The Centralian advocate Fri 15 Jul 2011
Centralian Advocate; NewspaperNT
2011-07-15
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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
v. 64 no. 16
application/pdf
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Nationwide News Pty. Limited
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00161
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/233509
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/656922
4 Centralian Advocate, Friday, July 15, 2011 P U B : C A D V D A T E : 1 5 -J U L -2 0 1 1 P A G E : 4 C O L O R : C M Y K Alice Plaza Ph: 8953 0044 6 7 0 2 0 5 /1 2 Murray Neck Music T-Shirt SALE... 2 for $50 SAVE HEAPS! ROCK POP METAL REGGAE R&B COMEDY 4 5 0 2 0 5 /1 2 s e NEWS New bid to ease childcare crisis THE Alice Springs Town Council has stepped up its call for Federal Government help to ease the childcare shortage The childcare crisis prompted a meeting with stakeholders in June and they will be meeting again in August to discuss an action plan. Mayor Damien Ryan and council CEO Rex Mooney recently had a meeting in Canberra with Federal Child Care Minister Kate Ellis. Mr Mooney said: We talked about what was urgently needed to improve the childcare situation in Alice Springs. The minister gave her assurances that a plan was being formulated to address the issues. T h e m i n i s t e r s spokeswoman Danielle Ryan said: The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations facilitated a round table discussion with the NT Department of Education and Training and representatives from the Alice Springs Town Council last week. But Mr Mooney said: There has been little progress and council will be writing directly to Minister Ellis to follow up. Crisis talks are scheduled for August 3. Union backs fair pay bid Sally Brooks ITS time the Northern Territory Government supplemented wage increases for community social and service workers, says the Australian Services Union (ASU). In May this year Fair Work Australia confirmed that community sector workers were underpaid in comparison to work of equal value undertaken by public sector employees. Last week the Federal Government announced that it was committed to helping the community sector pay for phased wage increases. The ASU estimates there are 1500 to 2000 community sector workers in Central Australia, 85 per cent of them women. Katrine Hildyard, secretary of the South Australia and Northern Territory branch of the ASU said: Its about supporting women workers and finally addressing the undervaluing of one of our most important sectors in the economy and society. Unfortunately the Territory government has not fully committed. Weve been lobbying and working on this case for many years now. The community sector is the sector that supports vulnerable and disabled community members and by providing support the Territory government will be showing that they support the sector and equal pay. The Territory Government says it does support fair pay for community services and that all sectors should contribute to share the cost of the pay increases. Gino Luglietti from the Chief Ministers Office said: All stakeholders need to share in the responsibility of addressing the pay equity gap. This includes all governments, the private sector and non-government organisations (NGOs) themselves. We will do our bit. We recognise that fair pay is a key element of recruiting and retaining a quality workforce in the NGO community services and that a high-quality, efficient and stable workforce underpins the capacity of the sector to deliver sustainable services. The Northern Territory Council of Social Service (NTCOSS) said community sector employees leave their jobs because of the low wages. NTCOSS Central Australian spokesman Jonathan Pilbrow said: Too many workers in our sector make the difficult decision to leave and work for government or the business sector because it is too hard to live on the current wages. Better wages will mean a better service for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people in the Territory, helping to improve life for children and their families. NTCOSS has long supported the fight for fair pay for the amazing work done by community sector workers. We will continue lobbying the NT Government until they commit to funding pay increases awarded through the Pay Equity case. Blood donor Stephen Smith yesterday ... Its better to give. Picture: CHARLIE LOWSON Stephen banks up his 50 Mluleki Moyo A MAN who says he first became a blood donor to get away early from work was back at the Alice Springs Blood Donor Centre for an amazing 50th time this week. Stephen Smith said he started giving blood in the early 80s when he was an apprentice. He said: I was working for Telstra and they would give us an afternoon off if we donated blood. My mate and I would then go and donate blood, get a hot dog and milk shake and drive back to the bush for the weekend. Since then I have continued to donate whenever I am around. Mr Smith said his commitment to giving blood comes from a passion to save lives. He said: It is better to give than to receive. The life you save by donating blood could be yours or someone in your family. Alice Donor Centre manager Therese Lee said her organisation was very grateful to donors. She said: We have a great group of donors in Alice and they really keep us going. We really appreciate their efforts. Australian Red Cross Blood Service spokesperson Kathy Bowlen said blood donors were the heroes of many cancer patients, trauma victims, patients undergoing surgery and those on renal dialysis. She said: Our 570,000 donors give their time and their blood for nothing so that the lives of many Australians can be saved every year. One in three of us will need blood in our lifetime, yet only one in 30 donates. That needs to change in order for us to continue saving lives. Next week is National Blood Donor Week, from July 17 to 23. Native titles granted Sally Brooks THE Federal Court has handed down two important decisions that recognise the native title rights of traditional owners of both the Neutral Junction area and the Kurundi pastoral lease. Neutral Junction is 300km north of Alice Springs and is part of the Kaytetye peoples territory. Traditional owners of the region have been working with the Central Land Council for many years to protect their land from mining and exploration as the area is home to significant sacred sites and a known gold reserve. They hope this agreement will strengthen the sites protection as the issue has been highly concerning for senior community members. The Kurundi decision recognises native title rights for 3857sqm of the larger Kurundi Perpetual Pastoral Lease 400km north of Alice Springs. The CLC said the agreement recognises their traditional rights, including the right to hunt, gather and fish on the land and waters, the right to conduct cultural activities and ceremonies, the right to live on the land, and for that purpose, to camp, erect shelters and other structures. And it secures their right to negotiate over any future acts such as mining. This area is also a cattle station which will co-exist with the native title agreement.