ALL HUFF, ALL PUFF, NO ACTION

Today

I feel

Like going away

Into a corner

There to

Die.

Donald Trump.

Donald Trump.

One Nation on the upswing – and building on a strong foundaton

The reckoning is over, calculations done.
Without any doubt, the Liberals have gone,
Jumped with conclusion and without hesitation,
Voters give second place in their preference, to the rising One Nation

Donald Trump

Across the top of Scotland from John-o-Groats to the west coast. That was in 1996. The road was a very narrow bitumen strip with passing places every few hundred metres so cars going in opposite directions could pass without collision. The most picturesque road I’ve ever navigated.

DONALD TRUMP

The countenance of DONALD TRUMP

The TRUMP STONE

Donald Trump.

Donald Trump.

It happens year after year after year.

Donald Trump in a phone call with the Norwegian Prime Minister.

Donald Trump

• Dementia reduces living to existing.

• Process and procedure stifle common-sense outcomes.

• Spoken  words are often false, betraying thinking on issues.

• Alas, the dementia mind wanders aimlessly in time and space.

• Asking for ‘sorry’ apologies is farcical, almost a gimmick!

Australian Government. – approved then not approved

The Australian government’s humanity, empathy, and support for those from the Middle East is wonderful. How lucky we are to be governed by an impartial and focused group of outstanding politicians who shun any notion of favouritism toward one group over another.

Will Trump take Greenland?

YES

MORE LIKELY THAN NOT

FOR HE IS NOT A MAN

TO STOP UNTIL HE’S GOT

EVERYTHING HE WANTS

AND NEEDS AND SO I SAY 

THIS BRILLIANT MAN WILL PERSIOST

UNTIL HE GETS HIS WAY.

Closing titles

A great game

The tree tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden.

She sinned

Adam sinned

Evil came into the world

Without the tree

How much different the world would have been.

It could only happen with Donald Trump.

As people age, they become physical caricatures of their younger selves.

I am Henry
I am a man
But from now on
I will change – and I can
Just go to a bureau
And confirm my sex change.
There could be nothing
More easily to arrange.

Memories haunt her

Stability evades her

Satisfaction eludes her

She is here but nowhere

Now here in 2025,

Than there in 1954,

Now with me in the car

Then with her Father in his truck

Home by ourselves today

Then back in sad childhood years,

In Leanyer with our family grown,

Now in their young years in bed

The car

Our Camry 

Where is it, who has borrowed it

Without asking 

No one – it’s in the driveway 

“I have had breakfast

Have I had breakfast

I have put the clothes on the line

Have you brought the washing up yet?”

“Who are you

No you are not Henry

Where is he Dad

I know your voice; you are Henry.”

Uncertainty dominates each day

How will that be as time strips even further

At the soul  case

And the brain-box

Of my beloved. 

Dementia is so f…..g cruel!

My name is Henry
It all counts for naught
Where I was born
Was in the Land of Trespass
A place
Where my parents and theirs
Had no right to impose themselves
Or the generations that follow.

I am guilty by my birth
And guilty of contributing to the birth
Of children.
And they in turn have transgressed
By having children of their own.

What right have we
Those who have gone before
Us
And those who follow
To have any purchase to title in this place?

A place where those who came later,
Wish was back in the hands
Of Aborigines
With their own footprint
Being despised
As bringing shame
Because we interposed ourselves
Into this place of traditional sacredness.

How can we redress the grievous interference
The arrival of our forebears imposed
On the unhurried peace and tranquillity
Of this place
Before the trespass
Of 1788

Paying tax is good, and I am sad,
So many see it as something bad,
Tax is what makes Australia good,
With pollies spending it wisely as they should,
With our contributions safe to their hand,
Our leaders keep this as a promised land,
I am so glad to part with tax money,
To ensure Australia’s milk and honey,
Spreading hope and care to one and all,
This always is our government’s call

Russia don’t mind, Russia don’t care,
About war’s destruction, And people’s despair, 
Wrecking of cities, Pockmarking the land,
Confirms that Russia, Has a hard, hurting hand.

Slaughter don’t matter, Their point to make,
It matters not, that their claims are fake,
Little by little, They’ll claw back the past,
‘Till Russia becomes, ‘United’ at last.
The countries that fled, Their future has gone,
Back to what was, When Russia has won.

This comment was not approved for publication.

I predict that in times to come – and before 2050 – Australia will have a Muslim Prime Minister and that there will be suburbs and areas in which Sharia Law is enforced.

That will happen because state and territory governments will be increasingly made up of those of the Muslim faith who have been voted into office.

And that has a starting point based on acquiescence

IT WAS A STORY AS HORRIBLE AS IT WAS – TO ME – INCOMPREHENSIBLE

What a sad and poignant story was depicted on the front page of Monday’s “Australian” (‘Kumanjayi bashed me, but I loved him’). It is incredible to think that a young girl, a maturing teenager, should feel that her partner had the right to bash her brutally and for long periods. 

How can it be possible, in the way the majority of people view things, for Walker to forgive his partner Rickisha Robertson for the fact that her presence motivated him to abuse and beat her so savagely? 

Robertson’s forgiveness toward Walker, albeit misplaced, is understandable, but his forgiveness of her for being the person she was is beyond comprehension. 

The story reminds me of the fact that in traditional times and before the arrival of Europeans in Australia, Indigenous women were deemed to be the property of men. They were objects men could do with as they saw fit. During my time working in remote areas of WA during the 1970s, the entitlement and possessiveness of girls and women by men was still very much a part of life. 

The worm is turning, but to this day, far too many men regard women and girls as goods and ‘possessions’ to be dealt with as they like. This story confirms just how far we have to go in shedding and hopefully eliminating this thinking and subsequent actions from indigenous and, indeed, from all cultural mores. 

This was not approved for publication

An academic appproved for a major research grant for a questionable project

For this supposed ‘academic’ to be granted $250,000 for curious ‘research’ and after what she has claimed and written (for which Sydney University admonished her) is more than a travesty – it is a squandering of money in a rash and poorly considered manner.

Not Approved

For this academic to be granted $250,000 for research after what she has claimed and written (for which Sydney University admonished her) is more than a travesty – it is a squandering of money in a rash and poorly considered manner.

Not Approved

It is terrific that this academic and researcher, admonished for an earlier indiscretion, has not been thwarted in her pursuance of insights and new knowledge that her grant of $240,000 will support.

Approved

Online newspaper correspondence

On the shooting down of the Azerbaijan  Commercial plane – From a contributor

They were shot down by Russia, who then denied them landing at Grozny, who also degraded the GPS, and then sent them out over the Caspian. There is no troublesome evidence of shrapnel damage if it crashes in the water.

My response was not approved

If that is how it happened, then it was an act of sheer bastardry. Like the shooting down of the Malaysian Airlines plane several years ago – with Russia home free in terms of consequence.

My response approved

This would have been a sad, unintended and tragic accident. I am sure that civil aviation authorities, with empathy and support from Russia, will try to find the cause and alleviate the suffering of those who have lost loved ones. Russia may well offer support to those hospitalised with injuries, for there is a quality of humanitarianism and care for those suffering from accident or injury within the regime.

From online comments made to a newspaper

Pornography

Porn is demeaning to the creators and the viewers.
Porn creates situations leading to debased behaviour.
Porn stimulates acts of violence and inappropriate treatment of others.
Porn lowers the regard held for women.
Porn is a violation of the moral temple.
Porn is about lust, not about love.
Porn promotes evil thoughts and inappropriate physical and sexual habits

Not approved then approved later

Premier of Victoria

I think that Jacinta Allen is a leader who is a danger to the people of the state she leads. Surely these extreme opinions being expressed on gender should be challenged in court. Common sense suggests she is right out of line. Not approved

Premier Allen is to be congratulated on her guardianship of the ‘new morality’age in Victoria. Her vision and farsightedness must be the envy of many without such commitment to making momentous social and economic decisions for the age in which we live. APPROVED

A newspaper response.

I understand the capacity issue. But why can’t I as a person with capacity make a judgment call on my own situation? Why can’t I specify in my Personal Action Plan that if in some future time I decline physically or mentally to an acute non 

-functioning, non-cognitive state, that VAD be entitled under my carer arrangements.  

Of course here in the NT we have a tardy government that sees no reason to be in any hurry to reinstate the entitlement we lost close to three decades ago. 

I have read that in Victoria where VAD is one of the very few pieces of sensible legislation passed in recent years, well over 2,000 people have opted for VAD under legislated entitlement. I’d be willing to bet pounds to peanut shells, that some of those choosing to pass, did so for reasons of cognitive incapacity and not just physical incapability.

I don’t like that my only option is suicide.

Political issues

• There is a possibility but very little probability that Anthony Albanese will invite President Putin on a state visit to Australia.

• There is a possibility and a quite strong probability that Toto Albanese will win the Champion Canine Award at the 2026 Sydney Royal Show.

• There is a possibility and a growing probability that all federal, state and territory coalition leaders will soon be women

Donald Trump

My wife and I have been married for one week less than 57 years. I gave loved and have been moved for each and every day of our journey.

Use the bin.

Do not be a bower bird.

Use a shredder.

Donald Trump

Donald Trump

We are blessed by good government.,
From near and afar
People applaud and clap us,
Say how lucky we are

Albo is my hero,
I’m sure you’ll agree,
We should salute,
And to him bend knee.

I am an old man,
He may well be the last,
Australian PM.
Before I breathe my last.

Old cars are good.
New cars are not.
I love my old car,
The car that I got,
Decades ago and it runs so well,
New ones cost heaps
And are like empty shells.
New fangled ideas,
Leave me stone cold,
That’s why I love,
My car oh also old.

Ribbons of Green

During the 1980s and into the early 1990s, many Darwin schools and some community organisations contributed to the construction of tree belts in the city and suburbs through the Ribbons of Green Program. 

Trees were given to these groups, who undertook to plant and maintain them. The program gave schools and other groups ownership of the greening and beautification of significant areas in both Darwin and Palmerston. Signage acknowledging each school and group was placed in the greening areas under their management. Planting, care and maintenance were the assigned responsibilities. 

With the passage of time, the program was discontinued, signs removed, and the planted trees and other species left to run the gauntlet with nature’s aid. That took away the sense of belonging that schools and sponsoring groups felt about the landscape.  

Nowadays, trees are planted, given a little start with watering, and left to grow in an unrestrained, untended manner. Come cyclones. We reap the consequences, but management plans are never modified or upgraded to prevent future catastrophes.  Surely, change is necessary.

 Classroom teachers, the most vital of all educators when it comes to interfacing with students, feel the weight of expectation because it all comes down to them.

In 2024, the teaching profession was under more pressure than ever to deliver for students.Expectations have been building for years but have never been more pronounced than now. Classroom teachers, the most vital of all educators when it comes to interfacing with students, feel the weight of expectation because it all comes down to them. They carry the prime responsibility (outside the home) for teaching and developing children.

Appreciation is well-hidden

Double-edged expectations are held for teachers and classroom support staff. The system and school leaders anticipate that those working with students will do an outstanding job, reflected in NAPLAN outcomes, PISA results, TER scores, TAFE/VET achievement and a host of other measurable objectives for primary children and secondary students. 

On the other hand, parents and the community expect that teachers will teach in a way th

at results in students achieving quality outcomes, regardless of social and environmental pressures. The constant observation and scrutiny under which educators are placed adds to their burden of accountability. The expectation is front and centre, with appreciation for their actions rarely expressed.

While teachers are celebrated on World Teachers Day each year, this positive recognition is a brief pause in the heavy load of accountability placed squarely on their shoulders. The profession is heavily weighted with expectations, and bouquets are few.

There are many things about teaching as a profession that are misunderstood by the public at large. Neither are these elements considered by the Departments of Education and those within systems that set teacher expectations. The long term confirms this, and the current differentiation of ‘them’ and ‘us’ describes the connection between school-based staff and system administrators. The hardly respectful term ‘carpet-land’ is used by many teachers to express the lack of proximity they feel to those developing curriculum priorities and setting teaching agendas. Departments set school curriculum agendas to meet government whim and societal pressures without considering how this will impact teachers and students.

What they see is the iceberg tip

The work of teachers (and school leaders) reminds me of an iceberg. Only 10% of an iceberg’s mass is visible. The other 90% is hidden beneath the ocean, seen only by marine creatures. In the same way, the work done by teachers and support staff is 10% observable and 90% unseen.

Many believe that classroom teachers work six hours daily, five days a week. This 30-hour working week, reduced by public holidays, is complemented by 12 weeks ‘holiday’ each year. Regarding occupational comparison, our teachers are considered people on ‘Easy Street’. Letters to newspapers and callers to radio talkback programs frequently slate teachers for lack of commitment and care for students. How wrong they are.

A criticism heaped on teachers, support staff, and school leadership teams is that teaching is an easy job, generating far too many rewards. I have heard people say that teachers should go and get themselves a ‘real job’. Letters to newspapers regularly decry teachers as being too well rewarded for the tasks they undertake.

There are some, of course, who appreciate the in-depth nature of teaching and education: sadly, the view that teaching is superficial appears to be held by many people.

Many students and parents appreciate ‘their’ teacher. However, in media releases and public statements about schools and teachers, there are far more brickbats than bouquets. Criticism is often harsh and strident, with acclamation of teaching positives being restricted to acknowledgement on World Teachers’ Day.

What is entailed

Teaching is far more than what is visible to the public. In fact, ‘teaching’ is a small part of the educational equation. Detailed planning, preparation and programming, taking many hours, precede classroom teaching and direct engagement with students.

Beyond teaching, there is the recording of outcomes (testing, measurement and assessment), review and then the considerations of revision and extension. These educational elements go well beyond teacher and pupil interaction in the classroom.

After-hours commitment

weekends and during holidays, will reveal a growing number of parked teachers’ cars. Staff members are inside working on many tasks that embrace the teaching profession. Salary recognises teachers for around 37 hours per week. In real terms, many work upwards of 60 hours during the same period.

Teachers are among the few professional groups not eligible for overtime payments to recognise extra hours at work. Police, firefighters, and nursing staff work to fixed rosters and are reimbursed if extra hours or shifts are worked. This does not happen for teachers in schools. The only person entitled to compensation for extra work may be the school janitor, and only if a pre-agreement has been arranged.

These days, there are more and more meetings in which teachers and staff members are required to participate. Staff and unit meetings, moderation meetings, performance management meetings and many other gatherings have proliferated. Most are held outside the scope of the typical working day and week. 

Teachers organise extended excursions. They coach and manage teams and groups involved in sporting and cultural exchanges of several days’ duration. Preparation for their regular classes before going is part of the deal. They are part of fundraising activities, school council committees and school improvement planning groups. The list goes on.

N Unlike many professionals, educators do not always feel 

they an leave school at work. Program- ming and preparation, marking and updating data onto electronic files, which transfer back to school records, are tasks that move classrooms to lounge rooms at home.

A ‘giving’ profession

Teachers and school staff members should not be knocked. They are selfless, giving and caring. Most teachers are there for others, and without the work they do, our society would be poorer. I believe teaching is the most vital of all professions. It is one of society’s linchpin professions, and those who work within it deserve to be valued and appreciated.

A Rejoicing Profession

I hope that school-based educators will come to feel good about themselves. A distinct worry is that our teachers under-sell and under-appreciate themselves. It is almost as if they expect to be put upon and criticised, accepting this as normative behaviour. That should not be the case. There needs to be a place for joy and rejoicing in the hearts of our teachers, who contribute so much to so many.

At the end of each day, teachers should reflect on their successes and plan for what lies ahead. Reflective, ‘feel good’ times are essential and help build confidence. That can help alleviate the stresses and anxieties that too often build up within the mindset of teachers who feel they have no right to rejoice.

I hope that teachers become more valued and appreciated by the community, by their employment systems and by politicians who set educational agendas. Equally, I hope that educators working in our schools feel professional joy from within.

  One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is a vital element for the growing plant and the child’s soul.

Carl Jung

Appreciation is the highest form of prayer, for it acknowledges the presence of good wherever you shine the light.

Donald Trump.

Donald Trump

• Optimism about 2026 is like a wafer thin cloud  on a hot day.

• Dementia now Australia’s number one destroyer of human life.

• Is government frightened to call out the scourge of dementia?

• Time to look after your rural community Premier Allen.

• Dementia’s status as Australia’s No 1 killer is kept quiet.

Too late!   

The day you begin,   

Can be the day too late,   

To stop.   

Drugs offer    

A slippery slide,   

A roller coaster ride.   

Up, up, uppers,    

Exhilaration,   

Down, down, downers,    

Plunging despair,   

The crest crashes.     

A yawning trough,   

The pits,   

The only way is up,  

Inject,   

Ingest,     

Force the mortal flesh,   

Reach the mountain top.   

Savour brief sunshine,   

Before you slide,   

Into the abyss of soulless despair.   

That fix,   

That fleeting rise,   

Artificial joy.   

Again the fall,   

That sinking hopelessness.      

Pump your veins,    

Full of shit,   

Rise, rise, rise,   

Between the falls.   

Day,   

Slips into night,   

Until one day,   

You rise no more.   

Forever cast,   

Into nether silence,   

Beyond the grave.   

DOD.   

We’ve come from near and afar,  

Tragic horror where we were,  

Now we are here,  

Across the oceans and the plains,  

Our home regimes were major pains.  

We pawned our jewels,  

Shelled out much money,  

For passage to a land,  

Of milk and honey.  

A land of promise   

We were told,  

Awaits those who cross   

From countries  

Whose birthrights are sold  

On sad regimes  

Which make no sense,  

Anathema to those  

With pounds and pence  

Who oppose autocracy,  

And dream democracy.  

Challenged, spurned, cast adrift,  

We left behind a major rift,    

An ideological chasm so wide,  

It casts us on the other side,  

Of a yawning gulf  

We will never bridge.    

So we arrived  

Down under,  

Was our trip a massive blunder!?  

Herded into compounds like cows,

Men typed as pigs, 

Women as sows!!  

In camps,  

Contained within razor wire.  

We yell,  

“Is Australia ANOTHER living hell??”  

“Justice please,  

Justice” we call,  

Hear us …  

Our despair quells.  

Our plea a prayer,  

Will it fall on deaf ears,  

Raising within,  

Internal fears,  

That we will be moved. 

Back. From whence we came,   

Or worse,   

Oh SHIT!!!  

RETURNED,  

From where we left,

We will face torture,  

Trial,  

And DEATH.  

A couple  

With hungry child,  

Approach the checkout.  

In their trolley,  

Are basic necessities.  

Nothing elaborate,  

Every item one of need.  

They consult the plastic,  

Enter digits,  

Hoping to God   

For the green numbers.  

STRIKE ONE   

“Please re-enter”   

Demands that soulless terminal screen.  

Embarrassing the couple,  

Exposing their shame,  

To fellows winking,  

Thinking,  

“We’re better than them”.  

“Sometimes the card sticks …   

Have another go   

OK?”

Transaction re-entered.  

STRIKE TWO   

Declined again! … then again.

STRIKE THREE!!    

You are out.

Derision haunts the couple,   

Shoppers laugh behind their hands.   

The sad pair,   

Buy meagre items,    

With a handful of coins,    

Loose, forlorn in a bag.  

Biscuits, milk.    

The forlorn child   

Hurriedly tears the packet,  

Gnawing the nourishment,    

Like a hungry rat.   

Whither now?   

God only knows   

Toward what end     

Their forlorn destiny will lead.    

They wander from the precinct,    

Into the nether regions,   

Of near distance.   

Rain falls,   

Lightly from the sky,   

How they wish   

It was manna from Heaven

Ribbons of Green

During the 1980s and into the early 1990s, many Darwin schools and some community organisations contributed to the construction of tree belts in the city and suburbs through the Ribbons of Green Program. 

Trees were given to these groups, who undertook to plant and maintain them. The program gave schools and other groups ownership of the greening and beautification of significant areas in both Darwin and Palmerston. Signage acknowledging each school and group was placed in the greening areas under their management. Planting, care and maintenance were the assigned responsibilities. 

With the passage of time, the program was discontinued, signs removed, and the planted trees and other species left to run the gauntlet with nature’s aid. That took away the sense of belonging that schools and sponsoring groups felt about the landscape.  

Nowadays, trees are planted, given a little start with watering, and left to grow in an unrestrained, untended manner. Come cyclones. We reap the consequences, but management plans are never modified or upgraded to prevent future catastrophes.  Surely, change is necessary.

For many years, I have resisted the idea of becoming a Facebook member.

That had largely to do with the fact that so many people connected to social media accounts had endured a great deal of stress related to bullying and snide, awful comments on social media. As a school principal, I became aware of just how damaging social media can be and how it can be manipulated and used to cause great upset to others.

I have not changed my mind about the damaging and deleterious impacts of social media. Still, my decision now to use this platform has been influenced by the need to access information about a key medical issue that can only be accessed by creating a Facebook account.

I look forward to reacquainting myself with people I know from our time in education and through community involvement over the years.

This is a letter of inquiry, not a complaint. It may be that I am simply behind the eight ball when it comes to modern communication methods.

That said, I can but wonder why, for the past ten years – and possibly longer – I have never been contacted by a councillor who represents the Richardson Ward.

There were several pamphlets left in our mailbox as the election approached, but no follow-up. There have been no visits, phone calls, councillor newsletters, or ward ratepayers meetings called before or after the August 2025 local government election. Apart from the Lord Mayor’s posts, I am unaware of any Facebook communication.

Are our councillors and the council largely non-communicative, or am I not looking in the right places for information?

I know it is wrong

To wish I was dead

Because I have my wife

The love of my life

Afflicted with dementia

For whom I care.

If this was not so,

I would love to bid the world adieu,

And depart

From my depression

And foreclosure

Which is pressing upon me.

I am semi-alive,

But a dim flicker of my former self,

Alive

Only because I am a carer.

The best east snack foods in the world to eat. And so beautifully and symmetrically packaged to eat. Pringles are fit for the Royal snack table. They have a class and a quality of their own.

There are Pringles

Then the rest.

This is a statement included in a Facebook Post. It is plaintive and sincere. As a carer, I can identify with its sentiments.

WHAT IS KNOWN BUT ONLY TALKED ABOUT IN QUIET, ALMOST UNDERCURRENT TERMS, IS THAT DEMENTIA IN THE NUMBER ONE PEOPLE KILLER IN AUSTRALIA. IT PROGRESSIVELY GNAWS AWAY AT SUFFERERS, REDUCING THEM IN HUMAN STATUS TERMS TO SHADOWS OF THE PEOPLE THEY USED TO BE.

Nobody ever asks the carers what we think. We’re the ones in the homes, the hospitals, the waiting rooms, the hospice meetings. We’re the ones watching the decline in real time, not on a chart or in a report. And yet, somehow, we’re the quietest people in the whole dementia conversation. We don’t want sympathy or likes or empty words we want things to change. We want things to be spoken about properly. We want the truth that happens behind closed doors to be acknowledged instead of brushed off like it’s just “old age.”

We want someone somewhere to take dementia seriously, the same way they take other diseases seriously. We want research
We want medicine. We want options. We want answers. We want hope. We’re tired of being told “there’s nothing we can do.” That line breaks a family in half. Carers hear it and feel a part of their heart fall to the floor every single time. Because what do you mean there’s nothing? What do you mean just “manage it”? Why aren’t we fighting for treatments? Why aren’t we talking about prevention? Why aren’t we pushing for better care and more support for the ones who carry this alone?

People act like dementia is just something that “happens when you get old.” No. Dementia is a disease that tears families apart. It steals parents from their children, partners from each other, grandparents from grandkids who will never know who they used to be It destroys independence, personality, dignity It takes everything except the body that’s left behind. And carers are expected to watch that happen quietly to get on with it to not complain, to not break down

But we’re done being quiet.

We want dementia spoken about openly, loudly, honestly. We want carers represented in conversations and decisions. We want funding for research, not just leaflets about “memory loss.” We want medication that slows it down, stops it, helps with the fear, the confusion, the aggression, the shutdown, the decline. We want science to care about this like it cares about everything else we want governments to see the carers who have given up their jobs their sleep their mental health their freedom to keep their loved ones safe

And until that happens, we will keep talking. We will keep telling the truth. We will keep posting, sharing, writing, and shouting because dementia is not rare it’s everywhere behind millions of front doors chewing through families in silence.

Carers are tired not just physically tired emotionally tired, world-tired, tired of waiting for someone to care enough to make a difference. We don’t want to just “manage dementia,” we want to understand it, treat it, slow it down, prevent it, and one day stop it completely.

our loved ones deserve more than just “comfort,” they deserve a future and we as carers deserve to see that future too💜💜

Planning for and construction of schools in the newer Darwin and Palmerston suburbs is long overdue.

When suburbs for Darwin and Palmerston were being planned in the 1970s and early 1980s, the provision of schooling was one of the first priorities taken into account.

In Darwin, schools were built in Karama and Leanyer as soon as suburbs were gazetted. The residential areas developed around their new schools. The same applied in Palmerston. Gray and Driver had Neighbourhood Centres which included schools and childcare facilities available as residents purchased blocks and built their nearby homes.

This policy reassured residents that schooling would be available for children.

Guaranteed local schooling encouraged people to buy property and settle in these new suburbs.

Over time, this policy has changed. Rather than schools (and other necessary community facilities) being among the first constructions, provision is left until all residential blocks are purchased and homes built. Lyons and Muirhead in Darwin are overdue for schools. Hundreds of families have to transport their children to schools at distance from where they live.

This has resulted in Nakara, Wanguri and Leanyer primary schools being oversupplied with students who are living outside their catchment areas.

This policy change has also impacted upon Palmerston. People living in Johnson, Zuccoli and other developing residential areas have to take their children to distant schools. In Palmerston , this has resulted in huge numbers being enrolled at Bakewell and Roseberry Primary Schools. Many of the students are being enrolled from out of these schools catchment areas.

Undoubtably, economics have driven this change. Developers are in a hurry to sell land and construct housing. However it leaves people with limited options for their children.

When families have children being enrolled in schools out of area, their attention and focus is elsewhere. They are not able to contribute to the development of their suburb’s character.

The present policy is leading to our suburban schools, particularly primary schools, becoming larger and larger. Historically, school planning was done with the expectation that schools would grow to a population of 300 to possibly 350. In the schools mentioned, these numbers are being substantially exceeded.

It would be in the interests of community for government and developers to revisit the benefits of making schools one of the first facilities constructed in new residential subdivisions. Leaving schools until the absolute last socially and culturally deprives those living in our newest suburbs.

DEMENTIA:

A MULTIFACED CURSE,
AN INTELLECTUAL AND COGNITIVE DESRROYER,
A PARASITE OF THE BRAIN.

• Dementia washes waves of hesitation that break over the top of confidence.
• Dementia turns a tranquil conscience into a troubled mind.
• Dementia destroys confidence and assurance, substituting doubt and hesitation.

Most children – in fact all children – are well and truly down the miles of Adulthood Road

Their hearts entwine in love so pure,

Rock solid, their love will endure,

From downers, to heady times so high,

Now, always, until they die.

The Lodge is now a nest of love,

O’seen by olive bearing dove,

Peace within, each day serene,

The Lady of the Lodge his Queen.

Everlasting times they’ll share 

Toto will be their Humphrey Bear,

One and one and one make three

Albo, Toto and Jodie.

Thank you, Nigella Lawson, for imbuing within me a capacity to appreciate simple foods.

THE McGRATH FOUNDATION DAY RAISING MONEY FOR CANCER TREATMENT. THIS IS THE 18TH YEAR THE PINK TEST HAS BEEN PART OF THIS FIXTURE.

Anthony Albanese.

One of the biggest drawbacks to education in Australia and one of the biggest challenges faced by schools has to do with teacher training. In a recent column in ‘The Weekend Australian’ (25&26/2) education writer Natasha Bita wrote that universities must learn to lift the quality of teacher training. She wrote that low expectations for teacher training were established decades ago. She was alluding to training of the 1960’s and 1970’s being replaced by degree courses at universities, which concentrated on the degree rather than content instilling teaching methods and teacher readiness for the school classroom.

Bita indicated that  “teacher training is set for a shake up as the federal government prepares to weed out students with poor literacy and lure top ranked school leavers … into classroom teaching.”  

After reading Bita’s column I recalled advice offered Year 11 students at my son’s school toward the end of 1988. Officers from the (then) Commonwealth Department of Education were visiting to advise students on how much application and effort Year 12 would require in order to satisfy tertiary entrance requirements.

The group talked metaphorically, creating an ‘expectational ladder’ for students to contemplate. Top rung students with exceptional TER scores could consider dentistry and medicine. The advisers talked of ‘down the ladder’ scores in the 80 and 70 percentile range. A score of 60 was described as an absolute cut-off, allowing students to consider basic accountancy.

A group member then added, “but if you get less than a score of 60, there is always teaching!”.

This advocacy foisted on Australia far too many graduate teachers who were mediocre at best. The contributions  of good teachers have been diluted by the teaching efforts of mediocre colleagues. Sadly, far too many students have suffered at the hands of inept teachers.  

I am really hoping that universities accept the advice on lifting and strengthening teacher training contained in the review reported upon by Bita.  Heaven knows this cannot happen soon enough.

.With the imposition of an increasing number of barriers to free speech, fewer and fewer people have the confidence to comment freely on issues. Cartoonists have been an exception to this rule. They defy the odds by region, state, country and the world for plying their trade and calling those out who act wrongfully or make shortsighted and crass decisions. 

Good cartoonists honestly and unswervingly highlight the pros and cons of issues. While they may invoke people and personalities into cartoons, they do this to magnify matters about which we should be concerned.

All cartoonists have specific drawing styles, which add to their stamp of communication by caricature. A key ingredient of cartooning is conveying a message so the reader is not left wondering what the cartoon is really about. The cartoonist’s style and relevance make his or her messages meaningful. They take on contentious matters and stimulate debate on issues.

Any law or its interpretation that would stifle the free expression of cartoonists would be a retrograde step. Cartoonists’ freedom to express deep-seated community opinions must be preserved. That right should be as sacrosanct as parliamentary privilege.

But if restriction laws were to be introduced, I am sure cartoonists would defy them and continue their trade of offering us all deep-seated awareness and understanding.

Education has become a ‘too much froth and not enough substance’ plaything. Tinkering excesses by researchers and educators provide novel approaches to learning that are often trite and meaningless.

They then try to fix problems with creative approaches that make matters worse, not better. They can’t leave well alone. 

Get back to what education should be -teaching and learning. For decades, too much ‘froth and bubble’ has been inserted into a rubbery, hopelessly focused curriculum that is now a total mess. 

An agenda that promotes fanciful notions over substance has distorted education’s prime function. Structures and organisations that too often focus on ‘providers’ rather than the intended recipients—children and 

students—have subverted the function of education. 

For the last 30 years, education has become a platform promoting educational gurus, often at the expense of students who become guinea pigs sacrificed at the altar of poorly researched innovations.

Stop tinkering and get back to providing decent, worthwhile education.

I read recently that one should never hold a grudge. This is excellent advice, but for me, there are two exceptions. They were, or are, all politicians who thwarted the Marshall Perron Right to Die Legislation passed by the NT Assembly in 1996.

One of them, Kevin Andrews, has passed away. He was the mover of the private members’ bill, which was passed in the Federal Par”0liament to rescind and void the Marshall Perron legislation.

The second unforgivable is the then Prime Minister John Howard who persuaded the recission bill through the agency of the Andrew’s bill, overruling the NT because we were only a territory.

Fast forward three decades, and appreciate the dreadful situation in which these two ‘visionaries’ have landed us—still no VAD in the NT.

For me, they can never be forgiven

It is stunning beyond belief that Attorney-General Boothby can calmly declare that the introduction of VAD Legislation (Sunday Territorian Jan.3), already delayed by lengthy dual inquiries, will be further delayed until at least mid-year. 

The CLP Government is treating this significant issue, important to many Territorians, as a life-defining decision in a casual, almost cavalier fashion. 

“We will get to it – sometime” is just not a good answer. This delay is made worse by the fact that it is 29 years since the Perron Legislation was federally rescinded.

As the CLP Chief Minister said back then, “the right  to die will eventually come to all states and territories” (Paraphrased).

The one and only true guide and encouraging yet persuasive leader who shares his panoramic vista with all who look and listen –

The Hon. Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese.

Anthony Albanese.

Donald Trump

Donald Trump

Don’t drive to work in Cas no more workers,

Walk to work instead folk,

Save rubber on your tyres friend,

Keep hard-earned in you wallet,

By walking into town.

Populate or perish

Fridge and pantry clean outs never go to waste when birds are allowed to join the food chain as consumers.

• Bondi Royal Conmission is an ABSOLUTE MUST. Keep pressure on.

• Clear speech, eye contact are no longer conversational keys.

• Intergenerational trauma sharper for each new generation.

• So many aspects of NT health care are broken down completely.

• 26/1/2026   – Australia or Invasion Day? The former for me!

Be good

Sin not

Always obey every authority and accept all suggestions.

Respect organised religion

Obey every government edict with subservient compliance.

Learn to think ‘red carpet’ for all very important people.

Dementia is a merciless scourge sowing weeds in the brain.

Dementia clouds once clear minds with kaleidoscopic confusion.

 Dementia strangles laughter, sucks oxygen from merriment.

Dementia is akin to brain cancer. But is not curable.

Dementia – one of Revelation’s seven last incurable plagues?

A colleague of mine, Janice Low, has published this sad but realistic description of the diminishment that comes from this savage disease that kills the brain, on Facebook.

It is sad, poignant and true.

I know. My wife has dementia.

Thank you Nigella Lawson for building my culinary confidence.

Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump.

Donald Trump

Donald Trump.

Donald Trump on his 80th birthday.

Donald Trump.

Donald Trump.

Australia has been quite pedestrian in bowling England out on day two for 384.

Joe Root England’s best with 160 runs.

2026

2025

To be continued

DONALD TRUMP

THE ROYAL COMMISSION MUST HAPPEN, AND OUR PRIME MINISTER MUST FACE UP TO ALL HE AND HIS CABINET HAVE DONE WRONG ON THE ISSUE OF ALLOWING ANTISEMETISM TO BE FOSTERED.

AS ALBANESE SAID, “HATE STARTS WITH SPEECH, AND HE LET IT ALL HAPPEN.

MAKE NO BONES ABOUT IT! HE OWNES WHAT HAPPENED AT BONDI.

A charity in its 18th year I always support.

Having transformed the environment with their expansion and commitment, age is starting to erode the environment and physicality of this toadstool town.

Organisations, similarly, transform ideologies and thinking before they start to fade in the face of a restless public and society looking for new, different, and exciting ideas.

Spreading water as it fell. Leanyer School’s lawn got a good soaking.

Donald Trump.

Donald Trump.

He will be a very busy man for the remainder of his four-year term.

Age creeps up upon us all and engulfes us before our time. Birth, childhood, youth and adulthood are are consumed within its voracious jaws. We are sucked dry as an insect caught in a Venus flytray or victim to the brain-draining voracity of a Preying Mantis and left exposed to rot on the edge of the receding tide of life.

That England comes out of the fifth cricket test in Sydney with its second win in the series. With only three wickets down and the score north of 200, the English team had Australian bowlers looking quite pedestrian.

Donald Trump.

If Venezuela is anything to go by –

Donald Trump.

The community establishes. It’s organisation brainstorms and establishes societal norms.

A colony, is born. An organisation is formed.

And continue until time is given back to the clock.

And continue

The fireworks continue to a harbourside audience of a million people.

The fireworks begin

On the march to midnight./

Once

But not

Now I am

Old, weary and a

Carer for the one who

Is the love of my life

The lady who did me the honour

Of becoming my wife all the way back

57 years ago on January 22nd 1969 to make

Me the happiest man in the state of Western Australia.

Years

Have past

And my love

Has blossomed and grown

Although I am old and

Now fill a new and uncharted

Role in life I will be there

For her as she has always been for

Me our children and grandchildren bit there is little

Time to play the light-hearted and frivolous role of old.

As she has lived for me

I live my life for her.

Back page of the paper

Below is the front page of the paper.

Move the back page to the rear of the front page to see the whole sequenvce. I suggest ‘cut and paste’.

Donald Trump.

May every day bring blessings and success as we surmount challenges and turn them into celebrations.

One day,m indeed, one step at a time.

From brilliance to fade out

All seeing, all hearing, all knowing

DONALD TRUMP

The ‘angle of incidence’ equals the ‘angle of reflection’ unless you’ve are an Archer Fish?

A cake of soap is now called a ‘sensitive skin cream bar’?

Donald Trump.

Donald Trump.

Donald Trump.

Donald Trump.