DOCSLIB.ORG

Dear Alice Springs Residents

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Dear Alice Springs Residents Dear Alice Springs Residents Welcome to the new “electronic” Araluen Newsletter. With the end of the Centralian Advocate as our local newspaper in June last year, the dissemination of news and community information at a grass roots level is very challenging. I have used several modes over the years including paper hand-delivered newsletters, publishing in the Advocate and now electronically. We will continue to hand distribute the Araluen Newsletter to people who are not connected to the internet. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people of Araluen for their continuing support. After more than 10 years as the Member for Araluen I am more motivated and fired up than ever. I can 100% guarantee you I will be working harder than ever to represent you in the NT Parliament on the issues that matter to you. Crime Explosion Crime remains the number one concern for Alice Springs residents. The rise in crime we have seen in Alice Springs is real. The NT Police Crime Statistics over the past few months demonstrate an extremely concerning overall increase in crime. The latest Police Crime Statistics for Alice Springs that came out in March 2021 pertain to the period ending on 31st January 2021 compared to the previous 12 months. The most concerning statistics are a 30% increase in Domestic Violence, a 24% increase in house break-ins and a 19% increase in Assaults. 01/02/2019 - 01/02/2020 - CRIME IN ALICE SPRINGS 31/01/2020 31/01/2021 % CHANGE Assault 1507 1794 19.04 Domestic violence related assault 866 1126 30.02 Alcohol related assault 781 909 16.39 Sexual assault 69 67 -0.29 House break-ins 516 644 24.81 Commercial break-ins 350 348 -0.57 Motor vehicle theft 388 300 -22.68 Property damage 1853 1933 4.32 *NT Police Crime Statistics released on 19th March 2021 2 Assaults in Alice Springs are directly related to alcohol. A dramatic increase in assaults suggests one thing very clearly, that people are accessing large quantities of alcohol despite our strict regime of alcohol restrictions in Alice Springs. Putting it bluntly, our alcohol restrictions are not working. We have all heard stories of grog running being prolific in Central Australia, providing access to alcohol at all hours. The current high rate of alcohol related presentations at the Alice Springs Hospital Emergency Department also indicates this current failure of alcohol policy. (Damage to the Araluen Electorate Office – February 2021) The Gunner Government has a huge amount of work to do in continuing to address crime and alcohol minimisation and harm reduction. On Monday 15th March 2021 Channel 9, A Current Affair (ACA), featured Alice Springs for all the wrong reasons. We should not have to get this point before we get real action from the Government. A desperate community making a desperate plea. The NT Government is 100% responsible for all legislation designed to maintain law and order, and to address crime in the NT. The blame and finger pointing needs to be directed firmly at the NT Chief Minister, Michael Gunner, and his Cabinet. We need to be united in our voice demanding that more be done to address crime in Alice Springs. Fighting amongst ourselves only serves to take the pressure off the Government. Tourism is suffering because crime is out of control – with or without national media attention. 3 Alice Springs Youth Hub The NT Government is currently doing a review of the Youth Hub on the corner of Railway Terrace and Wills Terrace. The Youth Hub operated 24/7 for about 6 weeks throughout January and most of February. This was a trial not without problems. Drawing large number of kids into the CBD at night became a problem. None of us will forget the last weekend in January 2021 with at least 25 homes and businesses in the CBD broken into between the Friday evening and Monday morning. The residents living along Railway Terrace have been generally unimpressed with the behaviour of kids from the Youth Hub. But despite some not-so-good aspects, the Youth Hub is attracting lots of great kids that simply want to hang out and enjoy the great facilities they have. I visited the Youth Hub on the night of Saturday 13th March and was pleasantly surprised by the services provided by Territory Families. Currently the Youth Hub operates just on the weekends. The review of the Youth Hub is due to be completed at the end of March. It remains to be seen what the next instalment will look like. The Youth Hub has operated in competition with two other NT Government funded night time youth services: Brown Street run by Tangentyere Council and the Gap Youth Centre. It seems unnecessary to have three youth centres running at night essentially in competition with each other. Youth centres are an important part of the solution to youth crime but far from being the total solution. On the night I went to the Youth Hub there were about 30 kids perfectly behaved attending, all around 9-13 years of age. I was assured by Territory Families staff that they are all transported home safely to a responsible adult. However the next morning I awoke to the news that 30 very young children were seen stampeding around Alice Springs at 6.30am. I wondered whether any of the children I saw the night before were amongst these children. 4 Getting children off the streets at night and into a safe environment is in everyone’s best interest. The Youth Hub operates on a schedule and tries to get kids home safely by a certain hour. I strongly maintain a curfew for children needs to be trialled in Alice Springs, as a Child Protection and crime prevention strategy. NT Parliament The NT Parliament only sits for 11 weeks per year and this includes two weeks of Budget Estimates hearings. A usual sitting week is three days: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The February 2021 sittings of the NT Parliament went for two weeks and were dominated by the so called “sex and cocaine scandal” involving the new Member for Blain and a Senior Advisor to the Chief Minister. The scandal unravelled over the 2 weeks and by the end, the Member for Blain, an ex-police officer, Mark Turner, had been thrown out of the Labor caucus. The senior Labor staffer was also thrown out, or jumped before he was pushed. All this sort of nonsense takes up hours and hours of precious time that the Parliament should be focusing on what really matters to Territorians, like crime and the economy. The most important pieces of legislation to pass during this sittings was one to ensure the efficient roll out of the COVID 19 vaccine, and a curious and suspicious urgent amendment to the Planning Act to get the Minister out of some potentially damaging litigation. The Minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics was keen to push this through with minimal debate. This amendment was dodgy. I dare say we have not heard the end of this story. 5 The March 2021 sittings of NT Parliament will be for three days from 23rd to 25th March. The Government intends to push through their “ring leader” legislation. Adults or people over the age of 18 who recruit kids to commit crimes could face up to ten years behind bars under this new legislation. This is in response to mounting pressure to tackle youth crime throughout the Territory. There is no need for this legislation at all. The existing legislation is suffice. It is a desperate attempt by the Gunner Government to look like they are doing something to address escalating youth crime. It has been described by a NT solicitor as “lawmaking for lawmaking’s sake”. Budget News The 2020 NT Budget was not handed down in May of last year, as is the custom. Because of the disruption and uncertainty caused by COVID 19 it was handed down after the NT Election in November 2020. Territorians went to the election not having a clue about the state of finances. Extraordinary! According to the NT Auditor General, Ms Julie Crisp, the NT debt is close to $13b, about $2b more than what our Chief Minister / Treasurer declared in his first Budget. This discrepancy is astounding. The appalling mismanagement of the NT finances by the Gunner Government is something we should all be very concerned about. The fiscal future of the NT is even bleaker with little hope of the Budget being repaired over the next 10 years and Territorians paying millions and millions of dollars in interest payments each week. The 2021 NT Budget will be delivered by the NT Treasurer on 4th May 2021. The 2021 Budget Estimates Hearings will go for two full weeks in June and involve each Minister being questioned for many hours on all of their portfolio responsibilities. I would like your input into the Budget Estimates process. If you have questions for any of the Ministers please forward them through to the Araluen Electorate Office by Friday 11 June 2021. Confidentiality will be assured. 6 The re-election of the Gunner Government in August 2020 saw some changes to the Cabinet and allocation of portfolios. The most stunning changes were: The Chief Minister gave himself the position of Treasurer. The former Treasurer Nicole Manison made a monumental mess of the finances, taking the debt from less than $2b in 2016 to $6b in 2020 before COVID hit in March 2020. Gunner has already proven to be equally as bad managing our finances, taking the debt to a reported $13b in 4 years.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Northern Territory Election 19 August 2020
    Barton Deakin Brief: Northern Territory Election 19 August 2020 Overview The Northern Territory election is scheduled to be held on Saturday 22 August 2020. This election will see the incumbent Labor Party Government led by Michael Gunner seeking to win a second term against the Country Liberal Party Opposition, which lost at the 2016 election. Nearly 40 per cent of Territorians have already cast their vote in pre-polling ahead of the ballot. The ABC’s election analyst Antony Green said that a swing of 3 per cent would deprive the Government of its majority. However, it is not possible to calculate how large the swing against the Government would need to be to prevent a minority government. This Barton Deakin brief provides a snapshot of what to watch in this Territory election on Saturday. Current composition of the Legislative Assembly The Territory has a single Chamber, the Legislative Assembly, which is composed of 25 members. Currently, the Labor Government holds 16 seats (64 per cent), the Country Liberal Party Opposition holds two seats (8 per cent), the Territory Alliance holds three seats (12 per cent), and there are four independents (16 per cent). In late 2018, three members of the Parliamentary Labor Party were dismissed for publicly criticising the Government’s economic management after a report finding that the budget was in “structural deficit”. Former Aboriginal Affairs Minister Ken Vowles, Jeff Collins, and Scott McConnell were dismissed. Mr Vowles later resigned from Parliament and was replaced at a by-election in February 2020 by former Richmond footballer Joel Bowden (Australian Labor Party).
    [Show full text]
  • STRONG SCHOOLS STRONG COMMUNITIES President’S Message
    Newsletter Issue 2, 2018 NT COGSO President, Tabby Fudge with (from left) Marion Guppy, Deputy Chief Executive Department of Education, Kate Vanderlaan Deputy Commissioner NT Police, Michael Gunner Chief Minister & Police Minister and Eva Lawler Education Minister. NT COGSO staff with Minister for Territory Families Federal Shadow Assistant Minister for Schools Dale Wakefield Andrew Giles MP with NT COGSO President, Tabby Fudge NORTHERN TERRITORY COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENT SCHOOL ORGANISATIONS STRONG SCHOOLS STRONG COMMUNITIES President’s Message I hope your children have had a great Term 2 and you have too! This term NT COGSO have continued to be very busy in lobbying for the return of School Based Police Officers. We have had very productive meetings with key stakeholders, including the Chief Minister Michael Gunner as Minister for Police, Deputy Commissioner NT Police Kate Vanderlaan, Education Minister Eva Lawler and Deputy Chief Executive Department of Education Marion Guppy. We look forward to announcing some very exciting news soon. I would like to thank so many people for the overwhelming support you have given us in our efforts, particularly our wonderful Principals across AEU President Correna Haythorpe with NT COGSO the whole of the Northern Territory, Minister for President, Tabby Fudge Education Eva Lawler, Chief Executive Department The Federal Government is failing our children, of Education Vicki Baylis, NT Children’s fortunately the NT Government are picking up Commissioner Colleen Gwynne, Mr Henry Gray, the pieces and continue to invest in our children MLA Kezia Purick, President Australian Education with additional funding for early childhood. Union NT Jarvis Ryan, Shadow Minister for Education Lia Finocchiaro.
    [Show full text]
  • P. 6 Anthwerrke Interactive Tour App Launched
    FREE October 2017 VOLUME 7. NUMBER 3. OUR GIFT TO ALL ANTHWERRKE INTERACTIVE TOUR APP LAUNCHED P. 6 NORTHERN TANAMI IPA WUTUNURRGURA BUILDS SEVEN SISTERS ARE FLYING TURNS 10 COMMUNITY SPIRIT P. 14 PG. # P. 4 PG. # P. 19 ISSN 1839-5279ISSN NEWS EDITORIAL Land Rights News Central Bush tenants need NT rental policy overhaul Australia is published by the THE TERRITORY’S Aboriginal Central Land Council three peak organisations have called times a year. on the NT Government to The Central Land Council review its rental policy in remote communities and 27 Stuart Hwy come clean on tenants’ alleged Alice Springs debts following a test case NT 0870 in the Supreme Court that tel: 89516211 highlighted rental payment chaos. www.clc.org.au At stake is whether remote email [email protected] community tenants will have Contributions are welcome to pay millions of dollars worth of rental debts. APO NT’s comments The housing department is pursuing Santa Teresa tenants over rental debts they didn’t know they owed. respond to the test case and SUBSCRIPTIONS reports since at least 2012 that several changes of landlord. half the Santa Teresa tenants that their houses be repaired, the NT Housing Department The department countersued owe an estimated $1 million in that they tell them about all Land Rights News Central has trouble working out who 70 of Santa Teresa’s 100 unpaid rent. this debt. It’s disgraceful.” Australia subscriptions are has paid what rent and when, households who took it to the When Justice Southwood With over 6000 houses $22 per year.
    [Show full text]
  • Northern Territory Election Results
    24 Aug 2020 Northern Territory Election Results Overview Labor is set to form government in the Northern Territory, as counting of ballots continues today. Labor has secured 12 seats in the Legislative Assembly so far, ahead of the CLP’s 3. Labor requires 13 seats to form majority government. Confirmed seats • NT Labor: 12 seats • Country Liberal Party: 4 seats • Independents: 2 seats There are still 7 seats in doubt, including Araluen, Barkly, Blain, Braitling, Brennan, Fong Lim and Namatjira. The Northern Territory Electoral Commission will also be correcting the two candidate preferred counts across Blain, Fong Lim, Johnston and Katherine as ballot papers are recounted. Territory Alliance has lost 2 of their 3 seats, including leader and former CLP Chief Minister Terry Mills, with Araluen the only possible seat for Territory Alliance to win. Robyn Lambley has confirmed “if I get re-elected I will be sitting in the Parliament as a member of the Territory Alliance” as counting continues in Araluen. Seat by seat breakdown: As counting continues across the Territory, below is the current breakdown of each seat. Electorate Member Party Swing Change % of votes elected counted Arafura Lawrence Costa ALP -4.0% ALP ALP retain 44% Araluen Still in doubt Still in doubt Still in Still in doubt 68.6% doubt Arnhem Selena Uibo ALP -8% ALP ALP retain 48.9% Barkly Still in doubt Still in doubt Still in Still in doubt 51.2% doubt Blain Still in doubt Still in doubt Still in doubt Still in doubt 65% Braitling Still in doubt Still in doubt Still in doubt
    [Show full text]
  • Darwin Public Hearing
    LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF THE NORTHERN TERRITORY 11th Assembly Select Committee on Youth Suicides in the NT Public Hearing Transcript 10.30 am, Monday 30 January 2012 Nitmiluk Lounge, Parliament House Members: Ms Marion Scrymgour, MLA Chair, Member for Arafura Mr Michael Gunner, MLA, Member for Fannie Bay Ms Lynne Walker, MLA, Member for Nhulunbuy Ms Kezia Purick, MLA, Member for Goyder Mr Peter Styles, MLA, Member for Sanderson Witnesses: NT CHILDREN’S COMMISSION Dr Howard Bath, NT Children’s Commissioner and Convener of the Child Deaths Review Committee Mr Adam Harwood, Senior Policy Officer CENTRAL AUSTRALIAN YOUTH LINK-UP SERVICE Mr Blair McFarland, Manager WESLEY MISSION LIFE FORCE SUICIDE PREVENTION PROGRAM Mr Tony Cassidy, Program Manager YOUTH MINISTER’S ROUND TABLE OF YOUNG TERRITORIANS Ms Karen Folkers, Project Officer Ms Alpha Capaque, Youth Representative Ms Lauren Moss, Youth Representative Ms Tylee Wirth, Youth Representative NORTHERN TERRITORY COUNCIL OF SOCIAL SERVICES Ms Tess Reinsch, Youth Policy Officer Ms Christa Bartjen-Westermann, Acting Coordinator Central Australia 1 Select Committee - Youth Suicides in the Northern Territory – 30 January 2012 CHILDREN’S COMMISSIONER/CONVENOR OF CHILD DEATHS REVIEW AND PREVENTION COMMITTEE Dr Howard Bath Mr Adam Harwood Madam CHAIR: On behalf of the select committee I welcome the Children’s Commissioner, Dr Howard Bath, to this public hearing into current and emerging issues of youth suicide in the Northern Territory. We have had a couple of attempts and have had to cancel. I thank you for appearing before the committee today. We appreciate you taking the time to speak to the committee and look forward to hearing from you.
    [Show full text]
  • Huge Day of Counting Votes to Determine Fate of Labor and CLP in Tense Territory Election FULL COVERAGE P2-5
    VOTE 1 NT ELECTION 2020 SPECIAL EDITIONEVERY vote counts Country freight Monday, August 24, 2020 ntnews.com.au $2.00 30 cents extra Incl GST 11 3 0 Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro and Chief Minister Michael Gunner Pictures: CHE CHORLEY 2 9 MAD MONDAY Huge day of counting votes to determine fate of Labor and CLP in tense Territory election FULL COVERAGE P2-5 Alliance ‘leadership failure’ Business wants action now TERRITORY Alliance’s wash- and deputy Robyn Lambley is MCLAUGHLIN’S ACTIONS speak louder than challenge for the next four out at the NT Election is being holding on by her teeth in Ara- words and the Territory’s busi- years was just beginning and blamed on a “complete leader- luen. Fong Lim has been lost ness community says it wants the government must move on ship and campaign failure” as too. DARWIN CLEAN plenty of the former, with the quickly from the celebrating. the fledgling party is left with- The NT News understands Gunner Labor Government “Our priorities haven’t out a leader and on the brink of that party members are blam- SWEEP likely to be returned to office. changed,” he said. collapse. ing the loss on Mr Mills and “Now is not the time to have “With everything so much Party leader Terry Mills has Territory Alliance’s campaign a rest,” Chamber of Commerce in the balance, it’s going to be been voted out of Blain as it team of Delia Lawrie and SPORT chief executive Greg Ireland interesting to see how the elec- looks almost certain he will James Lantry.
    [Show full text]
  • Indigenous Languages in Parliamentary Debate, Legislation and Statutory Interpretation
    1006 UNSW Law Journal Volume 43(3) LEGISLATING IN LANGUAGE: INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES IN PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE, LEGISLATION AND STATUTORY INTERPRETATION JULIAN R MURPHY* There are signs that Australia is beginning a long-overdue process of incorporating Indigenous languages into its parliamentary debates and legislation. These are significant developments in Australian public law which, to date, have attracted insufficient scholarly attention. This article begins the process of teasing out the doctrinal implications of this phenomenon. The article is in four Parts, the first two of which describe and normatively defend the trend towards Indigenous language lawmaking in Australia. The third Part looks abroad to how other countries facilitate multilingual parliamentary debate and legislation. Finally, the article examines the interpretative questions that multilingual legislation poses for Australian courts. Potential answers to these questions are identified within existing Australian and comparative jurisprudence. However, the ultimate aim of this article is not to make prescriptions but to stimulate further discussion about multilingual legislation, which discussion ought to foreground Indigenous voices. I INTRODUCTION Ngayulu kuwari kutju wangkanyi ngura nyangangka, munuṉa nguḻu nguwanpa ngaṟanyi. Ngayulu alatji watjaṉu aṉangu tjuṯa electionangka: ngayulu mukuringanyi tjukurpa katintjakitja aṉangu nguṟu kamanta kutu, kamanta nguṟu aṉangu kutu; ngayulu mukuringanyi nguṟurpa nguwanpa ngarantjakitja.1 In 1981, Neil Bell, newly elected member
    [Show full text]
  • Labor-Ind Seats CLP-Ind Seats % % 53.9
    Northern Territory Electoral Pendulum 2020 Labor 14 Independent 1 CLP 8 Independent 2 Total 15 Majority 5 Total 10 Labor-Ind Seats CLP-Ind Seats % % 25 24.3 Nightcliff Nelson (CLP) 22.8 25 20 20 23 19.3 Sanderson 21 17.7 Arnhem 19 17.3 Wanguri 17 16.6 Johnston Spillett (CLP) 15.1 23 SWING TO LABOR PARTY TO SWING 15 16.3 Gwoja SWING TO COUNTRY LIBERAL PARTY COUNTRY TO SWING 13 16.1 Mulka (Ind) 11 16.0 Casuarina 15 15 Goyder (Ind) 14.4 21 Araluen (Ind) 12.7 19 10 10 9 9.8 Karama 7 9.6 Fannie Bay 8 8 5 7.9 Drysdale 4 4 3 3 2 1 1 2 Arafura C Katherine (CLP) L 3.6 P 3 - I n Braitling (CLP) d Brennan (CLP) Fong Lim Namatjira (CLP) M Daly (CLP) a 2.7 Barkly (CLP) jo Port Darwin 2.4 r it y 1 2.1 17 1.3 3 1.3 Blain L 1.2 a b 0.4 15 o 0.1 r - 13 I 0.2 nd M 11 53.9% Labor aj 46.1% CLP o 9 r 7 ity 5 KEY 3.6 Swing required to take seat 3 Majority in seats Result of general election, 22 August 2020 Northern Territory : Two-Party Preferred Votes by Division, 22 August 2020 Division Labor Votes % CLP Votes % %Swing to CLP %Swing Needed Winner Arafura 1,388 53.57 1,203 46.43 3.2 3.6 Lawrence Costa (Labor) Araluen⁽a⁾ 1,630 37.35 2,734 62.65 3.0 12.7 Robyn Lambley (Ind) Arnhem⁽b⁾ 1,977 67.61 947 32.39 -5.2 17.7 Selena Uibo (Labor) Barkly 1,717 49.90 1,724 50.10 16.0 0.1 Steve Edgington (CLP) Blain 2,095 50.16 2,082 49.84 -1.5 0.2 Mark Turner (Labor) Braitling 2,141 48.71 2,254 51.29 4.4 1.3 Joshua Burgoyne (CLP) Brennan 2,138 48.81 2,242 51.19 3.8 1.2 Marie-Clare Boothby (CLP) Casuarina 3,035 65.96 1,566 34.04 -4.6 16.0 Lauren Moss (Labor) Daly 1,890 48.79
    [Show full text]
  • How Well Did You Listen and Learn for Primary Students?
    How well did you listen and learn? A quick recap of your visit to the Parliament of the Northern Territory Parliamentary Education Services Department of the Legislative Assembly How many symbols can you remember that are on the Northern Territory’s Coat of Arms? Parliamentary Education Services Department of the Legislative Assembly Parliamentary Education Services Department of the Legislative Assembly Describe the flag of the Northern Territory? Parliamentary Education Services Department of the Legislative Assembly Parliamentary Education Services Department of the Legislative Assembly The number of members in the Legislative Assembly is: a. 35 b. 26 c. 25 Parliamentary Education Services Department of the Legislative Assembly There are 25 members elected for four years. Parliamentary Education Services Department of the Legislative Assembly On what date of the year do we celebrate Self Government? Self Government was granted in 1978 – giving law making power to the Northern Territory Parliament on almost all matters. Parliamentary Education Services Department of the Legislative Assembly July 1, 1978 July 1 Swearing in of NT Ministers by Administrator John England on 1 July 1978. Pictured: John England, Paul Everingham, Ian Tuxworth, Marshall Perron, James Robertson, Roger Steele. Northern Territory Library, Northern Territory Government Photographer Collection, PH0093-0188 Parliamentary Education Services Department of the Legislative Assembly Who is the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory? Parliamentary Education Services
    [Show full text]
  • Australia Needs a Universal Paid Pandemic Leave Scheme to Help Avoid a 2Nd Wave of COVID-19
    To: the Australian ‘National Cabinet’: The Right Hon Scott Morrison MP The Hon Steven Marshall MP Prime Minister of Australia Premier of South Australia The Hon Daniel Andrews MP The Hon Peter Gutwein MP Premier of Victoria Premier of Tasmania The Hon Annastacia Palaszczuk MP Andrew Barr MLA Premier of Queensland Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory The Hon Gladys Berejiklian MP Premier of New South Wales The Hon Michael Gunner MLA Chief Minister of the Northern Territory The Hon Mark McGowan MP Premier of Western Australia 26 May 2020 Australia needs a universal paid pandemic leave scheme to help avoid a 2nd wave of COVID-19 Our five organizations call upon the National Cabinet, the Federal Government and all state and territory governments to introduce a national paid pandemic leave scheme, administered by employers and funded by government. This is a critical public health intervention to guard against a second wave of infections, and needs to be implemented urgently. Australia has been successful in limiting the spread of SARS-Cov-2 [COVID-19] by implementing a broad range of public health measures. A key aspect of the response has been to implement social distancing and to restrict substantial parts of the economy to reduce the risk of community transmission. As these restrictions begin to ease and Australians return to workplaces, the possibility of increased community transmission grows. It will be essential to maintain extensive testing, and isolation of actual and suspected cases in order to avoid a second wave of infections. Staying home when sick is one of the core messages promoted to the public to reduce the spread of this coronavirus.
    [Show full text]
  • Proposal to Introduce Indigenous Digital Inclusion As a Closing the Gap Key Performance Measure
    Hon. Michael Gunner, Chief Minister Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Northern Territory Government [email protected] 3 August 2017 Re: Proposal to introduce Indigenous Digital Inclusion as a Closing the Gap key performance measure Dear Chief Minister This letter is written on behalf of the Broadband for the Bush Alliance, the Indigenous Remote Communications Association, and numerous Indigenous peak agencies, Indigenous businesses and NT community organisations (see list of signatories attached). The Broadband for the Bush Alliance held its 6th annual Broadband for the Bush (B4B) Forum in Perth WA on 21-23 June with over 140 delegates from across regional and remote Australia. Each B4B forum includes an Indigenous Focus Day, where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and organisations present digital projects, research and needs for broadband provision in remote Indigenous communities. A key recommendation from both the 2017 Indigenous Focus Day and B4B forum was that: Indigenous Digital Inclusion be adopted by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) as a key performance measure within the Closing the Gap framework. We are seeking the support of the Northern Territory Government to recommend this new measure, along with a targeted Indigenous Digital Inclusion program, to the next meeting of the Council of Australian Governments as a matter of urgency. We understand that the Commonwealth is reviewing the Closing the Gap (CTG) framework based on the limited progress against many of the key performance indicators and that COAG has agreed that the existing Closing the Gap agenda and targets be refreshed. This renewal provides a key opportunity for COAG to address a structural and skills issue that is impacting on the ability of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to firstly, engage with Internet delivered services and resources that enhance employment and educational opportunities and secondly, ensure access to government (MyGov) services and safety nets, especially in remote areas.
    [Show full text]
  • List of Members Internet Address
    LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF THE NORTHERN TERRITORY Thirteenth Legislative Assembly List of Members Internet Address - https://parliament.nt.gov.au/members-of-parliament/members-by-name 23 June 2020 Electorate Electoral Electorate Office Address Telephone No. Member Party Division Parliament House Office Address Parliament Telephone 1. AH KIT, Ms Ngaree Jane, MLA Karama Territory Labor Shop 27, Karama Shopping Plaza, 8999 6659 Deputy Speaker Party Karama, NT 0812 PO Box 6, Karama, NT 0813 Fax: 8945 2090 Parliament House, Darwin, NT 0800 8946 1479 GPO Box 3721 Darwin, NT 0801 E:mail: [email protected] [email protected] 2. BOWDEN, Mr Joel Francis, MLA Johnston Territory Labor Millner Village Plaza, Cnr of Fitzgerald St and 8999 6620 Party Bagot Road, Millner NT 0810 PO Box 1135, Darwin, NT 0801 Fax: 8948 0525 Parliament House 3721, Darwin, NT 0801 8946 1490 E:mail: [email protected] [email protected] 3. COLLINS, Mr (Jeff) Jeffrey David, Fong Lim Territory Unit 3 & 4, 65 Stuart Highway, Stuart Park, 8999 6501 MLA Alliance NT 0820 GPO Box 892, Darwin, NT 0801 Parliament House, Darwin, NT 0800 8946 1475 GPO Box 3721, Darwin, NT 0801 E:mail: [email protected] [email protected] 4. COSTA, Mr Lawrence, MLA Arafura Territory Labor Shops 7 & 8, Moil Shopping Centre, Moil, NT 8999 6950 Party 0810 PO Box 41392, Casuarina, NT 0811 Fax: 8927 0988 8946 1438 Parliament House, Darwin, NT 0800 GPO Box 3721, Darwin, NT 0801 E:mail: [email protected] [email protected] 5.
    [Show full text]