Heartland

This post by me was published on ABC’s The Drum Feb 4th 2011 - http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/43634.html Blogger’s Note Feb 21st: Since this piece appeared, Nicholas Rothwell has written about Alice Springs in The Australian.  Many in Alice feel his views are distorted and do not truly represent the situation at all.  Post Begins I’d like to stress that this is a personal opinion piece and in no way represents the views of the bodies I am a member of – in fact those organisations could hold completely the opposite view. As I fade into my final year as a local government politician, there are some issues I have watched closely and I summarise my personal view on things here. Sometimes I wonder whether the political labels that...

Hear my interview on Radio Adelaide – The Wire – Feb 9th http://www.thewire.org.au/daydetail.aspx?SearchDay=2011-02-09 Gap to remain open for now    Produced by Annie Hastwell Prime Minister Julia Gillard delivered the annual Close the Gap report today. In her speech she admitted that it will be extremely hard to close the life expectancy gap between black and white Australia by 2031. her speech emphasised the need for Aboriginal Australia to own the problem and help with solutions. Alice Springs Councillor and commentator Jane Clark says in the NT people are still feeling ‘broken depressed and lonely’ because of the way the intervention was carried out, and that the governemnt needs to revisit the recommendations of the Little...

  I’m preparing a few articles, thoughts and musings which will be posted to this site soon.   I’ll be reflecting on what I’ve learnt about politics over the past 7 years as an alderman. What I think about the ‘social situation’ of Alice Springs and the mechanics of the public battles.  Also, I would like to highlight some of the many success stories about people on the ground, making a difference, changing the world…   here’s a teaser -   TRYING TO BE PROGRESSIVE IN A CONSERVATIVE HEARTLAND   I thought I lived in a progressive town.. because the people I spent time with were progressives.    Back in 2004 I assumed everyone thought the way I did .. and that we were just unfortunate that the...

this is a continuation from the previous post (Alice Springs ‘law and order’ mantra now revised to the ‘pooing on the streets’ mantra) First post in this thread is - Being a Progressive in Conservative Heartland So we have the politicians putting programs into place, rearranging the deckchairs policing policies and staffing roles, arguing and media hustling… What about the faith communities? Let’s mass together all the groups of people joined by belief, all those following a yogi, priest, imam, pastor, captain.. working on their own soul and also hoping to create a better society.  Faith groups regularly discuss ethics, are accountable to each other and usually have a vision of how the world could work better. In order to play their...