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On Bathurst Island, Tiwi mediators celebrate their completion of the Ponki mediation training program. |
TERRITORY TALKIN': Council members not so co-operative
ISSUE 191 - 27 Nov 2009
ISSUE 191, November 26, 2009: In Darwin, GRAHAM RING* takes his regular look at the wild and woolly events of another fortnight in everyone's favourite failed state...
It seems that the Territory Council for Co-operation may not operate in quite the warm and fuzzy manner envisaged by independent MLA Gerry Wood, who is for all intents and purposes the driver of this controversial conveyance.
The new body sat for the first time in Darwin recently, cross-examining a number of bureaucrats about the sorry Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program (SIHIP) saga.
Before the sun had set on the first day of hearings both the CLP opposition members of the council had rushed out media releases cashing in on the political opportunities that were presented.
That's what politicians do..
Katherine MLA Willem Westra van Holthe despatched a scathing missive critical of the fact that ministers are not required to front the Council to give an explanation of their activities.
"This is the equivalent of investigating the collapse of a public company and not being able to question the Chair of the Board," thundered the former Katherine copper.
Shadow Treasurer John Elferink also lobbed a grenade at the government, saying that Territory taxpayers are $20m out of pocket because it got its sums so woefully wrong.
The projected average house cost of $350,000 turned out to be shy to the tune of a lazy $100,000.
Meanwhile, the government reps on the council, Marion Scrymgour and Michael Gunner, will just have to sit and squirm - because they are in no position to cut and run.
Chairman Wood holds the whip hand because the beleaguered Henderson minority government needs his vote on the floor on the house.
The mercurial Alison Anderson, a founder member of the Council who had earlier resigned from the ALP over the SIHIP fiasco, didn't see fit to attend the hearings.
She was instead in Sydney where she apparently told the ABC that "this silly little committee shouldn't be funded by the Territory taxpayer".
If Anderson's observation wasn't straight from the pages of How to win friends and influence people, it still serves to highlight the fact that the council isn't actually empowered to do anything.
The next instalments in the TCC soap opera will come from Tennant Creek, Alice Springs and Katherine as the travelling circus takes to the road. Stay tuned.
Tiwi talkin' things through
DOWNMARKET elements in the mainstream media would have their punters believe that remote Indigenous communities in the NT are the exclusive domain of murder and mayhem.
Happily this isn't true. There are many examples of local people acting to take control of their circumstances and work for a better life for those around them.
Territory Talkin' recently visited the achingly beautiful country of the Tiwi Islands, 80 kilometres off Darwin, as a guest of the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA).
We travelled to the capital of Nguiu to see 15 proud Tiwi men and women receive certificates acknowledging their completion of the Ponki ('peace') mediation training workshop.
The formal mediation training grew out of a local initiative known as the Jealousy Program.
The aim of the program was to try and manage the conflict that can lead to 'jealous fights', and sometimes to incidents of serious violence.
The Ponki program is firmly grounded in Tiwi culture, with the recognition of the different relationships that operate between people of the four skin groups.
The program is the brainchild of NAAJA and the Community Justice Centre, and operates with funding provided by the Federal Attorney General's Department. NAAJA is not about imposing 'solutions' on the community.
They are simply assisting with the development of conflict resolution processes that were part of Tiwi culture long before whitefellas arrived to lower the tone of the neighbourhood.
Indigenous Australians are grossly over-represented in the criminal justice system in the Territory, with Aboriginal people making up 83 per cent of the prison population of Darwin's Berrimah gaol.
Alternative dispute resolution systems like Ponki will help resolve problems before they become matters of interest to the police - and hopefully reduce the number of Aboriginal people doing time in Berrimah.
TT had a yarn with new mediator Ms Terisita Puruntatameri, who is apparently unaware of the stereotype of the "lazy, good-for-nothing blackfella".
This remarkable woman had been a teacher for 30 years, seven of them as principal.
She retired recently, and then "got bored" and decided to take on the mediation training so she could offer yet more service to her community.
But Ms Puruntatameri wouldn't big-note herself by using terms like "community service".
She doesn't need to. She's already widely respected in the community, and already called upon by for her wisdom in sorting out problems.
The Ponki training will simply augment her existing skills.
Mediation trainer Helen Bishop noted that many of those who completed the workshop were "very wise people who are highly regarded, work tirelessly, and rarely receive the thanks they deserve".
You wouldn't read about it.
Hendo's heroes stagger grimly onward
THE hapless Henderson government has managed to turn a good news story into a PR disaster.
Attorney-General Delia Lawrie's appointment of Ms Pat Miller as the NT's new Territory Anti-discrimination Commissioner has taken place amidst allegations from former ALP Minister Matthew Bonson - an overlooked candidate for the position - that the selection process was flawed.
In what looked very much like a public dummy-spit, Bonson managed to implicate both Lawrie and Business Minister, Chris Burns - who subsequently apologised for his "tongue in cheek" observation that he "hated" Lawrie.
Problems in Palumpa
RAIN is on the way in the Top End, bringing for most welcome relief from the ugliness of the build-up.
But for residents of Palumpa, a remote Indigenous community near Wadeye, the rains will also bring danger.
An NT Government "Community Flood Assessment" from February 2009 paints a grim picture of the situation at that time: Knee-deep water surrounded the clinic, rubbish was not being collected because trucks were unable to cross the causeway, houses were overcrowded and infested with cockroaches, and there was contamination of animal faeces in the flood water.
Hopefully the good citizens of Palumpa won't have to suffer more of the same this wet.
Hair today...gone tomorrow
ALICE Springs ALP warhorse and Minister for Indigenous Health, Warren Snowdon, is threatening to shave of his trademark 'tache in the name of men's health. Apparently Wozza's flavour-saver has been a facial fixture since the mid-sixties, but that could all change at the end of 'Movember', if he can scrape up $50,000 worth of donations for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and the Beyond Blue national initiative to combat depression.
Speedy Senator
MEANWHILE CLP Senator for the NT, Nigel Scullion, seems to have escaped lightly after being nicked for driving more than 45km over the speed limit on the outskirts of Adelaide River recently. Rather than front court and face a possible three month suspension, the lead-footed pollie received a $500 fine and lost three demerit points.
According to a report in the NT News, Scullion was very frank with the police officer who pulled him over.
"I told him I was a d**khead and said I was sorry," the highest ranking CLP pollie in the Territory is alleged to have said.
ringy@nit.com.au
* Graham Ring is a fortnightly NIT columnist and writer. He is based in Darwin after stints in Alice Springs and Melbourne.
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