GRAB BYTES – JUNE 2025

Hail the Brits

It gives one a warm glow to know that the UK and the USA—our AUKUS partners—are not too far away if we need help repelling any unwanted or antagonistic attention toward our country from any non-aligned power.

Virgin flights to Uluru on rock bottom special prices

There are too many terms and conditions and limitations. Once the extra costs are added, the whole package will look less inviting.

Community upgrades at remote settlement

Knowing about these upgrades and how they will facilitate living conditions in this community is good. The work will substantially benefit residents and visitors, provided these facilities are carefully maintained. The short life expectancy of many new and upgraded facilities in communities is an outcome of care and maintenance neglect. There is no better example of this than what has happened in the Wadeye Community.

New teaching approach in NT

This is NOT NEW. It is revisiting the way things used to be before alternative, more floury and less effective strategies supplanted a common sense approach.  Sadly, too many students for far too long have been captive guinea pigs. They have suffered at the hands of those peddling fanciful theories and shallow alternatives to good, sound teaching and in depth learning.

Finke Desert Race 

May all those in buggies and on bikes be protected from harm and danger on the way to Finke and back to Alice Springs. This wonderful event has had its share of mishaps, including injury and death, and I hope, as an avid fan of this great event, that all participants and spectators are kept safe.

VAD – get on with it!

 It is high time the CLP Government stopped procrastinating and pussy-footing around the issue of VAD.  Inquiries and reports have been numerous, reasoned and based on careful consideration by those qualified to undertake the research and provide the recommendations that have already taken place.  This further ‘inquiry into the inquiries and previous recommendations’ is tinkering and pussy-footing  – and delaying the legislating of what is a fundamental human right.

Director of Public Prosecutions resigns

Mr Babb makes it four resignations from key positions. It seems that the only commissioner hanging on is the Corrections Commissioner. The revelation of this post suggests we are in dire straits. 

At the risk of drawing ‘tut-tuts’ from the new generation of political leaders, I would suggest that the government should open these issues to the public, and especially long-term Territorians for their thoughts. I don’t think this would be a waste of time, for what is needed is a revisitation of the experiences of those who confronted these sorts of issues in the past. Understanding their management processes and how they dealt with key challenges could offer a valuable learning experience and would not be a waste of time.

Transparency

I am starting to seriously worry about the roles and responsibilities attached to a growing number of senior public and government-appointed positions. It seems that accountability and transparency of action are more opaque and less clear than should be the case. We need to appreciate our government and its departments through a clear lens. It seems to me that the lens is getting very foggy, with excuses and vagaries creeping in, making for obtuse and unclear responses.

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War ahead?

The way things are transpiring, and given Australia’s ever-increasing vulnerability and insecurity on the defence front, pending aggression—it is a case of ‘if’  not ‘when’—could well add contemporary rubble and destruction to what may be found on the archeological front in decades to come.

Tamboran and Beetaloo 

This is excellent news, a result that augurs well for our Territory in terms of positiveness for the future of gas extraction. May this company remain in Australian hands, with ownership never being divested to foreign ownership?

The wonderful reality of Bundilla Beach

This development is good news indeed. It will enable people to sit and quietly contemplate the beauty and tranquillity of this location. It will also be an area that encourages play and other worthwhile physical activities. All in all, this new facility deserves five stars. All credit to our Lord Mayor and the City of Darwin Councillors for this wonderful addition to our city, with their vision transformed into reality.

Darwin to Gold Goast via Jetstar

This new route is terrific news for those going from and coming to the NT. It will facilitate the travel of holidaymakers and their families from that part of Australia. I am fervently hoping the new connection will go the distance and not be a travel alternative that is in any way short-term.