The Northern Territory news Sat 25 Feb 2012
NT news
The Northern Territory news; NewspaperNT
2012-02-25
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/10070/238940
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/629104
24 NT NEWS. Saturday, February 25, 2012. www.ntnews.com.au P U B : N T N E W S D A T E : 2 5 -F E B -2 0 1 2 P A G E : 2 4 C O L O R : C M Y K SATURDAY EXTRA 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 Fad diets are fake! ...let's fi x it Darwin Dietitians can offer healthy eating advice and weight loss programs. For an appointment phone 08 8911 0622 www.darwindiet i t ians .com.au 1 0 2 3 2 2 0 1 0 6 3 4 4 2 The Territorys dysfunctional local councils need a fixer or to be scrapped, writesNigel Adlam ContinuedPage 26 S OME Territorians thought the NT News showed it did not take local coun cil elections seriously by putting up 18-year-old cub reporter Damian The Fixer McCartney as a candidate to become Darwins next Lord Mayor. In fact, the opposite of this is the truth. Darwins fuddy-duddy old council needs an almighty kick up the backside. And a kid with attitude is just the one to do it. But dont lets just pick on Darwin Council now called the City of Darwin after a rebranding that will eventually cost the best part of $100,000 of ratepayers money. Local government throughout the Territory is dysfunctional. There are a couple of near exceptions. Alice Springs Town Council runs reasonably well although it is still a forum for some not-sobright aldermen to say embarrassingly stupid things in public. Mayor Damien Ryan remains a light on the hill he is a man of dignity who fights for his town like a little tiger. And Anne Shepherd has run Katherine council quite well over the years. But the rest? They are a shame job and should be put out of their misery. Denis Burkes CLP government investigated the consequences of disbanding local government in 1999. It found that the services provided by councils could be absorbed into NT Government departments with little more than a ripple and that legislative matters would add only a day or two to parliamentary sittings each year. But George Brown was Lord Mayor of Darwin at the time. And despite the key role he played in ruining the ambience of Smith Street Mall, he was enormously popular. Understandably, Burkes Government wasnt game to take him on. Local government grew out of village councils, which themselves were spawned by clan councils. Nice idea. And in the old days, they worked. But the village atmosphere has gone and wont come back. This assertion is easily proved. How many of us actually know the names of our local councillors? Ive lived in Darwins northern suburbs for more than half my life. Im supposed to be well-informed but didnt have a clue that the three people supposedly representing me on Darwin Council were John Bailey, Jo Sangster and Garry Lambert until a few weeks ago. Not once have they been to my house, sent me a flyer, been at my local shopping centre to listen to the voters concerns. Not once. I found out they were my councillors only when a big dog began terrorising the kids in our street. Admittedly, when I rang Bailey, he fixed the problem within a day. Good on him. Of course, youll hear from your local councillors now theres an election on March 24. They will ask you to give them more than $10,000 a year in council allowances in return for their services. When the ballots are counted, youll be lucky to hear from them again before 2016. The council chaos is everywhere. Palmerston Mayor Rob Macleod has been convicted of assault after an ugly, latenight, drunken confrontation with his neighbours. I sympathise with the bloke and would vote for him if I lived in Palmo. My neighbours are lovely people, but it seems that Macleod may not have been as lucky. The deputy mayor, Geoff Carter, who put the boot into the then mayor when he was down, has upset his schoolgirl neighbours with his nudity.