The Northern Territory news Fri 28 Nov 2014
NT news
The Northern Territory news; NewspaperNT
2014-11-28
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English
Community newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin; Australian newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin
News Corp Australia
Darwin
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News Corp Australia
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/254051
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/534209
46 OPINION FRIDAY NOVEMBER 28 2014 NTNE01Z01MA - V1 Sad farewell to true role model ...and another thing OUR sports stars can be wretched idols. Too often our pages are filled with stories about booze, drugs, domestic assaults and bad behaviour from people who serve as role models to sport-crazed kids. The tragedy of Phillip Hughes is that we have lost the sort of young man we would want our kids to emulate. A hardworking, polite and grounded country boy. His death was a true tragedy not simply in the overused sporting sense. Phillip was a marvellous cricketer we saw that first-hand when he made 200 in Darwin just months ago. He had immense determination. His short career was full of setbacks, but at each one he showed incredible fight to claw his way back to the top. Phillip didnt sulk when he was dropped. He went back to the crease and simply scored more runs. There is little doubt he would have played against India next week. And it would be understandable under the circumstances if the Australian team made the decision to cancel the match. The entire cricket community, from test players to the thousands of Saturday hackers, is in mourning. As devastating as the entire episode has been, the compassion and love shown to Phillip and his family by his fellow players has been inspiring. Their humanity stripped bare, Michael Clarke and countless others have done themselves proud. Thoughts today are with the Hughes family but also with Sean Abbott, a talented young pro who must be devastated. We hope the cricket community looks after Sean as impressively as it rallied around Phillip. For the moment it feels like life and cricket cant go on. Eventually it will, but those who love the game will always remember a brilliant leftie from Macksville named Phillip Hughes. AFTER a day of such sadness in the sporting world, it was fantastic to see Southern Districts and NT Thunder midfielder Nakia Cockatoo drafted to Geelong last night on the Gold Coast. Cockatoo is the first Territorian to be selected in the national draft since 2009 and the first top-10 pick since Richmond took Richard Tambling in 2004. He joins fellow Territorians Mathew Stokes and Steven Motlop at the Cats. Well done Nakia! WHAT: The tower street light on the corner of Daly and McMinn streets is out. The intersection is really dark at night. WHO'S RESPONSIBLE: PowerWater general manager for Power Networks John Greenwood. CONTACT: 8924 5068 Do you know of something in the Territory that needs fixing? Give the Fixer a call on 8944 9750, email thefixer@ntnews.com.au or follow on Twitter @NTNTheFixer Kick this mob out DARWIN ratepayers have been dealt another blow with the announcement of another 18 months added on to the present lord mayors and aldermens three-year tenure. In all my 42 years in Darwin this mob has to be the worst council we have had; $85 million dollars squirrelled away for what purpose? Certainly not roads, footpaths or parks. Lots of CBD streets have not been swept for months I know, I live here and see it every day. Backpackers are hounded out of town, while drunken trouble-making itinerants are ignored and allowed to leave their filthy rubbish anywhere. Having just arrived back from holidays in Cairns, Ive come to the conclusion Darwin is badly neglected by this council. Even Palmerston council is proactive in keeping the town clean and tidy. With 50-plus cruise ships arriving this season, what must tourists think when humbugged by drunken, abusive itinerants; finding no decent clean public toilets and most of the retails shops are closed on Saturday and Sunday arvo. This council lacks vision, ambition and the will to get up off their backsides and do things to help Darwin attract the millions of middle-class Chinese and Indians who are now dominating tourist attractions elsewhere. Having $85 million in the bank is helping no one. Going on sister-city junkets to unheard of cities is helping no one. Having to put up with this mob for another 18 months is helping no one. Peter Major, Darwin And this mob too THIS CLP Government is taking the piss out of us. When they came to power they claimed the Budget was in such bad shape they had to put up the cost of pretty much everything; they even wanted to charge us $20 to use the compulsory services of the MVR. Next thing you know weve got free Wi-Fi on the buses, a fleet of flash new boats for the cops, and theyre resealing roads around town left, right and centre, whether they need it or not. Now theyre selling TIO without approval from the people theyre screwing, and have the nerve to ask us what wed like the money to be spent on; a new stadium perhaps? Surely it is needed to pull us from the depths of economic despair? The notion that TIO has operated quite perfectly as is for decades and, just now, sud denly and inexplicably, needs to be sold, as soon as possible and mid-term, so it cant be debated at the next election, is so ridiculously unbelievable all Territorians should consider it an insult to their intelligence. Could someone with the appropriate political and legal knowledge please write in to this paper and tell us what needs to be done to trigger some sort of no-confidence vote so we can bring these clowns down. Clint, Winnellie Dont vote at all THE article about non-voting (No need to sweat it if you dodge ballot box, NT News, November 24) is perhaps a warning to elected officials of all levels of government. The general mood of the people is that we are getting sick of being forced to elect individuals who lie to us with their pre-election promises (Gillard, there will be no carbon tax); take no notice of what the vast majority want (Giles, TIO sale); use their positions for their own and their friends and relatives personal gain (Eddie Obeid and co), and treat us like bottomless ATMs (all of them). If enough of us at the next democratic (you must vote or we will fine you) election dont bother to show up they may get the message that we, the people, are sick of being taken for mugs. I think it would be worth the petty fine to demand we want truth, responsibility and integrity from our politicians at every level. Peter, Humpty Doo Great stuff, kid ALENI Rousoss, your speech at the Year 12 Darwin High Graduation was truly inspirational, and I wasnt a student, I was there to see my daughter graduate. I still dont have a clue what I want to be if I grow up, but good on you. Sholto, Wagait Beach Mr Google failing GOVERNMENT is cutting lots of jobs in education and we are losing many quality teachers in public high schools. We, the students, want quality teachers, but not the teachers who are permanent but not competent. We have some really incompetent teachers who do not know what they are teaching. For example, it seems Google enables everyone to be a teacher of foreign languages. It is so unfair public school students have to put up this kind of poor teaching. We want our voice to be heard. Lucy, Alice Springs I think it would be worth the petty fine to demand we want truth, responsibility and integrity from our politicians at every level. SEE BELOW 10 YEARS AGO: A leading Territory obstetrician has expressed concern about the Governments decision to allow home births. Dr Jenny Mitchell spoke out last week against the Governments decision to provide public indemnity insurance for midwives to supervise home births. 20 YEARS AGO: Todays Aboriginal health in the NT was worse than health standards for the rest of Australia in the 1920s, a leading medical research centre says. It called for big increases in funding for health services and infrastructure. 25 YEARS AGO: A suspended walkway will be built over one of the Top Ends most majestic tourist attractions, Tolmer Falls in Litchfield Park. The $300,000 walkway will be built midway between the Tolmer Gorge opening and the falls, offering tourists a view of the falls. Letters to the editor should be kept to 175 words or less. Send your letters to GPO Box 1300, Darwin, 0801, or email ntnmail@ntnews.com.au You must include your name, home address or PO Box number. Name and address will be withheld on request. The Northern Territory News reserves the right to edit letters. Responsibility is taken by the Editor, NT News, GPO Box 1300, Darwin, NT, 0801