Defendants and family gather under the meagre shade of straggly trees, Aboriginal legal aid lawyers sit with piles of files at two card tables in the sun … welcome to court day in Yuendumu, writes Crikey blogger Bob Gosford.
Northern Territory
NT Intervention a lemon: 28 medical specialists give their diagnosis
We are not aware of any evidence that supports the health related components of the NTER, writes Dr Hilary Tyler.
NT most politically correct ministry in Oz
No other Australian jurisdiction has come close to such strong indigenous, female and even regional/rural representation in ministerial government, writes Bernard Keane.
Even psephologists make mistakes
Bernard Keane was quite right to include me yesterday among pundits who got the Northern Territory embarrassingly wrong, writes Charles Richardson.
The NT: the election we didn’t have to have
This weekend Northern Territorians get to go to an early election. But how about some responsible governing to go with that? NT correspondent Anthony Fraser reports.
NT poll II: this is no time to mention nuclear waste
A new uranium mine is proposed, nuclear waste will come back to haunt us, but don’t expect either to rate a mention in the leadup to the NT election, writes Jenny Walker.
Unopposed returns make a comeback in the Territory
‘I came to the conclusion that the idea of an unopposed return had gone entirely out of fashion in this country.’ Malcolm Mackerras was wrong.
Richard Farmer’s political bite-sized meaty chunks
Meaty snippets from the home of government, Richard Farmer writes.
Territorians head for the polls
In the Coalition’s search for the road back out of the wilderness, the Northern Territory is probably not the place to start, writes Charles Richrdson.
Local government makes more chaos for NT communities
Just when you thought things could not get any more shambolic, Aboriginal people are having to cope with yet more bureaucracy-inspired chaos, writes Jenny Walker.
Why the NT is a role model in health service delivery
When frustration at the NSW health system got to GP Glynis Johns, what did he do? Moved to the Northern Territory.
National emergency? Send in the bean counters!
If there’s a lesson for blackfellas in the Northern Territory during the Intervention it’s that if you want a share of Federal funding, get a job with a major accountancy firm, writes Henri Ivrey.
Revealed: NT intervention checks only 10% of children
Documents obtained by Crikey indicate that the Child Health Check component of the National Emergency Response is largely incompetent, probably unethical, definitely underfunded and absolutely ignores the long term.
Workforce participation minister pushes 6000 on to the dole
Dr Sharman Stone is being nothing if not creative in trying to justify her colleagues’ approach to axing the Community Development Employment Program. And that starts with her title.
Goodbye Aboriginal workers, hullo KPMG
It’s hard to work out where Brough and Howard are going with their strategy in the Northern Territory. The feds appear desperate to lock in parts of the occupation, especially the bit that will see the abolition of the Community Development Employment Program and the effective sacking of Aboriginal people from the workforce.
Howard signals the end of a distinct Aboriginal identity
Since federation there have been four major landmarks in Indigenous affairs. Howard has now reversed them all, writes Alan Austin.
Aboriginal assets to be seized, then rented back for profit
In moves seemingly impossible to reconcile with the protection of Aboriginal children on remote towns and communities in the Northern Territory, a document has come into the hands of Crikey that presages a federal government takeover of millions of dollars worth of assets owned by Aboriginal organisations.
The Content Makers: Graeme Samuel on quality, credibility, bias and conflict
In the third of five extracts from her new book The Content Makers, Crikey media commentator Margaret Simons meets Graeme Samuel and wonders at the ACCC’s role in media regulation.
Interest rate rises? CDEP workers face ruin
The Reserve Bank’s interest rate announcement was not just widely predicted, it was factored into the share market weeks ago. The media will no doubt rake the coals of families doing it tough with—what?—the ninth interest rate hike in a row. But you can bet no journalist—especially those of the Canberra press gallery—will take time out to talk to anyone in the Northern Territory who works for a Community Development Employment Program (CDEP) wage.
Is there a shock-jock in the house?
Former Alice Springs ‘radio announcer’ Matt Conlan is the latest addition to a Northern Territory parliament which is rarely accused of harbouring an overabundance of talent. Sadly, the track record of the Country Liberal Party’s newest parliamentarian offers no great cause for optimism, writes Graham Ring.
Crikey sources say: no winter sitting on the NT plan
Crikey understands that it’s extremely unlikely that Parliament will return during the winter break, despite the Prime Minister promising a special session if necessary to debate and pass the legislation for the NT intervention.
NT Aboriginal organisations respond to government plans
Yesterday, Crikey attended a press conference in Alice Springs, where the Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the Northern Territory released a formal response to the Federal Government’s proposals for intervention in the NT, writes Graham Ring.
Stabilise, normalise and exit = $4billion. Cheap at the price?
On Monday, I was asked by the mainstream media to cost the new Howard/Brough approach in the Northern Territory: Would it cost the tens of millions that the Prime Minister indicated he was willing to commit to this new state project to fix the “national emergency”? I came up with $4 billion, which turns out, was too conservative, writes Jon Altman.
COAG and Aborigines. They knew
When the Prime Minister, Premiers, the Chief Ministers of the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory and the President of the Australian Local Government Association sat down in Canberra back on 13 April for “detailed discussions on significant areas of national interest” child abuse in indigenous communities was on the agenda but there was no hint of crisis.
As white Australia saw it
How commentators, pundits and talking heads saw Howard’s Aboriginal emergency.
