National Conference coming to town

Tennant Creek is host to
"Positioning For a Prosperous
Future" into the 21C

On the 16th and 17th of September the Town Council will host a conference on 'economic prospects for the Northern Territory leading to the 21st Century'.
The Governor General, Sir William Deane is coming to town for the opening and to have a quick look around.
The main themes are:
The Railway - with advocates of both the Adelaide to Darwin and the Melbourne to Darwin routes explaining the virtues of their respective plans.
Telecommunications - with experts from Telstra and other communications industries and institutions explaining what the advances in technology will mean for the bush.
Mining and Offshore development, Aboriginal development, Tourism and Trade are also on the agenda and there is an impressive lineup of speakers in all sessions.
The complete program is available from the Town Council office next to the Library.

Desert Harmony
is for everyone

Pam Perry revs it up

Desert Harmony is all about celebrating arts and culture in Tennant Creek and to give the local artists an avenue where they can show what they can do. It's also to bring in acts so that locals can get inspiration from other people, from visual artists, performing artists and musicians.
This year we have Paul Hester who used to be in Crowded House and the Blackfires, two Aboriginal musicians, are also coming.
We've got a big banner exhibition called 'Living Banners' by All Stitched Up, which consists of 22 banners made in the Territory. One of them is 6 metres by 3 metres!
We've got the Monaro exhibition coming, that's little Holden cars. All sorts of people that have already decorated their cars, some famous but also people off the street. The Crafts Council are having a session where anybody can come and make their own Monaro and these cars will also be displayed in the Civic Hall on the Opening Night.
We'll be having a fair in the Civic Hall with food and craft stalls. We've also got an enormous street puppet that will take twenty five people to carry it - just the head is 3 metres!
The Aboriginal dancers are going to have a corroboree on the Tuesday night. This year, the theme of the fashion parade is "Spots, Stripes and Swirls" so you can make anything along those lines. We've got four categories in the fashion parade - recycled, leisure wear, fantasy and a group entry where you need to have three people.
Desert Harmony begins on the 18th of September, which is the Opening Night and opening of the exhibitions and goes to the 26th of September, which will finish with music out at the Dam.

Is the new tax system to be
decided by one roll of the dice?

It doesn't make sense to me. We are being told, truthfully I s'pose, that our tax system is out of date, that what is being proposed is not a new tax - it's a new tax system.
Tax reform, by the introduction of a Goods and Services Tax and accompanying reduction or abolition of other taxes, is a big change to drop on us suddenly. Some people see wins, some see losses and a great many more haven't got a clue what's in store for them.
Single-issue elections are a poor way to run a democracy. What about the poor Liberal or National voter who doesn't want a GST? Where does it leave your traditional Labor voter who supports a GST?
Not so long ago the government was threatening to go to the polls over the Native Title issue, there was not so much discussion of the GST then. Waterfront 'reform' also had a run until the whole plan ran a cropper in the courts.
We need tax reform - but we have waited for some time now and to wait a bit longer, until we can better understand its effects, is not going to sink the ship.
And another thing while I'm complaining about governments. What is the purpose of the Northern Territory Government's referendum on Statehood?
It has no authority in law - the NT can only become a state if the Federal Government says we can and enacts legislation to that effect, or there is a national referendum with a majority of voters in a majority of states giving the thumbs up.
Simply asking people to vote Yes or No to Statehood is like asking people to vote on getting their hair cut. Of course we'd nearly all vote yes to haircuts but wouldn't we also like a say in the style we have to live with?
Having been to Kalkaringi and seen the process of Aboriginal decision making, with its seemingly timeless ability to give everyone a say, the NT Government way seems a bit rushed.
Rather than allowing the time needed to arrive at a solution that pleases the most people, our Darwin masters announce, in advance, the outcome that best suits them and announce when it will happen. We must then cram whatever debate will fit between now and the proclaimed date.
Two thousand and one has a nice ring to it but so does giving everyone a say when the issues are this important.
Paul Cockram