The Northern Territory news Fri 14 Dec 2012
NT news
The Northern Territory news; NewspaperNT
2012-12-14
This publication contains may contain links to external sites. These external sites may no longer be active.
English
Community newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin; Australian newspapers -- Northern Territory -- Darwin
Nationwide News Pty. Limited
Darwin
application/pdf
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Nationwide News Pty. Limited
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00042
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/243531
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/602617
2 NT NEWS. Friday, December 14, 2012. www.ntnews.com.au P U B : N T N E W S D A T E : 1 4 -D E C -2 0 1 2 P A G E : 2 C O L O R : C M Y K NEWS l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l ntnews.com.au In si d e GENERAL INQUIRIES: 8944 9900 l CLASSIFIEDS: 8944 9999 l CIRCULATION: 8944 9901 l ADVERTISING: 8944 9801 ONLINE: www.ntnews.com.au l EDITORIAL EMAIL: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au l OTHER INQUIRIES: online@ntn.newsltd.com.au NATION: 15 FORMER prime-time TV star Robert Hughes cut a forlorn figure as he appeared in court WORLD: 19 A FATHER has died in front of his wife after dancing to Gangnam Style at his office Christmas party ENTERTAINMENT: 40 DARWINS Monsoons bar and restaurant will celebrate the festive season Territory-style BUSINESS: 46 AUSTRALIAN stocks closed flat after a directionless days trade yesterday Wicking ..........................36 Your say .........................36 Nation .............................14 World ..............................19 Entertainment ............ 40 Movies ............................41 Business ....................... 46 Comics ............................43 Television ......................43 Classifieds .....................47 Careerone ..................... 48 Weather .........................55 Racing liftout ...............25 Sport ...............................56 Speedcameras NTPolice speed cameraswill be in theseareas today: DARWIN: Bagot Rd, East Point Rd, Gilruth Ave, Mitchell St NORTHERN SUBURBS: Tambling Tce, Trower Rd, Vanderlin Drive, Yanyula Drive PALMERSTON: Chung Wah Tce, Stuart Highway, Temple Tce, University Ave RURAL: Arnhem Highway, Stuart Highway Bees Creek, Stuart Highway Howard Springs, Whitewood Rd Are youon the spot? Do you have a news photo or a story tip? If so, wewant to hear from you! Newshotline: 8944 9724 Send your news photos to: newsbreakers@ntn. newsltd.com.au Include your contact details and a brief description. All emails should be notmore than fivemegabytes. Powerball Thursday13-12-2012 DrawNo.865 11 30 36 13 18 45POWERBALL Total prizepool: $14.6m TheNTNewshas taken all possible care but cannot accept responsibility for any errors, whether due to equipment fault, staff handling or any other cause. Caught! THRIVING deep-water coral populations could hold the key to saving the Barrier Reefs surface coral. MOREFISHING: Page55 Wakeuptous Call8944 9901 MYSTERYNUMBERCONDITIONS: If youwin, keep thispaper forverification. Call costs55c (IncGST).Higher from mobile/payphones -DialectSolutions Group.Recommendation:Usea land-line andtouch tonephone.Somemobiles, portableandpayphonesmayexperience technical faultsdue to reception complications. Angry Shrek gives ranger a towel-up By NIGEL ADLAM When a400kg crocodile swings its head at youwith all its strength, it tends to hurt A WILDLIFE ranger told last night how he was beaten up by a 4.4m crocodile named Shrek. John Pomeroy escaped with nothing more than a black eye after he was headbutted twice. I wasnt afraid, he said. Ive got a high threshold for fear and that gets me into trouble at times. Mr Pomeroy, 65, was in charge of transporting the 400kg saltie from Darwins Crocodylus Park to the Port Macquarie Wildlife Park in NSW. Things went wrong when Shrek who got his name because hes big, green and looks like an ogre was being untied at his new enclosure. The saltie got loose enough to swing his head viciously and knocked Mr Pomeroys feet from under him. And then he swung again, catching the handler across the right side of his face. Of course it hurt, Mr Pomeroy said. When a 400kg crocodile swings its head at you with all its strength, it tends to hurt. But he jumped up immediately to finish the job. It was all in a days work for Mr Pomeroy. A lot more people die on our roads than get killed by crocodiles, he said. Shrek was caught in the Top End and then taken to a farm near Fogg Dam. The Crocodylus Park zoo and research centre took him a few years ago and then sold him to be the star exhibit at Port Macquarie. Crocodylus Park researcher Matt Brien said Shrek would live in the lap of luxury at his new home. And hell live alone, of course. He wouldnt allow another croc in his pond, he said. Shrek was flown to Brisbane on a Qantas passenger jet last week and then trucked to Port Macquarie. View the video on ntnews. com.au Budgies smuggle into Alice for a drink By DAVID WOOD Truckloads of budgerigars have flocked to The Alice Picture: WWW.TIMHILL.PHOTOSHELTER.COM MORE than a truckload of budgerigars have rushed to the heart of Alice Springs after dry conditions forced the birds to make the sudden move in search of water. Flocks of up to 60,000 budgies have been spotted at dams outside the urban oasis in the Red Centre. They have been captured by several Alice photographers, including Tim Hill. Local birdwatching guide Chris Watson said it was an example of the boom and bust desert life-cycle. Budgies eat grass seeds and as long as theres enough food and water around, the little birds will breed constantly. Since the rains returned in 2009 and brought the desert back to life, theyve been out there multiplying in colossal numbers but no ones noticed because theyve been spread over a vast area. This year, though, the region has had a long dry spell (by late September the Alice Springs BOM station had logged a record 157 consecutive days without rain) and all those little clay pans in the desert have dried up. This has forced the thirsty budgies to seek permanent water sources. Their numbers have been concentrated at a few dams around town and in the waterholes of the nearby West MacDonnell Range. Coke is in a fizz over the NT Govt COCA Cola Amatil will take the NT Government to court over its container deposit scheme. The giant drink manufacturer has been claiming the scheme was legally invalid. But Chief Minister Terry Mills said the Government would fight the legal challenge in the Federal Court in the interests of consumers, the recycling industry and the Territory. I have instructed our lawyers to prepare immediately to fight this challenge in court, he said. The beverage industry repeatedly attacked the NT Government since it introduced the 10c deposit on bottles and other containers. It said the scheme was discriminatory, outdated and inefficient. But the attacks were widely understood to be an attempt to stop the scheme being rolled out nationally. Environmental lobby group Boomerang Alliance said drinks companies were profiteering from the NT scheme. More than 35.5 million containers have been processed through the scheme since January 3. Mr Mills said that the Government had informed businesses of its legal challenge yesterday. I am most concerned for the many Territory businesses with a financial interest in the scheme, Mr Mills said. They need certainty and they need it now. The case will be heard in Federal Court in Sydney as early as next week. Wall of shame on Facebook COPS have again shot up the public wall of shame in a bid to solve cold cases and slash the emerging Christmas crime spike. Operation Sunningdale has called for public help to find those responsible for a string of thefts and breakins across Darwin. Photos of people police want to speak to have been posted on Facebook. They are also featured on a public display at Casuarina Shopping Square. Superintendent Kerry Hoskins said it only took seconds for thieves to strike their targets. Anyone with any informat ion on the people in the photos should call Crime Stop pers on 1800333000.