4 Sunday Territorian. Sunday, September 15, 2013. www.sundayterritorian.com.au

PU

B:

NT

NE

WS

DA

TE

:1

5-S

EP

-20

13

PA

GE

:4

CO

LO

R:

CM

YK

NEWS sundayterritorian.com.au

Opportunityto recogniseNT achieversNOMINATIONS are openfor the 2013 NT YoungAchiever Awards.

The awards encourageand mentor young people,and recognise the achieve-ments they have made andthe hard work they have putinto our communities.

Award categories includeArts, Environment, Com-munity Services, Regionaland Rural Initiative, YoungCarers, Career Kick Start,Health and Wellbeing,Small Business Achieve-ment and Youth Leadership.

Winners will share in$20,000 and celebrate theirwin at a gala dinner present-ation at SkyCity Darwin inApril next year.

To nominate, visit awardsaustralia.com and fill outthe form or phone1300 735 445 to find out more.

Our police are moretalk and less actionBy CLAYTON BENNETT

POLICE officers have beentaken off the beat to sit in theNT Police Comms centre andanswer telephones.

Among those sent to propup Communications are offic-ers funded by the FederalGovernment who were meantto be working at Darwin’sdetention centres.

NT Police Association Pre-sident Vince Kelly said theassociation was concernedabout staff levels in the

Comms centre after a recentchange to rostering.

‘‘Police have been draggedoff a number of operationalareas to supplement the ros-ters,’’ Mr Kelly said.

But NT Police Acting Com-mander Special OperationsCommand Wayne Harris saidthat the officers funded bythe Federal Governmentwere ‘‘not based at immi-gration detention facilities’’and only had to be therewhen necessary.

‘‘On a day-to-day basis the

officers are engaged in gen-eral policing services, gain-ing experience, maintainingskills and supporting variousspecialist units within the NTPolice,’’ Mr Harris said.

‘‘This can include provid-ing support to the JointEmergency Services Com-munications Centre.’’

A Memorandum of Under-standing (MOU) was signedin March last year whichmeant that $53 million wouldbe given over two years toboost police numbers in the

NT — in particular arounddetention centres.

‘‘It is crucial NT Police areadequately resourced to en-sure the proper managementof any incidents at immi-gration detention facilitiesin Darwin,’’ then Chief Min-ister Paul Henderson said atthe time. ‘‘(It) will provide al-most 100 more police to re-spond to detention centreemergencies and be availablefor general duties.’’

Department of Immigrat-ion spokesman Sandi Logan

re-iterated Mr Harris’s com-ments, stating that the offic-ers only had to attend thedetention centres when therewas an incident there.

‘‘The memorandum ofunderstanding betweenDIAC and the NT Police,signed in March 2012, hasprovided an effective ar-rangement for both agenciesin the provision of policingservices at immigration de-tention facilities in theNorthern Territory, if it isrequired,’’ Mr Logan said.

Exhibition paints picture of alcohol hypocrisy

Artists Todd Williams and Therese Ritchie with their artworks that highlight the social evil of the Territory’s out-of-control grog culture Picture: PATRINA MALONE

By ALISON BEVEGE

FRACTURED jaws and‘‘Brewdinis’’ lassoed by theauthorities are the standoutstars in a new exhibition ongrog culture that has caused astir in the arts community.

Pretend police evicted‘‘problem drunks’’ from thesoiree and tipped out alcoholas patrons spilled out thedoors and into the street atthe opening of Groggy in Dar-win on Friday night.

The crowd strained to hearartists Therese Ritchie andTodd Williams unmask thehypocrisy of Territory al-cohol policy.

Mr Williams said bingedrinking was a problem acrossAustralia, with the heaviestdrinkers — 10 per cent of thecommunity — accounting forhalf of all alcohol consumed.

‘‘Interfering with the bingedrinkers would have a hugeimpact on the alcohol indus-try’s bottom line, as the all-powerful drinks industry re-presents about 2 per cent ofour GDP,’’ he said.

Aboriginal health advocateChips Mackinolty said theTerritory’s liquor industrycontributed to the highestlevel of fractured jaws in theworld and the third highestjailing rates.

‘‘This is the same industrythat screams bloody murderwhenever there is any at-tempt to reduce alcohol con-sumption in the Territory . . .if there are restrictions ontakeaways, or setting a floorprice on alcohol,’’ he said.

Mr Mackinolty said theindustry grew rich on miseryand artists had a role inunmasking the truth.

Ms Ritchie said that whenChief Minister Adam Gilesand Treasurer Dave Tollnerpraised the Territory’s drink-ing culture as being a ‘‘coresocial value’’ at an Aust-ralian Hotelier’s Association

awards dinner this year, shereluctantly agreed that it was.

But she was confused whyAborigines were mainly heldresponsible for the alcoholproblems.

‘‘Out of a population of

233,000, all blame . . . seems tobe with the 64,000 Aboriginalpeople, out of which only20 per cent (or 12,800) demon-strate hazardous drinking,’’she said.

Mr Mackinolty said that

people often assumed grogwas an exclusively Aborig-inal problem.

‘‘That is simply untrue,’’ hesaid. ‘‘About 40 per cent ofAboriginal people don’t drinkat all.’’

Groggy is on at Parap’sNorthern Centre for Contem-porary Art from now untilOctober 12.

It is open Wednesday to Fri-day from 10am to 4pm, andSaturday from 10am to 2pm.

Bacon on sly with an extra shake of saltie

The croc had a feral

pig in his jaws

THIS little piggy on today’sfront page went down the bil-labong for a drink and gotmunched up by a crocodile.

Kakadu National Parkseasonal ranger ChristianDiddams gave the tour of alifetime when he was luckyto be able to show touristsfirst-hand the powerful jawsof the estuarine croc at Yel-low Water, 188km east-southeast of Darwin.

‘‘Living up here in KakaduI am always conscious ofcrocodile safety and it’ssomething I talk to visitors

about a lot,’’ he said on theParks Australia website afterthe awesome feeding lastmonth. ‘‘I led a guided walkat Yellow Water, I was hap-pily telling visitors about theiconic wetlands and thewealth of creatures that callthem home.

‘‘Right at that moment a3.5m ginga decided to illus-trate my point by surfacingin front of our eyes just me-

tres from where we stood. Asif that weren’t impressiveenough, the croc had a feralpig in his jaws and proceededto put on a 15-minute display— thrashing the pig carcassleft and right, then swallow-ing down most of its kill.

‘‘It was a genuine ‘rightplace, right time’ momentshared with visitors thatwe all agreed we wouldnot forget.’’

Stolen plaque foundA PLAQUE stolen from anAustralian War Memorial incentral London has been re-covered by police and will berestored in time for Remem-brance Day on November 11.

In May vandals stole theRising Sun plaque and somebronze letters from the HydePark memorial where 3000ex-pat Aussies gathertogether every Anzac Day fora dawn service.

The memorial is 10 yearsold and is an important gath-ering point for commemorat-ing the great sacrifices ofAussie Diggers from the twoworld wars.

But Metropolitan Police re-covered the plaque during anongoing investigation intothefts and vandalism andreturned it to the AustralianHigh Commission so that itcan be restored.