FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 26 2014 NEWS 11

V1 - NTNE01Z01MA

Remote community to get borewater reprieveRELIEF is in sight for a remoteTerritory community after itsresidents reach almost fourmonths without running waterand battle disease.

The remote homeland ofAmengernterneah has beenplagued by a scabies outbreakwhile without running waterbut the NT Government hasfinally announced it will coverthe costs of a new bore.

The remote homeland islocated in Utopia, about

280km northeast of AliceSprings.

The community bore atAmengernterneah collapsed14 weeks ago and the onlyaccess to water since has beencarted in on a truck.

The water shortage hascaused a scabies outbreak torun rampant, with the com-munity unable to bath or usewashing facilities as often asthey need to.

Minister for CommunityServices, Bess Price, hasannounced works to deliver a

long-term sustainable watersupply to Amengernterneahwill begin in October.

“After a thorough investiga-tion by a consultant hydroge-ologist of the water sources atAmengernterneah, a new borewill be drilled,” Ms Price said.

“There is abundant fresh-water in the extensive underly-ing Dulcie Sandstone aquiferat Amengernterneah, whichwill be used to supply the newbore.

“A water bore driller isscheduled to be on site the first

week of October, with theprocess expected to take threeweeks.

“Investigating the possibleoptions for the bore has takentime; however, it was a processthat needed to be done cor-rectly to ensure the commun-ity has a reliable water supply.”

All works will be paid for bythe Northern Territory Gov-ernment.

Urapuntja Health ServiceAboriginal Corporation chiefexecutive Linda Keating saidshe was “very excited and

relieved that a permanentwater supply has finallybecome a priority and is goingto be constructed”.

“I’m not sure why the Gov-ernment has taken so long,other to say that this wasobviously not considered ahigh priority,” Ms Keating said.

“The future of the healthservice is certainly lookingbrighter.

“This will prevent un-necessary interruptions to theservice that the water issue hasbeen causing.”

By MEGAN PALIN

Former Deputy Chief Minister Dave Tollner was found happily chatting to Foxy Robinson (not pictured) over lunch yesterday. Picture: MICHAEL FRANCHI

Tollner tight-lipped after threat to sever CLP tiesDAVE Tollner has been foundalive and well by the NT Newsafter numerous readers’ tips.

The former Deputy ChiefMinister was finally ap-proached outside on the SmithSt mall yesterday afternoonenjoying a latte with local busi-

ness leaders, including one ofDarwin’s richest men, John“Foxy” Robinson.

But Mr Tollner was appar-ently spooked by the sudden

approach and said he hadnothing to say to the news-paper or in turn, his electors.

Mr Tollner has been absentsince threatening to leave the

CLP last month after calling hiscolleagues a “nest of vipers”.

A Government spokes-woman said he was still amember of the team.

Killer liverbug cure ‘too dear’

Fear fallson tattooremovals

MORE than 630 Aussies aredying from liver failure causedby hepatitis C each year but aFederal Government commit-tee has rejected an $84,000treatment that could cure them.

And it’s possible the resi-dents of Fiji could access thebreakthrough drug beforeAustralian patients.

Breakthrough new drugSovaldi could see the scourgeof hepatitis C, suffered by230,000 Australians, eventu-ally wiped out because it curesthe disease and prevents itbeing passed on.

Around a third of those onthe nation’s liver transplantwaiting list have hepatitis Cand the treatment would freeup those organs for others.

However, the Govern-ment’s Pharmaceutical Bene-fits Advisory Committee hasrejected the medicine for sub-sidy because it says it is too ex-pensive and “would have ahigh financial impact on thehealth budget”.

The medicine that retailsfor $1000 per pill in the UnitedStates is expected to be offeredcheaper to Australia but thesize of the population thatneeds to be treated makes itexpensive.

It’s estimated to cost be-tween $1.3 billion and $2 billionjust to treat the people who al-ready have the disease.

TATTOO removal by lasermay lead to skin cancer, a lead-ing Gold Coast surgeon fears.

Dr Ian McDougall has com-pared tattoo removal laserswith UV tanning beds, arguingthe industry needs to be moreregulated.

“It’s an invasive procedurethat can cause problems andI’m not sure that patients areaware of the problems associ-ated with it,” Dr McDougallsaid yesterday.

Tattoo removal uses lasersto break up embedded ink pig-ments in skin, posing a poten-tial cancer risk.

“If you’re going to de-pig-ment an area, I’m not surewhat your chance of skin can-cer in that area is,” DrMcDougall said. “I’m thinkingit’s going to be higher.”

Queensland will impose acomplete ban on UV tanningbeds from the end of 2014, afterstudies showed they exposeconsumers to a greater risk ofmelanoma – the deadliest formof skin cancer. But tattoo laseroperators are less regulated.

Under Queensland’s Radi-ation Safety Act, owners arerequired to have a safety cer-tificate to own and operate amachine. But training does notcover tattoo removal.

Many operators use intensepulse lighting lasers to removetattoos, which are muchcheaper than specific tattoo re-moval lasers.

Staff shortages at childcare centres exposed by flu flare-upTHE recent flu outbreak inAlice Springs has highlightedincreasing pressures beingfaced by childcare centresstruggling with staff shortages.

One centre had to operatewith half of its educators awayon sick leave over the whole of

September. Director of theGap Community ChildcareCentre Nicole Oakland saidthey had been “hit hard” by flu.

“We’ve had up to six toseven staff off consistentlyeach day. That’s almost half ofour staff,” she said.

She said although childrenweren’t being turned away,parents were alerted to the fluoutbreak in case they wantedto keep their children at home.

The NT secretary for Unit-ed Voice Matthew Gardinersaid the situation was another

example of the pressures facedby childcare centres.

“Instances like this high-light the fact that we don’thave enough people in earlychildhood education,” he said.

He said situations like thiscouldn’t be remedied by pick-

ing from a pool of available ed-ucators.

This also meant that earlychildhood centres could beputting their insurance at riskby breaching national proto-cols for appropriate educator-to-child ratios.

By CHRISTOPHER WALSH