I am an avid West Coast supporter but am horrified at the Gaff action and its outcome on Bradshaw. May the lattter recover full health and the former be mentally healed. Both hearings will take time.

Meanwhile, the fact this happened will leave the Eagles, currently in second place on the ladder, struggling to hold that position until the end of the home and away season. An incident like this and the resultant publicity is bound to send a negative ripple through the whole team and supporting staff cohort.

The incident and its aftermath will weigh on the Eagles like a millstone.

Australian living in all its facets lacks nothing for planning. The follow through and action outcomes on many plans is often minimalist however. Many plans once completed, are put on shelves to gather dust. With ‘plans’ I include reports from royal commmissions and a plethora of other inquiries.

The ‘joy’ seems to be in the planning process. There is often little follow through of those plans being applied to try and overcome the identified problems they exposed. Often money for implementation is the issue. It can also be a case, it seems, of people losing interest and moving on to the next issue.

It seems that the priority is often about identifying and elaborating upon issues rather than going the step further toward meaningful fixing.

Alcohol is the bane of life in the NT. It is the ruination of many families and the ‘spirit’ undoing many traditionally oriented communities. I would think that for every dollar of revenue generated from alcohol sales, at least three would be spent in the NT trying to undo it’s deleterious impacts.

Alcohol impacts may families of all backgrounds around the NT. There is no money for food, clothing and for the basic necessities of life, but there is always plenty for alcohol. Charities assist those who are burdened by self imposed destitution. They provide food, clothing, some accomodation, succour and comfort. Which leaves more money to be spent on alcohol.

For some, the basics card works, but there are ways around its limitations.

There are severe restrictions on alcohol sales times in many places. Quantities per purchase are limited and in some cases, strength of alcohol content dictated.

All this makes little difference. The Northern Territory is drowning in an alcoholic sea.

The issue could be fixed. But our Government and local authorities are too powerless (and too frightened) to manage the matter. They are content to pedal around the edges of the issue but not game to do more than dabble.

That alcoholic sea has a base of quicksand. And it is sucking us and our reputation into its depths.

Appreciate him or not PAUL KEATING contributed to Australia’s political history and economic development.

Like many, I felt the effects of financial stringencies that evolved on his watch. But there must be many in Academicland who have come to appreciate him. I believe he has an honorary doctorate from one university located in Sydney and an honorary professorship from the other major university in the same city.

He has been honoured by Academicland as a great and forthright leader.

Mind you, as a Darwin resident, I did not appreciate his alleged comment about our city of Darwin being distasteful as he flew above us in an aeroplane on one occasion. However, the state of our city, particularly the social disruption we now face through both itineracy and criminal behaviour lead me to believe his reputed remarks then, were a prophetic prediction on the state of this place as it is in 2018.

PRIME MINISTER IN TENNANT CREEK

I hope the visit enables the Prime Minister to see, feel and appreciate the real Tennant Creek. That includes the good and positive elements and aspects of the town and community because nowhere is everything all about negatives. However, I also hope he gets a picture of the town as it is, in terms of the challenges that confront the community.

One understands that the community will in all likelihood be on its ‘best behaviour’ during the Prime Minister’s visit, but hopefully this will not result in the facts and the issues of the community being hidden from his gaze and perception. While being ‘told’ about issues by community representatives and fellow politicians is one thing, the ‘seeing and witnessing’ of these things puts an altogether different perspective on issues.

I also hope that the visit results in a fulsome appreciation of responsibility for Tennant Creek issues. That responsibility cannot be totally vested in government and family support organisations. The fixing issue is also down to families and this is a prime responsibility that cannot be abrogated and passed to others. And the issues of the town and community are far bigger than can be fixed by the throwing of money into the mix. CHANGE HAS TO COME FROM WITHIN FAMILIES.

LONG TIME SHORT or SHORT TIME LONG

LONG TIME SHORT OR SHORT TIME LONG I sometimes ponder the phenomena of how what is touted as a long time is really quite short in length if considered from another angle. A person living to be 100 years of age is considered to have lived for a long, long time. One hundred years sounds a lot. Yet a centurion in years has a life span that has traversed only 36,525 days, including leap years. That sounds a long way shorter than representing the time as 100 years. Six weeks school holiday at Christmas, including the pre and post weekends before returning to school. Six weeks – WOW! Yes, all of 1104 hours, including the pre and post weekends. Put like that, this long break seems like a damp squib. The way a length of time is calculated makes a huge difference to the way it is conceptualised.

May EVERYONE who contributes and who have contributed to the CDU, before that the NTU and before that the Darwin Community College be blessed and thanked. This embraces everyone of all races and ethnic backgrounds, leaders, staff and students.

May we remember and thank EVERYONE who has contributed to the university, from its very beginnings until now.

May all graduates over time be blessed along with those who had to withdraw from courses for genuine reasons.

APPRECIATION NEEDS RESTORING

Saying ‘thank you’ and meaning it in this day and age has become a sad rarity. When I first commenced teaching in the 1970’s and in the years that followed, appreciation was common. This helped teachers feel good about what they were doing.

Don’t get me wrong. There was counselling, sometimes points, for mistakes and things that could have been better done. However, thanks given helped people keep a balance and perspective on what they were doing.

In our modern times, thanks is a lot scarcer. It seems that calls to accountability are far more common than used to be the case. It is small wonder that teaching to many becomes a burden and they opt out.

System and school leaders need to take stock and consider returning to being people who show their appreciation for jobs done well. That extends to teachers in classrooms recognising student efforts and appreciating pupils.

Appreciation and thanks should be a part of every walk of life and ingrained into the psyche of every occupation. Stop swinging brickbats and let the bouquets re-emerge.

BEWARE THE NATURE OF POWER

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Namibia Razak is discovering some interesting things about ‘power’.

Power might be absolute while it lasts, but it does have a somewhat temporary disposition. If misapplied while being exercised, its retribution can be swift once it is dissipated and reassigned.

This should be something remembered by everybody in powerful positions. Use power and its authority wisely.

We have lost manufacturing industries to overseas destinations.
We have a Fair Work Act that is strong on rhetoric but in many cases short on practical and sensible expediency.
We have introduced massive red tape and bragged about minimal and prodic easing of paperwork accountabilities.
We have sold residential property to overseas interests in such volume as to price Australians out of the housing market.
We have sold and keep selling massive tracts of agricultural land to overses interests.
We have agreed to free trade agreements which open Australian markets to foreign imports, tenders for goods supply and priority to overseas suppliers to the detriment of domestic interests.
We have offered huge tax concessions to major industry in a way that almost lets them off the tax hook.
We allow mining exploitation and business profits otherwise to generate benefit for overses companies and their foreign shareholder base.
We borrow and spend $100,000,000 each day more than is generated by our domestic production.
We endorse greater and greater percentages of our GDP being spent on offsetting interest accumulating on our government borrowings. We believe that major indebtednes is a wonderful thing.
We discourage workers through increasing tax imposts..
We think that salaries for CEO’s and Government Department Heads should be paid in their hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars each year.
We are overgoverned to glory. We have too many layers of government.
We pay retired politicans benefits that are generous to the point of being almost immoral.
I could go on.

No wonder we have a tattered economy and a fractured economic outlook. The future is bleak