Another week in the Territory and there is now no hotter place. From humour to help us out, to cognitive dissonance on the fifth floor to the Chief Minister liking the federal Liberal leader more than the federal Labor leader.
Congrats and that
The NT Media awards were held last weekend and there were some excellent examples of reporting, some on not necessarily sexy topics, but it is important work for the greater community good. We say congratulations to the winners and all the journalists, photographers, camos, hosts, and producers who do work for the betterment of the Northern Territory. There is perhaps no other place in Australia where it is more important to have a strong media. You can find the full list of winners here.
Excellence in journalism is good
Some light reading/viewing from the NT’s best
And here are links to the some of the winners’ work
Best print/text news coverage (and journalist/photojournalist of the year): Jano Gibson, ABC, Trouble At The Track: Darwin Turf Club’s $12 Million Grant
Best feature writing and best indigenous affairs reporting: Kylie Stevenson and Tamara Howie, The Walkley Magazine and The Saturday Paper, The Land the NDIS Forgot
Best television/radio news coverage: Jano Gibson, ABC, The Great Australian Nightmare: Darwin’s Building Bungle
Best current affairs or feature: Jane Bardon, Owain Stia-James and The Background Briefing team, How fracking could threaten Australia’s Paris target
Best online coverage: Nina Funnell, NT News online, #LetHerSpeak
Best sports journalism: Jano Gibson, ABC, The Last Ride: A Raging Bull and a Fearless Cowboy
Best crime reporting: Zarisha Bradley, 9news.com.au, Jason Challis’ family refused closure
Pete Davies Memorial campaigning journalism award: Henry Zwartz and Lauren Roberts, ABC News, Indigenous sexual abuse survivor gets justice after 50 year-long fight
Visual storytelling: 7.30 ABC TV, The family of Kumanjayi Walker calls for justice
Young journalist of the year: Sowaibah Hanifie, ABC Darwin 7pm, ABC News 24 TV, ABC News online and ABC Darwin radio news, Body of Work
However
However it took a big dose of cognitive dissonance for Chief Minister Michael Gunner’s spin diva Maria Billias to rock up to the awards. Chief Minister Michael Gunner was not there probably because of the possibility he would have to face NT Independent editor Chris Walsh. Senior ABC reporter and Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance representative Jane Bardon gave a speech that included a condemnation of the Gunner Government’s banning of the NT Independent; a statement that received applause.
It must have been an uncomfortable moment for Ms Billias, who on one hand is a self-proclaimed co-architect of the banning of the NT Independent from government press conferences and from getting information from the apolitical public service, which means Mr Gunner and his MLAs are breaking the Legislative Assembly (Members‘ Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards) Act 2008. Daily. Ms Billias, who conveniently took a job as a journalist in between stints of being a Labor spin diva, and in the weeks before Labor came to power again, wrote an opinion piece about politician’s finding it easier to attack the media than take a good hard look at themselves.
“The ‘blame the media’ public relations strategy has always rankled me. It’s the avenue of the lazy. The beaten. Those unwilling to weather the accountability that comes with being in public office,” she wrote.
“Without the tenacity of some NT journalists, many a Government scandal would not have been uncovered.”
And she is very right. The NT Independent in its short life has uncovered government scandal.
It is such a shame there are very obviously two Maria Billiases who live in Darwin. One who works as a journalist and advocates for the free press, and one who is the Territory’s most powerful political spin doctor – earning a taxpayer funded wage the journalist Billias could never dream of – and contravenes that principle.
There must be two because surely no one person could keep two such diametrically opposed beliefs in their head.
Cognitive dissonance is gammon.
The Territory is a joke
It is easy to think the punchline is just how the Territory is run. But the Top End Comedy Spectacular might create something to laugh at that doesn’t end in manic sobbing. It is hosted by Rove McManus and includes performers Akmal Saleh, Peter Helliar, Wendy Harmer, and DarwnianAmy Hetherington
You can book tickets by following the links on our events page.
Laughter is good
What you said is good n’ gammon
Alan Karslake: trumples ego gets to a venue several days before he physically attends and the audience can’t get enough of his fairy tales. Sir Gunner do Farkall Good, gets into the venues before his ego and arranges the seating so that when his ego arrives they won’t hurt each other.
Brent L Shinners: How is it a loss for Trump? The media doesn’t dictate results. There is a process to these things. You’re manipulating the truth.
Pam Lang: I would like to tell You but, ………it’s a secret…….
Guy Bennetts: Trump and Gunner be like school at 3am. No Class
Rick Ute: NEWS FLASH !!!! TRUMP IS A ………
Labor Chief Minister Mr Gunner recently announced his BFF is Liberal Prime Minister Scott Morrison, referring to him as “the boss” and celebrating it on Facebook with a picture of the two bumping elbows.
Two men who were very happy to see each other and we not ashamed to show it. If you know what we mean.
So we guess we shouldn’t find it strange that when federal Labor Opposition leader Anthony Albanese – or Albo as he likes to call himself in an attempt to appear like a normal Aussie bloke, but best known for DJing like a madman back in the 90s – skipped into Darwin and gave an opportunity for the local party faithful to get up close and personal with the latest Canberra weirdo to keep the leadership chair. And pictures were spilt like stale beer onto Facebook of bad Albo with high profile Territory laborites including Natasha Fyles, and anyone who had ever even owned a piece of red clothing, but Scotty’s Mick was not amongst them. Not that we could see. Although, interestingly, potential future chief minister Sleepy Joel Bowden was.
Was Scotty’s Mick too busy saving lives and saving jobs?
But seriously, which one does not want to be seen publicly with the other? And more importantly why? Politicians like them would strangle a croc with a relatively short piece of decaying dental floss, gut it with their teeth and use the hide as a coat, then climb Mt. Everest barefoot while listening to Justin Bieber and cannibalising their climbing partner to survive, with 10,000 volt shock-clamps attached to their genitals, to get a photo together and get it in the media or punch it onto social media.
Or were they worried if they did a press conference together they would have to talk about the Darwin Port lease?
But if you do a Google image search for Gunner and Albanese there are no pictures of them together either.
Far be it from us to speculate. Oh, we just did.
We fixed it for you. Feel free to bang it on Facebook Chief. *Digitally altered image
A big week for two world leaders
An image – for no good reason- merging the faces of Chief Minister Michael Gunner and US President Donald Trump
Scotty’s Mick, who once said New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinta Ardern asked him for advice on COVID-19, and had been keeping count of how many National Cabinets he has been to (for those who have lost count, he told the Legislative Assembly it was 30), presented his first budget as treasurer this week, which was the touching and beautiful, and continuing story of a government spending beyond its means. It has not been well received. And US President Donald Trump lost the election which he took much more poorly than the NT public did the level of debt. But bad week for both men. And who knows what is to come. Maybe one day Mr Gunner will be wishing he lost the election or glad he got turfed out by a Sleep Joe/Joel.
Flying high
He may only be Sydney’s third best tailor but surely is the most snatched.
The Chief made more news this week when the NT Independent revealed a mystery Sydney stop on a flight back from Hawaii where he meet the city’s third best tailor in a hotel room a few weeks before the Chief’s wedding. He broke the government rules of travel by not filing it properly and went against the policy which “discouraged” mixing official government travel and personal travel. And the hard rule that private travel costs are not to be paid for by government. Now in a delightful coincidence the second highest ranking public servant Andy Cowan was one of those who worked to strengthen government travel rules through an audit in 2015 when travel rorts were rife. Mr Cowan, of course had his own interesting overseas trip which made the NT Independent and lead to him allegedly retrospectively reaching into his own pocket.
Andy Cowan in happier times.
A lack of transparency on government travel is gammon.
No more mystery
The Chief likes to keep his travel details pretty close to his chest. The NT Independent filed a Freedom of Information application in June to force the Gunner Government to publicly release all of the agreements signed with Chinese officials but his office has now refused to release the agreements. Mr Gunner has quite a history with secret documents, including throwing them away, as he said he did with a review report he had done into his office, which we unearthed. And as always, the NT Independent has sources everywhere and we have the document he signed in China but refuses to discuss.
We think the Belt and Road Initiative dish might be hard for most Territorians to swallow. Always be nice to the cleaners Mr Gunner.
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