48 NT NEWS. Friday, July 5, 2013. www.ntnews.com.au

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On this dayIN THE TERRITORY

10 YEARSAGO: Alice Springsshoppers could paymore for their foodunder a proposal to increase railfreight charges by up to 70 per cent.

20 YEARSAGO: TheNorthernTerritory has the highest rate ofaccidental death among children inAustralia.

25 YEARSAGO: The EsplanadeGallery tenants had until the endof thisweek to decide if theywould accept one of the two leaseoptions offered.

Letters to the editor should be kept to 175 words or less. Send yourletters toGPOBox 1300, Darwin, 0801, or email ntnmail@ntnews.com.auYou must include your name, home address or PO Box number. Nameand address will be withheld on request. The Northern Territory Newsreserves the right to edit letters. Responsibility is taken by the Editor,NTNews, GPOBox 1300, Darwin, NT, 0801

FRIDAY, JULY 5, 2013

Peris has toproveworthNOVA Peris has finally broken her silence after thereturn of Kevin Rudd to the Labor leadership.Julia Gillard’s ‘‘captain’s pick’’ had been silentfor more than aweek sinceMr Rudd’s returnas PrimeMinister.Some had queried if her candidacywould go aheadafter Ms Gillard’s knifing.But the Senate candidate assures us that shewillstill be running.Many people in the NT — andwithin NT Labor — arestill angry at thewayMs Peris was selected.Long-serving Territory Senator Trish Crossinwasunceremoniously dumped tomakeway forMs Peris— a political novice.At the time, Ms Gillard argued Australia needed anindigenouswoman in the Parliament.But therewere far better credentialed candidates,such as former deputy chiefminister MarionScrymgour, who could have been chosen.Ms Peris nowhas a huge challenge ahead of her.She needs to convince Territorians that she is acandidate of substance, not just a political stunt.To do this she needs to stop hiding behindmindersand spin doctors and get out among the public.She needs to showher understanding of Labor’spolicies and sell those policies to the voters.Otherwise her candidacy can only be viewed asan act of tokenism.

... and another thingTERRITORIANS will no doubt turn out in huge num-bers for Saturday’s clash between the Gold CoastTitans and Penrith at TIO Stadium. The NRL has donea great job marketing the game in the Top End.Perhaps the bosses at the AFL should take note.

LettersFireworks are explosives. They aredangerous. Such events should beunder supervision— SEE LETTER BELOW

THERE’S A LOTOFHOTAIRABOUTWEATHERJIMMY Cocking of the AridLands Warming Environ-ment Centre predicts AliceSprings will be too hot to livein by 2070 — a wild claim sofar in the future very few ofus will be alive to verify it.

I was delighted to see NTNews print the counter claimby William Kininmonth, whofor 12 years was head of theBureau of Meteorology Nat-ional Climate Centre.

For far too longgovernment-funded institut-ions have conducted aglobal warming scare cam-paign based on little or imp-recise evidence.

With their snouts in thepublic funding trough these‘‘scientists’’ have issued wildclaims of huge sea level rises,a world too hot to live in, gla-ciers disappearing etc.

(In the 1970s these ‘‘scien-tists’’ were predicting thenext Ice Age would arrive bythe year 2000!).

Today, in 2013, there isstrong evidence the world isactually in a cooling trendwith the British Met Officeissuing the statement, ‘‘Glo-bal surface temps haven’t ri-sen in the last 15 years . . .’’

The world has been warm-ing and cooling for millionsof years and will continuedoing so for as long as theEarth exists.

We need to stop frighten-ing our children with un-proven claims of a world toohot to live in.Chris Sweeney, Coolalinga

MAYBETAKECAREOFTHEBASICS FIRSTCAN the City of Darwinplease purchase its next$7000 funky, quirky pingpong table after we get the

faded white lines on theroads in Wanguri repainted?

Thanks.RobHudson,Wanguri

TIMEFORTHIS IDEATO JUSTFIZZLEOUTIT IS the desire of AdamGiles to retain cracker nightfor self-government day,probably on which day mostof the current participantsweren’t even alive.

However, there were 400fires which had to be at-tended by firefighters at pub-lic expense. There were 10people injured. Darwin waslike a war zone.

I was shocked twice by ser-ious bangs, and who knowshow many others were affec-ted adversely in some way,not to mention pets.

So the carte blanche decis-ion by Adam Giles is notonly short-sighted but alsoirresponsible.

Fireworks are explosives.They are dangerous.

Such events should be un-der supervision.

So, while retaining thesupervised, public displayssuch as at Mindil, the sale offireworks for private useshould be banned.

Private sales put fireworksinto the hands of irrespons-ible children and adults whoare casual in their attitude toprecautions and set them offoutside the legal times.

By all means we shouldhave specific so-called crack-er nights, but keep themto supervised governmentdisplays only.

Why Mr Giles or indeedany government needs to bespending millions on cele-brating Territory self-government in such a way isdubious anyway.

We should be concentrat-ing on getting statehood forNorth Australia, or Kings-land (a name which was pro-posed for this region backin 1912), and hopefullyunder a much better Territ-ory government than the onewe have now.HMKingRoman,Coconut Grove

WHY JUST LETDRUNKSWANDERTHESTREETSCONCERNING drunken be-haviour and drunks in publicplaces in general.

Watched the TV show cal-led Highway Patrol tonight(July 2) and in it a bloke whowas walking down the streetin Victoria late at nightdrunk was arrested and ta-ken to the watch house, keptthere overnight, then fined$475 for being ‘‘drunk in apublic place’’.

Maybe that approach couldhelp up here.The LoneRanger, Darwin

CRACKEROFAPROJECTFORNASATOTACKLEWERE any pictures taken ofthe Top End from outer spaceon Monday night?

Crikey, it was like Ar-mageddon all round! Sound-ed like all hell breakingloose, starting from the re-hearsals about 4.30pm.AMB,Woolner

The FixerWHAT: Streetlights are outonHook Rd,Winnellie.WHO’SRESPONSIBLE:PowerWater’s powernetworks acting generalmanager, John Greenwood.CONTACT: (08)8982 2307.

DOYOUknowof somethingin theTerritory that needsfixing?GiveThe Fixer a callon8944 9750, emailthefixer@ntnews.com.auorfollowonTwitter@NTNTheFixer

Email: ntnmail@ntnews.com.au Text: 0428 NTNEWS Fax: 08 8981 6045 Letters: PO Box 1300, Darwin NT 0801

VOTE LAST WEEK’S VOTE

Your SayShould hoons have their car confiscated permanently?

Should people be forced to quit smoking before having an op?

To cast your vote go to www.ntnews.com.au Yes 69% No 31%

Thanks a lot,

mateWALLET’S RETURNRESTORESMYFAITHI JUST want to thank theperson who found my wal-let on Rapid Creek Rd lastSunday morning andhanded it in to the Casuar-ina police station.

Everything was still init, including the money.

When things like thishappen, it helps to restoremy faith in the people inour community.Ryan,NSW

COUNCILHASALLTHEANSWERSTHROUGH your column Iwould like to give some ac-knowledgement to theDarwin City Council.

Recently I have hadsome very diverse re-quests and have beengiven prompt, courteousand satisfying answers.

So thank you, CityOf Darwin.BrianHilder, Darwin

FIREWORKSSHOWMADEMYNIGHTTHANKS to everyone whoinvested in fireworks onMonday night.

I’m from the UK wherewe can buy fireworks allyear round.

As a result, they aren’tseen as all that special.

Watching the whole cityof Darwin and Palmerstonlight up from the ninthfloor was amazing.

A great night.Jules, TheGardens