You asked, they said ...

Barkly News Pictorial went to the streets to find the questions uppermost in voters' minds.
The rest is up to you.

Richard Neate asks:
Given that six out of ten people in the Barkly are Aboriginal, what can be done to improve the lot in life of the indigenous population.

Gavin Carpenter (IND): There's got to be a lot more self help there, like Charlie Perkins said years ago, "Get off your black backside and help yourself", but by the same token, I think there's enough organisations around the place that should be giving a lot more help in that direction rather than worrying about their own self-interest.

Bill Cross (CLP): Well the lot of life for the Aboriginal people around the Barkly region, the biggest priority we've got at the moment is to get this renal dialysis machine up and running within the next 12 months. Apart from that we've also got the education and the health problems, which all go hand in hand. We'll address both problems, and after talking with the Chief Minister on the weekend, he wants to make an example of the Barkly Region and just what the CLP can achieve in an Aboriginal electorate.

Elliot McAdam (ALP): I think the critical thing is to provide appropriate services - education, health, economic opportunities - and that indigenous people are recognised for their social and economic contribution to the Barkly, and that that recognition is accepted in the interest of reconciliation and sustainable development.

Paul Quinlan asks:
What could you achieve if elected to address the problem of social disorder, vandalism, break-and-enter and property damage in Tennant Creek?

Gavin Carpenter (IND): It's just been on the radio that the police say they want a 150 extra police across the NT, and I'd support that because we've seen when they started police patrols how it quietened everything down, so if we have to have more police, we have to have more police. On the beat - it proved itself when it was done, and that's the way we've got to go.

Bill Cross (CLP): If elected, I'd be lobbying very hard for the trial curfews and for a Drop-in Centre and Youth Patrol for the town, for the region, and to look at firming up all the diversionary programs to make sure we get excellent diversionary stuff for Tennant Creek.

Elliot McAdam (ALP): I've always been a strong advocate of a community policing strategy. I believe that Tennant Creek, and indeed the Barkly, is small enough to develop such a strategy. I would like to see a police community unit established, quite apart from the day-to-day operational activities of the police, focusing on those concerns which are of immense importance to the indigenous community and indeed all the people of the Barkly.
That is, excessive alcohol abuse and its resultant impact upon the community ie domestic violence. I think it's eminently achievable. It has been achieved in the past and it can be done again by a government who's committed to implement creative and innovative ways of tackling some of the problems that exist in our community.

Gavin Jones asks:
Would you support a curfew on young people out and about on the streets at night without a good reason such as returning from a sporting or similar event?
Gavin Carpenter (IND): We've got thirsty Thursday which is unique to Tennant Creek, why not a curfew that's unique to Tennant Creek.

Bill Cross (CLP): If the population of Tennant Creek would support that then I'd be quite happy to visit that, yes.

Elliot McAdam (ALP): I wouldn't necessarily agree with a curfew unless it was a decision that essentially came from the community, but more importantly I think what's got to occur is that there has to be more programs and activities for young children. The Barkly has been denied those opportunities. One only has to look at the funding that comes into the Barkly in respect to sports and recreation. I would also like to see sport and recreational type activities linked to, or as part of, the school curriculum. Warrego School has an excellent program out there, where it's almost on-the-job learning, where they tie it in with life skills in respect to horse riding and things like that.

Karen Thompson asks:
What action would you suggest may be effective against those parents who do not ensure that their children attend some form of educational program during school hours.

Gavin Carpenter (IND): Take their money away from them for a start, all this money they get for kids going to school.
[BNP: What money's that?]
They get various money for lunches and school attendance, and all the rest of it, it goes to the parents, parent's support money, and all this sort of thing, it should be either paid straight to the school or they don't get paid if they don't go to school. You go and talk to them, and the parents say, "oh but so and so's looking after little Johnny, and so and so's getting the money", well not necessarily so and so's looking after little Johnny, but so and so's getting the money and that's where the responsibility is, so it's a big money circle. And the money should go to the school, and if they don't go to school they don't get the money.
That's number one, and they've got to be lined up and taken to school if necessary.

Bill Cross (CLP): Well, we've already actually raised this issue a number of times, and it's been raised by the Minister for Education as to actually using some of the parent's benefits that are going towards the kids to actually work for the kids, and actually my wife who is the Aboriginal Education Worker at the High School has bought this forward a number of times with Julalikari to start up programs for the kids to encourage them to come to school.

Elliot McAdam (ALP): I understand the South Australian government is looking at a means of addressing truancy in schools, and essentially, as I understand it, what they're talking about is the capacity for parents to be fined for not sending their children to school. I believe that has some merit. I would put conditions on that in the context that: it should be phased in over a three year period; that any new legislation is well and truly understood by everyone in the community; and that it's accompanied by an appropriate media campaign. The fact is, we are losing our young children. It's almost a sort of subtle genocide, what's happening in respect to our children not going to school, and I think governments have got to have the courage to take tough decisions in the interests of the children and the Territory in the long term.

Karen Thompson asks:
What ammenities or programs would you actively support to encourage a better community spirit amongst those children not presently attending school?

Gavin Carpenter (IND): Well, years ago they had that class down in the old Mulga camp, and that was quite successful, but then it's all fallen in a heap, and funding wasn't there so it stopped. Obviously we've got to look at different ways of doing it, and if we've got to try ten different ways before we get a successful one, well so be it, but obviously trying to just drive them to school's no answer.

Bill Cross (CLP): For the kids that aren't presently going to school I'd be working in with the local sport and recreation facilities that we have here to get a coordinated effort between all the sport and recreation officers in Tennant Creek to make sure there was youth activities to encourage these kids to at least participate and then to actively look at how they can improve their own lot.

Elliot McAdam (ALP): I think that question's partly answered in the previous one, but the bottom line is that we're talking about different circumstances. You've got bush people who choose to live in the bush, and people who choose to live in communities, and they should be encouraged to do that if that's their wish, and we should be providing the most appropriate form of education and programs for people in the bush. In respect to those children in the larger towns like Tennant Creek and Borroloola, I think you've got to make learning more relevant within the classroom, and you can do that through various means: by involving parents a lot more, more teachers, more resources, similar to the Warrego experience.

Ross Jakkamarra Williams asks:
What youth-related programs would you work towards creating?

Gavin Carpenter (IND): Youth have got to take an interest in themselves. There's every club and society around town that anyone's likely to want anywhere, and how many people can you get to be president and secretary and do the groundwork, they all just want to turn up and play, and there's got to be some responsibility on youth to show some sort of responsibility to be involved in these things, not just turn up and play and go home again. Every opportunity is in town for virtually any club or society or sport anyone wants to play, it's here, so there's got to be some responsibility on the people themselves.

Bill Cross (CLP): Youth programs that we'd work towards, like I said, sport and recreation, and we'd also look at doing activities that the youth in Tennant Creek, and all youth, would enjoy doing. Now it's easy to encourage kids to come along if it's something like pastoral orientated stuff, because we are in a pastoral area. We'd actually sit down with the kids and look at the programs they'd want to make sure that the programs that we're running were relevant to job creation in Tennant Creek.

Elliot McAdam (ALP): Essentially programs should come from the community. I mean school-to-work is very important. Some years ago I assisted young Jarrid Williams in, what I perceived at the time to be, an innovative way of assisting youth. At that time, Jarrid received CDEP. Jared wanted to actually join the army. So Jared received CDEP and there were conditions attached. One was that he would attend school, which he was doing by the way, but that he would attend school and undertake those units which were appropriate to assisting him in getting into the army, and in a practical way, he was also required to work with Barry Harman, at Peter Kittle, where he could also get those on-the-job skills, which were also going to assist him getting into the army. I mean, that's just one practical way of assisting youth. But really there has to be - how we do things in the territory, not only in respect to youth, there has to be a total mind change, and that's what concerns me in respect to the existing government, is they don't have the courage to be innovative and creative in dealing with some of the problems that youth face in isolated regions of the Territory.

Ross Jakkamarra Williams asks:
The Aboriginal economy plays a big part in keeping the town alive; what do you think could be done to give something back to Aboriginal people?

Gavin Carpenter (IND): I see at this stage the Aboriginal money going through poker machines and getting worse and worse. Once again, there's got to be some self responsibility, we can't keep molly-coddling people for the rest of their lives. There's a two-way street and there's got to be some responsibility on the other side as well to look after themselves. We can't keep molly-coddling them as some people like to do.

Bill Cross (CLP): Well, we do recognise that Tennant Creek at the moment has been fairly subdued in its financial ways. We would look at different areas about how we can actually help Aboriginal people and get them recognition for what they're doing for the town. We're already recognising Julalikari with support for the Interpretive Centre. We recognise Congress - I took the Chief Minister up to Congress and he congratulated them on all the good work they were doing. We're making sure the word's getting out there, and we just need to make sure the people of Tennant Creek appreciate what the Aboriginal Corporations and the people are doing in this area.

Elliot McAdam (ALP): The indigenous organisations in the Barkly should be applauded for their commitment to businesses, not only in the sense of awarding contracts to local businesses, both here and through other parts of the Barkly, but also the fact that indigenous people spend their money in town and it goes back to my previous question about a mind change. There has to be a recognition that indigenous people are an integral and important component in our community. But on a more personal level, in the case of Tennant Creek I think we've committed, which has been independently assessed by Access Economics, to the establishment of a renal unit in 2002/2003. We have committed to Nyinka Nyunyu, which will be a very, very important initiative in respect to local employment, and to the economy in general.

Graham Buxton asks:
Given that the proportion of old people is steadily increasing, what policies will you put in place to meet their needs?

Gavin Carpenter (IND): You've got to look at more nursing home beds, and that's already been announced. Whether it's going to happen or not, or whether it's just a political ploy before the election, It seems strange that if you're a druggie or an alcho there's always support things you can pick up, but once you get on the downhill run, you tend to get shoved in the background and forgotten about, and I don't think it's good enough. We need a lot more support for elderly people.

Bill Cross (CLP): I've got a lot of elderly friends in Tennant Creek - old Ruby Reed and old Phil Krakouer, we all used to work together in the old days - now I've been talking with Phil and I've been talking with Ruby, and we need to get the facilities for the old people where they can go along and enjoy them. They've put in their hard years, they've made Tennant Creek what it is, now it's our turn to give it back to them, to make sure they're comfortable in their elderly years.

Elliot McAdam (ALP): I've actually been an active participant with the Senior Citizens over the last couple of years, by attending their meetings on a very regular basis, and to me the most important thing is there has to be recognition and respect accorded to our Senior Citizens, who have played a very, very important role in growing the Territory over a long period of time, both indigenous and non-indigenous, and I don't think we fully appreciate that. Quite apart from politics, as a society we have a responsibility to ensure that our old people are adequately looked after.

Olivia Anderson asks:
Given that many hospital patients now must travel to Alice Springs for out-patient treatment should their overnight accommodation expenses be paid by Territory Health?

Gavin Carpenter (IND): I believe the Patient Assisted Travel scheme has got to be seriously looked at because what you get now wouldn't even buy you breakfast, it's certainly not good enough. By the same token, we're never going to get specialists here, so you've got to travel away to get it, and I believe that the PAT scheme has got to be looked at.
At the present they give you a bus fare and $20 or $30 a day, but if you've got to go and stay overnight or even just to buy a feed, it's not sufficient.
I wouldn't say the government should pay all the cost of an overnight stay, but certainly better than what it is. It's pretty small.

Bill Cross (CLP): I agree that we should have some extra funding available for those people that go down there, or whether we look at some hostel situation for those people that have to travel due to the way that the system's working at this stage. But obviously I'll be lobbying hard to get a lot of those services brought back into Tennant Creek, rather than regionalisation in Alice Springs.

Elliot McAdam (ALP): Well, patient travel as I understand it, pays around about $30 for overnight accommodation whilst people are away, but that's totally inadequate, because as we all know, if you're required to attend elsewhere for health purposes, you're not going to get a motel at that price, and that allowance should be increased significantly so that people are not out of pocket. You either do that, or you set up the services locally.

Helen Sweeting asks:
What is your vision for Tennant Creek Hospital?

Gavin Carpenter (IND): In an ideal world it'd be everything you need, but that's not going to happen and we've got to accept the fact that in a small town you're not going to get specialists here on a permanent basis…
It's been thrown around that it'd be cheaper to ship everyone out, but that's a no-no as far as I'm concerned, well and truly a no-no, and a lot of the other beds that are up there should be opened up. Over the years they've been closed down. But if you want the specialist services, you've obviously got to go elsewhere to where the specialists are, and that's a fact of life in any small town, unfortunately. You can't do anything about that.

Bill Cross (CLP): I actually did my apprenticeship in the hospital here back in '79. I remember when the hospital was brand new and we had all the services as in surgeries, we had medical ward, we had surgical ward, we had antenatal, we had the maternity ward. It was a fully functioning hospital. Now with everyone sort of being shipped down to Alice Springs, I would like to see the hospital come back to the old way it used to be, so that we didn't have to leave town for any of those services that are required, ie renal dialysis, minor surgeries, that sort of stuff.

Elliot McAdam (ALP): I think the Tennant Creek Hospital is a very, very important service provider in our community, and should be supported in terms of dollars, and in terms of its capacity to provide services right throughout the Barkly. But what's got to be looked at is that Anyinginyi Congress also provides a very, very important role, and I think there are some very good arguments for both Anyinginyi Congress and Territory Health Services to sit down and talk about how they can coordinate their services to the broader community.

Bob Whitehead asks:
If you are elected how will you ensure that the Northern Territory Department of Education is able to attract and retain good teachers?
If in order to provide appropriate education using new technologies and taking into account the special needs of students in the Barkly, more resources are clearly needed, will you pledge to make the necessary funds available?

[Gavin missed out on this question as it came in after he had given his answers.]

Bill Cross (CLP): This is something I've already been working on, and talking to Mike Reed and the Chief Minister about, about increasing the incentives for teachers to stay in Tennant Creek, and work along the West Australian model, where instead of having all your FOILs - basically airfares down to Alice Springs and back, and accommodation - built in where you have to actually access them. What we're looking for is a complete package for all the teachers coming to Tennant Creek, and you don't get penalised if the teachers do buy in Tennant Creek where you lose your rental rebates and that sort of stuff, where everyone would be on the same package and the incentive to stay here for one to two to three years, so that the longer you stay the better the incentive package, so that we retain people that like to stay in Tennant Creek.
Yes, my three daughters were born in Tennant Creek, and they're obviously going to go through the primary school and the high school here. I will be lobbying very hard to make sure we have the resources that are required for their proper education, not just for my daughters but for the whole town.

Elliot McAdam (ALP): The Education Department has become politicised at a senior level. The bottom line is that teachers, teaching professional's awards and conditions have to be on par with the rest of Australia, and the Labor Party is working strenuously to achieve that. We will, if we win government, and that would addresses the retention rates which are very low. I think by having proper awards and conditions then people are more likely to stay in the Territory longer.
The second point that I want to put is that we've got to embark very aggressively on training our own teachers in the Territory. I think there's only about sixty teachers-in-training at the moment across the territory. We've got to actually be very aggressive in terms of training our own teachers, giving local people local opportunities. And the most important thing is that we've got to provide adequate resources to the schools both in Tennant Creek and the bush. Education is by far and away the most critical issue in respect to this election, I believe, and it's something which governments have got to have the guts to admit that they've failed in the Territory and they've got to try different things.

Yvon Magnery asks:
Despite years of alcohol restrictions, the problem doesn't seem to have abated, on the contrary - it has grown. Are we on the right track?

Gavin Carpenter (IND): Certainly with Thirsty Thursday we're not on the right track because that's just been a total disaster for the town and my views are loud and clear on that. I'm still in favour of a detention centre/jail/minimum (security) lockup, whatever. If people get drunk it's a dry out centre and they're put away for a week and they get drunk twice they're put away for two weeks or something similar.
I'd get rid of Thirsty Thursday completely at this stage. It's not working, so why hold it, all it's done is vilify the town.

Bill Cross (CLP): Well, again, I've had really a good talk with the Chief Minister about these problems, and we will be revisiting the whole alcohol situation in Tennant Creek and to have a look at it, and this time get a whole of community approach to it, to find out exactly what the community wants, and what our viable alternatives are, whether it be individual prohibition or any other alternatives that might be out there. Prohibition with rehabilitation, we'll look at all different alternatives, but yes, we will be revisiting that site.

Elliot McAdam (ALP): We are on the right track. But there has to be this ongoing commitment to the accessibility and availability issues. It goes back to what I said about a community policing strategy. At the moment you have different sergeants who come into town and leave, short-term, each has their own different idea, and for this to work there has to be a commitment, not only by the community - I believe that commitment is there by the community - there has to be a commitment by the service providers, and that includes Julalikari Council, it includes other providers in town, and it includes the police, and it includes the government. At the moment there's no continuity to it. You talk to anyone around town and they'll tell you that's what it is. People support it. The sort of things that we've tried in Tennant Creek over the last few years is not something that you rest on. You've got to be ever vigilant in terms of ensuring that it works, and as I say, it's a community policing approach.

Mike Baker asks:
Do you support the funding and operation of a renal dialysis unit for Tennant Creek? If so, when would you like to see it happen?

Gavin Carpenter (IND): I would've liked to have seen it happen five years ago. Full stop.

Bill Cross (CLP): Well, again, I've already talked to the Chief Minister about this. We went up and sat down with Carol Fitz up at Congress, and we talked about it with Carol and there will be a renal dialysis unit in Tennant Creek within the next term of government, and if I can get into government, then Denis has promised that we will have one here within 12 months.
[BNP: Do you mean if you don't get into government we won't get one within 12 months?]
Bill Cross (CLP): If I don't get into government then there will be one here eventually. But we can make it happen sooner rather than later.

Elliot McAdam (ALP): We have committed to the establishment of a renal dialysis unit in Tennant Creek, $400,000, and it'll be 2002/2003, and I applaud Anyinginyi Congress and the community for their patience and it's something that's well and truly overdue.

Ian Gray asks:
Can you identify how many and what type of jobs are being made available to indigenous people on the Alice to Darwin railway?

Gavin Carpenter (IND): I think it's been a bit of a furphy all along on how many jobs there's going to be because most things are done by machine these days, and you're not going to grab someone off the street and put 'em on a million dollar machine - grader, scraper, track-layer or whatever - to run around the country. Specialist jobs like that the workers just aren't available in Tennant Creek. There will be peripheral jobs come out of it as time goes on, but so much of this, to date anyway, is heavy machinery work and construction work, and unless you're qualified and experienced, you're not going to get a job, it's as simple as that.

Bill Cross (CLP): Yes, to my knowledge there's already been a number of Aboriginal people employed on the Alice to Darwin railway, a number of those personal friends of mine that have worked for me when I used to be Cross and Henderson. Now they are actually employed on the railway and they are out there now.

Elliot McAdam (ALP): I understand that CLC has an agreement with Adrail, which equates to jobs. I understand that some of the Aboriginal organisations are talking to Adrail in respect to some of the jobs that might become available in the longer term. I know that Julalikari is looking at providing eggs to Adrail for catering. This whole issue of jobs in Tennant Creek will be a real test for the CLP government, because they did promise jobs, and I hope those jobs will arrive. That is, through the sleeper factory, through the quarry.
Let's be honest, they will be short-term jobs, and that's why it's important that we look at other opportunities, particularly in respect to mining, niche industries, and to that effect, I would like to see the establishment of a development fund for the Barkly, and I think if we win government it's a real possibility that there will be a development fund, and that that development fund will be able to be accessed by existing businesses for expansion purposes, which hopefully will create jobs, but we also hope that it will attract new businesses into town, businesses that are sustainable. They need not be monstrous businesses, but smaller type businesses, and I'd be looking at this as what I'm calling a capital development fund for the Barkly. The Barkly's been ignored in the past, and it's absolutely critical that where you've got depressed regions of Australia that these sort of development funds are available. Governments do have that role, other people will tell you otherwise, but they have that role, and the other thing of course is that there's lots of other town councils, shire councils throughout Australia who've become very entrepreneurial in respect to growing their community socially and economically, and I think the existing council also have a role to play.

Ralph Hampton asks:
What do you know about the flow of hard drugs into town as a result of the the railway and what can be done about it?

Gavin Carpenter (IND): Well, I've heard some rumours, but rumours are just rife around this town on a regular basis. There's hard drugs in town anyway, but I don't believe they're a serious problem, although any drugs are serious when you come to it. When you've got people working 12 hours a day, 12 hour shifts, by the time they've finished a 12 hour shift, they're buggered and they don't want to go out and play up. If you're operating heavy machinery, most of these jobs now you get drug tested on a regular basis. You front up at breakfast time and do a drug test, and usually on a spasmodic basis, so if you've been on the drugs, and they catch you out, well you're out. I know it's very strong in the mining game and most of the heavy machinery operators.

Bill Cross (CLP): I was unaware that there was any flow of hard drugs into Tennant Creek, and if there is then obviously I'll be talking to the police about it.

Elliot McAdam (ALP): It just must be recognised that where you have a large increase in terms of the population you have all sorts of social problems that come with it, including hard drugs, and there are laws in place. There are adequate laws in place to address any negative impact upon Tennant Creek including drugs, and the police have that role and they should enforce it.

Robin Hardiman asks:
Will you help to repeal the mandatory sentencing legislation?

Gavin Carpenter (IND): I don't really believe mandatory sentencing is working in the way in which it was originally envisaged, so as far as basic mandatory sentencing goes I think it should be got rid of, but there's got to be some more responsibility back on the courts to hand out more realistic sentences too. I don't believe it's a political issue, it's more an issue that's got to be taken up with the magistrates and courts. You can make the rules and the courts have got to abide by them. Mandatory sentencing, in my view, is basically not working.

Bill Cross (CLP): The mandatory sentencing legislation is a workable solution to a lot of the problems that were manifested in the Territory. I will be looking at some of the solutions that are there at the moment, some of the outcomes that are coming out are not as effective as they could be, and I'll be talking with the Chief Minister and with the system to see what we can actually do to make those either more effective or to look at some sort of alternatives. Yes, I do support mandatory sentencing.

Elliot McAdam (ALP): We've made it very clear that we will do that. Mandatory sentencing is an archaic piece of legislation. Our policy basically is to amend the sentencing act, to ensure that those crimes that warrant harsh penalties can be applied through the sentencing act. You can't direct magistrates to imprison people for petty offences or without taking into account extenuating circumstances. Whether you're black or white, makes no difference, you can't do that, and that's a problem that this government has. There is really no separation of powers between the judiciary and parliament. And that's an indictment on us as a society.

John McDonnell asks:
What can be done to make it easier for the small-scale prospector to get his mining lease approved?

Gavin Carpenter (IND): I'm not completely on top of that issue but somewhere along the line there's got to be some changes made where the small blokes can go out and scratch around because the big companies take up all the land. Obviously there's got to be some rules and regulations brought in because you get a small scratcher goes out and digs holes and the big mining company has got to fix it up where they've been. I'm not really au fait with the full thing but there's obviously got to be some changes made somewhere to be fair about it. The small bloke's entitled to have a go the same as the large bloke. The small bloke's not going to go in with all the modern equipment and all the rest of it. He might want to go out and scratch around, but by the same token he can't just go out and scratch around and desecrate 20 acres and leave it for the major mining company to fix up, that's for sure.

Bill Cross (CLP): With the mining leases, around Tennant Creek and around the Barkly Region, obviously we need to work in closely with the Land Councils, we need to make sure that everything can happen on a smooth and regular basis and make sure we can bring down the timetable by getting all the interested parties working together.

Elliot McAdam (ALP): I remember talking to John Love about this some years ago. I'd make every effort to ensure that those people who wanted to prospect, that there could be some sort of negotiation go on with the larger leaseholders. Not only in the sense of it as a small business or a hobby, but also as a tourism opportunity, and I would work very hard with the existing large leaseholders to cater for the small business, for people who just use it as a hobby and as a tourism activity for the town.

Kay Rose asks:
The recent Barrow Creek abduction has resulted in many more travellers choosing to stay in Tennant Creek. What can be done to increase the duration of visitors' stays?
With the recent closure to visitors of Nobles Nob and the Dot Mine, do you have any ideas to enhance the tourist potential of Tennant Creek?

Gavin Carpenter (IND): I think we're well on the way to that now. You look at the Battery complex up there. That's going to continue to grow. One thing I would like to see is perhaps the National Trust collection moved to Battery Hill because it's a problem getting volunteers to open on a regular basis. That's a great little set up, they've got some terrific material there, and the logical place would perhaps be at Battery Hill where it's under control and people are around the place. It's just an ongoing thing that over a period of time I believe Battery Hill will turn into a real tourist icon. There's still plans to move the headframes in there, but that's been put on the backburner while other things are done, there's only so many hours in a day to do these things, but I believe that will happen with time.
And you've got the Nyinkka Nyunyu site down here going on, that's obviously going to be a major asset to the town. The biggest thing we have here because of the caravaners, their operation, we've got to look at what they can fill their time in with. I think Battery Hill and Nyinkka Nyunyu - it'll just be a progressive thing over the years, and gradually builds up from there. But the National Trust one is one I'd really like to see opened up more because they've got some fantastic gear up there, and it's all living history because it's so young. It's not like stuff from 200 years ago, that's interesting, but this is stuff that's still alive today. I think it's just a normal progression to keep going from there. What the railway brings in times to come; they're already talking about letting people off in Katherine to see the gorge and things like that, that'll be something we've got to start working on now to see what we can do here, get them to stop for a couple of hours, do the mine tour or whatever as part of the thing, or get off today and go tomorrow, all these things have got to be worked through, whether it's possible or whether it's not. Time will tell. It comes back to money again, you spend another day, overnight, it's more money, so up goes the cost, whether it throws it out of the ball park of the general cost, we'll just wait and see. You can only work through those things.

Bill Cross (CLP): To get people to stay in Tennant Creek we're already working towards that, with the original Tourist Association, with the improvements at Battery Hill with the McLaughlin collection, with the excellent facilities that are up there at the moment. Also with Julalikari, we're helping get the Interpretive Centre up and running, to get that on track as fast as we can, we're working with the people there to help them out wherever we can and however we can with the Northern Territory Government and myself, and there are other equally good opportunities around Tennant Creek that just need to be taken advantage of.

Elliot McAdam (ALP): One is we've been marketed wrongly. Our marketing has not been effective in the past. I'm not absolutely convinced locking ourselves into Alice Springs is the way to go either, at the moment. There are several things that we can do. One is Nyinkka Nyunyu, I think it will become a very important tourist outcome, tagalong for drive type tours. We've got to have proper day-only parking facilities for caravanners who come into town, where they can park their caravans in a secure place, unhitch them, and then they could visit some of the sites we've got around here, around Tennant, in the immediate vicinity.
The Davenport Ranges is a goldmine that's yet to be recognised and marketed. Longreach Waterhole at the moment has bird life which is abundant. Some of the mines around town are heritage listed. The Powell Creek Telegraph Station - there are any number of opportunities that exist at the moment that can be utilised, and it goes back to this capital development fund. That's the sort of thing that we'd be looking to do to attract new operators into town.

[BNP:]
Is it so important to have a local member who belongs to the party in government or should we just vote for the person who we feel will represent our interests the best?

Gavin Carpenter (IND): Vote for the person you think is going to represent you the best, surely. Regardless. This is one of the things of being an Independent, you talk to anyone. What I've been doing, it's hard to explain to a lot of the Aboriginals what an Independent is, they don't understand it, and they've been told Labor, Labor for years. So I try to explain to them, the Labor Party's in a circle there, and they only talk to each other, CLP sit in a circle over there, and they only talk to each other, or the bosses in Darwin, and I'm in the middle. Neither CLP or Labor talk to each other, all they do is fight. Which is a fact of life, but I'm in the middle and I'll talk to the Labor Party and I'll talk to the Liberal Party and I'll talk to you people on the ground, and I represent you people on the ground rather than a major party, and no-one tells me, I haven't got a boss that tells me, say this and say that. That what I'm trying to explain to them. And it's getting through to a few of them. Whether it relates back to votes or not, who knows. I'll tell you at nine o'clock on Saturday night. But I think the Territory as a whole, it's a personality thing more than anything else comes into it because it's small, most people know people and they go for the person rather than the party. Look at Maggie. Why did Maggie stay there with such a majority? She's such a good person. You can't fault Maggie as a person. Don't like some of the policies she's got to follow but as a person you can't fault Maggie. There's no way in the world I would have stood if Maggie was standing. Wouldn't even have considered it. Just seemed a window of opportunity to give it a go. If it happens it happens, if it doesn't it doesn't.

Bill Cross (CLP): Obviously it comes down to the actual people that are actually voting, but with the things we've already started moving after me working for the Chief Minister for 12 months, we've already started the things moving in Tennant Creek, people will probably understand that it's much easier to get things moving from inside the government than standing on the outside, either as an Independent or as an Opposition member, where I can just walk in and bash somone's door down and say how about this, let's get this done, where people that are Independents or as the Opposition have to make appointments, and it makes it very hard for them to do anything, as per the quote per Maggie in the Gulf News - saying that being in the Opposition she could not get anything done.

Elliot McAdam (ALP): It's important to have a local member who is committed to the social and economic development of the Barkly. Governments of whatever persuasion should treat all electorates in a fair and equitable manner. The CLP has not done that in the past. The final point I want to make in regards to this is that the CLP have been in for 26 years. They allege that the Labor Party does not have the capacity to govern the Northern Territory. We have an excellent team of people who are committed to the interests of all people in the Territory, all decent Territorians, and that we would avail ourselves of the excellent people within the NT public service. An indication of our seriousness and our approach to government is the fact that we of all the political parties in the Territory, and for the first time ever, we went to Access Economics and all our programs are costed. The CLP has never done that.

... and a final word from Gavin:
We're having fun. We've had more fun in the last two or three weeks than we've had for years. Doing things, you stop and talk to people, have a cup of coffee, wander round and say G'day, and it's been terrific, thoroughly enjoyed it. Wish it happened every twelve months. We're having some fun, that's for sure.