I’D like to pick up on the cynical attempt to re-write history made by the CLP’s Adam Giles in last week’s Letters to the Editor (“Wheels have come off tired Labor Govt: Giles, TDT, 4/9/09)
It’s a bit of a shame that Mr Giles seems to want to play the man and not the ball but I reckon the people of the Barkly remember what his CLP mates were like when they ran the Territory like it was their personal boys’ club.
Perhaps it just shows Mr Giles has spent about 30 minutes here compared to the lifetimes of hard work and achievement shown by the people of the Barkly.
I’ve spent 30 years working and raising a family in the Barkly and when I started teaching in Tennant Creek my Indigenous students came to school from behind pieces of corrugated iron scattered throughout the fringe camps of the town.
The CLP failed the families of the Barkly for nearly three decades and are now cynically trying to peddle mistruths about SIHIP, talking down the Territory’s strong economy and wrangling their way back into control of the “silver circle” of mates that controlled the Territory.
Hence my interest in being part of the Henderson Labor Government that is delivering improved outcomes for all Northern Territory families!
Indigenous policy is at the forefront of NT governance in the form of this Government’s ‘Closing the Gap’ initiative and a policy direction that has begun the mammoth task of addressing the many complex issues relating to social and economic disadvantage that the CLP left as their legacy for Territorians.
SIHIP is about getting it right and not duplicating the problems of the past through achieving important Indigenous land use agreements, Indigenous training to employment, community responsibility for maintaining housing infrastructure and creating partnerships with the Australian Government for ongoing public housing needs for Indigenous Australians.
It was baffling to read Mr Giles continue his baseless and cynical criticisms of other important projects in the Territory in the same letter, as he managed to show his ignorance on the subject of the McArthur River and the Burketown crossing.
I would draw Mr Giles’s attention to the community agreement achieved ‘before his time’ converting the original funding for the bridge into strategic Carpentaria highway upgrades to support the developing McArthur River Mine project and its long term economic benefits for the people of Borroloola and the NT.
The funding for the bridge now features in the 2009-10 budget and represents a major part of the continuing roads infrastructure investment for the Barkly running parallel with a new school in Borroloola (delivered by a Labor Government) and the partnership with the McArthur River Mine Trust and Australian Government for a town swimming pool to open this year.
In short, the CLP are finding themselves in an increasingly desperate spot.
It is far too easy to be in opposition and do little more than deliver allegations, innuendo and cheap ‘one liners’.
This makes the CLP part of the problems we face rather than part of the solution, which is what an effective Opposition should be.
The CLP’s lack of any real idea on how to keep building the Territory and delivering for Territory families stands in stark contrast to the Henderson Government’s real outcomes and plans for the future that will continue to be delivered in partnership with the Independent Member for Nelson.
And in conclusion, it is good to see Mr Giles and Mick Adams reading my column in the Tennant Times each week however it’s more about being part of a solution rather than part of a problem!