
Coolalinga shows how you can have dense development and still achieve larger size blocks, and that model should be used as a guide for Holtze, which has blocks that are too small, writes Gerry Wood.
Despite vast areas of land owned by NT Aboriginal groups, the fundamental building blocks of a successful market based economy are absent due to land rights legislation, and the suffocating presence of the land councils which sets a self reinforcing cycle of very weak business activity, low school attendance, low educational outcomes, social dysfunction and crime, writes Dr Don Fuller.
Like its government predecessors the Finocchiaro Government has gone down the trajectory of imposing policy violence on First Nations people, when the NT needs progressive thinking with problems solved by community thinkers, not politicians emboldened by their narrowed sense of entitlement, and presumed mandate to impose racialised belief systems, writes Dr Gary Fry.
The NTFL should have an ‘Inclusive’ round, rather than a Pride one, because it would say that no matter who you are, male or female, and no matter your religion, ethnicity, sexuality, or politics, you are still welcome to participate in Australian rules football, writes Gerry Wood.
CDU vice-chancellor Scott Bowman needs to be far more concerned with strengthening the Northern Territory’s democracy, as the staff member he publicly rebuked is, rather than appearing to wish to ingratiate himself with whoever happens to be in power, writes Dr Don Fuller.
