The Centralian advocate Tue 31 Oct 2017
Centralian Advocate; NewspaperNT
2017-10-31
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English
Community newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Alice Springs; Tennant Creek (N.T.) -- Newspapers; Alice Springs (N.T.) -- Newspapers.; Australia, Central -- Newspapers
Nationwide News Pty. Limited
Alice Springs
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https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C01326
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/280067
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/417671
10 NEWS TUESDAY OCTOBER 31 2017 CAVE01Z01MA - V1 CONSTRUCTION is the Territorys fastest-growing employer, according to the latest Census data. The number of Territorians working in construction has leapt 29 per cent from 2011 to 2016. Sitzler director Michael Sitzler said the NTs construction industry went through a positive growth period from 2011-15, but had noticeably slowed in the last year. Building a better future Jobs in Territory construction sector rise 29 per cent From 2011 to 2015 was a substantial ramp-up in construction activity and employment growth throughout the Territory, he said. From the mid-2016 its certainly backed away from that growth we are seeing a significant downturn in the industry from earlier this calender year. Mr Sitzler said the growth period from 2011-15 was in part driven by confidence relating to the Inpex project. It was a period when the Inpex project was in full swing, he said. Down in Central Australia it flows on from there business activity and spending was solid; now thats coming to an end. There were some quite good projects undertaken a lot of civil works, remote to Alice Springs and building activity in Central Australia and community. Last year, Sitzler built Alice Springs new four-storey $18 million supreme court building. In April this year, the company was forced to close its Alice branch after 55 years of operation, citing increased risk and competition as reasons. The company is still con tinuing operations in Darwin. From an employee perspec tive, Mr Sitzler said construction was a good career and paid workers well. According to the Census, construction is now Territorys third largest employing industry overall, second to public administration and safety, and health care and social assistance. Census program manager Bindi Kindermann said data showed demand for tradespeople in the Territory remained high, with technicians and trade workers the fastest growing occupation category, increasing by 9 per cent between 2011 and 2016. From how people get to work, to what they are studying, what their jobs are and where people are moving to, this Census information tells us so much about the lives of Territorians, Ms Kindermann said. Lauren Roberts Fracking big difference in forecast data THE potential economic benefits of the fracking industry to the Territory may have been overstated, according to an independent report. The NT fracking inquiry headed by Justice Rachel Pepper released an analysis of the onshore gas industrys potential benefits by consultancy firm ACIL Allen on Friday. The director of peak oil and gas body Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association NT, Matthew Doman, said the ACIL reports figures were very conservative and didnt match up with the experience of industry. But even the scaled-back employment growth figures would add up to an economic win for the Territory, he said. Regardless, were still looking at the creation of hundreds of jobs every year for many years to come, he said. While the report came with a strongly worded disclaimer about its own reliability, its best-case scenario modelling left an enormous government revenue gap. It showed a successful shale gas industry would contribute between $29 million and $143 million to NT Government coffers each year over the 25-year modelling period. A previous report, by Deloitte Access Economics and commissioned by APPEA, estimated the potential value of the industry to the NT Gov ernment to be between $236 million and $460 million per year over a 20-year modelling period. The ACIL report also came with a downsized expectation of jobs growth. It predicted the industry would create 80 to 558 longterm, full-time jobs. The Deloitte report forecast 6300 extra jobs over 20 years. LOCALS are being warned to stock up on lollies and sweets tonight to ward off possible attacks from hungry zombies, vampires, and witches. Dressed as their favourite spooky character, children will be knocking on front doors around town with the aim of extracting as much chocolate and lollies from residents as possible. Taryn Clark, 12, said she will be among the crowd. I like going trick or treating with my friends we try to get skittles, she said. The most popular place to go trick or treating in Alice Springs is Mount Johns, where homeowners go all-out in decorating their properties. I like when they put fake tombstones out the front, and cobwebs and spiders, Ms Clark said. What are you favourite things about Halloween? See our vox pop on page 19 to find out what others like. Alex Lewis, 10, dressed as a vampire ready to go trick or treating for Halloween Picture: EMMA MURRAY Trick or treaters creep it real in lolly hunt Appeal for indigenous researchers CENTRAL Australia and the rest of the world needs more indigenous researchers to join the academic realm, say Alice Springs researchers. Poche Centre for Indigenous Health deputy director Associate Professor Kerry Taylor and academic Colleen Hayes have been working collaboratively for decades each providing an essential perspective on health and culture; and different ways of communicating. Ms Hayes was a reluctant academic, but said more indigenous researchers were needed to help gather essential information and break down communication barriers. Our focus is to improve indigenous health and the only way we can do this is by working together, she said. I think (cultural safety) is important everywhere, but it is important where you do have indigenous people, and Aboriginal people, but here in the Northern Territory it is very much the case that we should be working along together. Ms Hayes said indigenous and western people could learn from each others culture. Without having both roles, we wouldnt be able to even achieve anything, she said. If we need to work with the systems, we need to develop it so people can collaborate and work towards a goal. Prof Taylor said research hadnt always been culturally safe when it came to Aboriginal people because it came from a dominant model. If we dont get that other side of the story, were going to be repeating the same outcomes we need different solutions, she said. Were just always bringing Western knowledge to Aboriginal people ... Aboriginal people already have existing knowledge and methodology for research that we could benefit from. Both academics agree that working with indigenous communities needs extra time to develop relationships. Often we are pushed into unrealistic time frames, Prof Taylor said. Lauren Roberts