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Goanna of the Week – arlewatyerre or aremaye?
April 17, 2018
The generic gloss (non-Arandic & non-scientific) term for these brightly-coloured and drop-dead gorgeous (as food and on the eye) monitor lizards is Sand Goanna. Not very helpful when the landscape is dominated by rock and and lots ... biggest mobs in fact ... of red sand.
Doing the Darwin Shuffle Part Two. The Northern Territory as a tax haven: 1982 to 1986
April 15, 2018 1
Senator WALSH — I was aware of the fact that the Northern Territory is heavily dependent upon Commonwealth revenue [and] I have noted from time to time that nobody has a more voracious appetite for Commonwealth money than the present Northern Territory Chief Minister, although incongruously nobody is a more vocal critic of the Commonwealth taxes which raise the revenue which he so voraciously consumes. Senator Peter Walsh, Hansard, May 1983.
Doing the Darwin Shuffle. The Northern Territory as a tax haven. Part One: 1971 to 1982
April 15, 2018
Graeme Lewis was part éminence grise, part bagman and part trouble-maker—as often within as without—for the NT's Country Liberal Party for more than forty years. Lewis passed away in early April while speaking from the floor of the 2018 annual conference of his beloved CLP. For all his apparent successes and failings—I'll leave the hagiography and excoriation for others—Graeme Lewis never held publicly elected office but nonetheless deserves respect as the Northern Territory's long-term political player par excellence. Lewis was also a prominent player in the Darwin Shuffle, the avoidance scheme that operated in the NT from at least the early 1970s through to the 1980s.
“A species of contempt heretofore unknown to the law”: Registrar of the Supreme Court (NT) v Nationwide News and Craig Dunlop
April 3, 2018
The lessons for Court administrators? If you are going to bring contempt charges against a journalist and their publisher then you must conduct a proper investigation of the circumstances of publication, in particular who published what, when and on whose authority. While it is unstated in Chief Justice Grant's reasons for judgment—for fairly obvious reasons—the real problems in this case lie with the conduct of the Registrar's case and the apparent lack of any investigation sufficiently thorough enough to gather evidence to meet the standard of proof required by the Court.
Singing Wardaman Country, one Gouldian Finch at a time.
March 15, 2018
This is a re-post of an article first published in the February 2018 edition of Land Rights News (Northern Edition) by the Northern Land Council. Birds are closely connected to Wardaman culture. Many Wardaman dances have been adapted from bird movements and much Wardaman rock art depicts birds.
Book-burnings of our times. Clinton Walker’s Deadly Woman Blues gets pulped …
March 8, 2018 1
There are no winners in any of this—a group of women are (rightfully it seems) aggrieved by Walker's (admitted) failures in research and diligence, a respected author has suffered a terrible fall from grace and none of us (well, most of us) will get to read what is/was without doubt a valuable contribution to our shared musical history.
Essential documents from Aboriginal Australia: 7 – the 2008 Yuendumu Petition
March 4, 2018
Supporti-ki karlipa wangkami, tala manu nyiya kanti-kanti yungungurlu ngalpa yinyi nyampurla ngurungka. Nyampurla Yurntumu-rla panu karlipa madarni nyiya-ningki-jarra ngula karliparla yulkami. Madarni karlipa jana Mt Theo program, kurdu kurdu kurlangu, Warlpiri-rli ngulpa karlipa jana tiji-mani, PAW, Mampumaninja-Kurlangu jarlu patu ku, WarlukurIangu arts centre, manu yangka ngula kalu jana mardarni wiri-wiri-rli kurdu-kurdu. Ngulalparlipa mangu pungkalayi, Yungurlu ngalpa nyanyi nguru kari wardingki-rli pirrdiji ngula karlipa mardarni.
10 more years of “beads and mirrors” – Yuendumu’s 2008 ‘Statement from the Heart’
March 4, 2018
Yapa-patu nganimpa, Yurnturnu wardingki karndu nyarra wangkami ny arnpu statemcnt purdanyajaku manu yungurnkurlu pina kanyi Federal manu N.T. Government kirra ... Nyurru ngurla juku!
First pics – Qantas VH-ZND Emily Kame Kngwarreye lands at Alice Springs.
March 2, 2018
I like pretty planes … and this is one of the prettiest I’ve seen in a long while … Here are the first pictures on the new Qantas Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner landing just before dawn at Alice Springs airport after a direct flight from the Boeing base in Seattle, USA. Following text is from the Qantas […]
Chief Justice Michael Grant speaks on the controversy concerning the conduct of the youth justice jurisdiction in Alice Springs
February 4, 2018
From time to time there may be instances of inappropriate judicial conduct falling short of misconduct warranting removal. Sometimes these are matters which may be addressed and remedied by way of appeal. In such cases the appellate court will generally make comment designed to prevent, so far as possible, any repetition of the inappropriate conduct.