The Northern Territory news Wed 14 Mar 2012
NT news
The Northern Territory news; NewspaperNT
2012-03-14
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/10070/238758
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/630608
www.ntnews.com.au Wednesday, March 14, 2012. NT NEWS. 7 P U B : NTNE-WS-DA-TE:14-GE:7 CO-LO-R: C-M Y-K l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l NEWS Outrage at court closure By ALYSSA BETTS THERE was no obvious justification for a court closure on a highprofile case that had been held up as a shining example of government policy, the Country Liberals said. Opposition justice spokesman John Elferink was referring to the Chief Magistrates move to stop media covering an alleged breach of a drug and alcohol misuse program. Hilary Hannam barred media when the first graduate of the highly publicised program was back before court for allegedly breaching his order. Ms Hannam refused to explain why she closed the court. She is a supporter of the drug and grog court program. Mr Elferink said a magistrate could close a court, but it should only be done in extreme circumstances and a reason for it made public. Justice must be seen to be done and, when the court is closed, a reason for the closure should be provided, he said. Attorney-General Rob Knight chose to stay out of the ruction. This is a matter for the Chief Magistrate, he said. Mr Elferink also took a stab at a recent court decision to dismiss assault charges against a man because he was tripping on acid at the time. He said hed been refused a transcript of the court proceedings and had been referred to Mr Knight. The Director of Public Prosecutions must challenge this decision because of the possible precedent it sets, he said. A future Country Liberals government will look at changing the legislation to remove the out clause from the statutes. Editorial: Page 12 Mysterious cameras popped up in Darwin city yesterday, but the council says they are part of an innocent traffic survey not a Big Brother-style takeover Were watching you DALEKS invaded Darwin city yesterday photographing number plates and monitoring our driving patterns. The Doctor-Who style cameras were set up around the city by Darwin City Council making some motorists fear they were sly police speed devices. But Darwin City Council chief executive Brendan Dowd said it was just an innocent traffic study to help future planning of the city. In line with this project, specialised cameras have been monitoring traffic and collecting data on how traffic flows through the city. he said. In the past, DCC has used strips ac ross the road to count cars. The cameras are more sophisticated, actually tracking a vehicles journey by photographing number plates. Each camera photographs the number plate and when the sequence is matched it can record the vehicles journey. Mr Dowd said no personal information was being kept. The cameras have been in place for a day and data collection will cease later today, he said. Understanding how traffic moves through the city is a vital tool in planning for the future needs of the City of Darwin.