12 NT NEWS. Wednesday, July 17, 2013. www.ntnews.com.au

PU

B:

NT

NE

WS

DA

TE

:1

7-J

UL

-20

13

PA

GE

:1

2C

OL

OR

:C

MY

K

On this dayIN THE TERRITORY

10 YEARSAGO: The Territory tourismindustry took a battering in the firstthreemonths of this yearwith visitornumbers down 5000 for theMarchquarter a year earlier.

20 YEARSAGO: The Darwin BotanicGardens have the potential to becomeAustralia’s premium tropical botanicgardens, Sydney Botanic Gardens’Professor Carrick Chambers says.

25 YEARSAGO: The ChiefMinister, Marshall Perron, wantsan increase in Asian immigrationand has reaffirmed his Darwin-Alice Springs railway support.

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

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

Racist attackshave no placeTHE case of a taxi driver who was punched in theface and had his turban ripped from his head hasshockedmany in Darwin.Indian-born Jagroop Singhwas just doing his job,ferrying around peoplewho’d been out for a drink,when some drunken passengers turned on him.What followedwas a disgraceful incident thatshouldmake every Territorian embarrassed suchpeople are among our lot.The unprovoked andmalicious attack sawMr Singhverbally abused, being told: ‘‘You are in Australia,mate, this is not your country. If youwant to live inAustralia, take this sh** off.’’When he stopped to eject the passengers fromhiscab, hewas attacked.Following the incident, Mr Singh told theNTNewshewas too frightened to leave his home. He alsotold the court hewas so ashamed he cut his youngson’s hair and told him not towear a turban.Mr Singh is not the onewho ought to be ashamed.Nor is he the onewho should have to changehis behaviour.Let’s hope the people involved in this despicableattack are remorseful — and not just because theyare nowdoing time. Let’s hope the court action andcommunity outcry are enough to showMr Singhwecondemn their actions.Territorians are often critical of the judiciary for notsending a strong enoughmessage to offenders. If ninemonths in jail doesn’t send the community amessageabout racism being unacceptable, nothingwill.

... and another thingJUST like a pet dog, a pair of ugg boots can be aman’sbest friend — even in the Northern Territory.To the guyswho abducted a pair from one of theirmates, shame on you. But, gee, it’s bloody funny.

LettersIt’s a pity that the NT hasmanyworthySenate candidates butwe get stuckwith a token, failed captain’s pick— SEE LETTER BELOW

CROSSOVERBONVOYAGEGETAWAYWELL, well, Trish Crossin’sdecided to have a last hurrahwith hubby by having a Eur-opean holiday at the tax-payer’s expense.

How deserved it is that shehas enjoyed a free holiday be-fore leaving political life.Particularly when she onlyever appeared when therewas an election due.

It is no wonder that somany people are disil-lusioned with our politicalmembers when they take usfor mugs and use their powerand position for their ownpersonal benefit.

If voting wasn’t compul-sory, I wonder how manyAustralians would bother.Nameandaddresswithheld

GILLARD’S CHOICEDEFLATES CONFIDENCEANY chance there can be apublic discussion for Crossinto explain to Peris every-thing she learned from hertaxpayer-funded holiday, aspart of her Senate handover?

Why bother pretending it’sa study trip? Even as late aslast week, Peris was stillmute, hiding behind herminders while waiting forher ALP ‘‘standard policy re-sponse kit’’. So much for anNT perspective!

It’s a pity that the NT hasmany worthy Senate candi-dates but we get stuck with atoken, failed captain’s pick.Sadly, it’s just one morething to add to Gillard’s leg-acy as the worst prime minis-ter this country has ever had.Felix, Leanyer

HOUSING IDEAONCHOPPINGBLOCKWITH the need for morehousing blocks it is time to

address the size of blocks inthe rural area. Several hun-dred blocks could be quicklymade available with minimalchanges to the planningscheme, such as reducing theblock sizes to 1ha.

Significant benefits willflow from this as the increasein density will allow for bet-ter services such as buses.

Also we have a situation ofthe older residents movingout and selling their housesas a sort of superannuationand moving south to cheaperaccommodation; with thesechanges they could sell halfthe block and stay put.

The Litchfield council willalso expand its rate base.

There is sure to be opposit-ion from the usual left-wingpoliticians who have made acareer out of opposing appro-priate development in therural area.

Peter Cavanagh,HowardSprings

SPEEDON ITSOWNISN’THUGEDANGERI CANNOT but think that thedoctors and surgeons writingin against the possible in-crease in speed limits are be-ing a little disingenuous.

From many decades in theNT, driving extensively andoften at speeds in excess of130km/h and having been forsome time in the NT policeforce, I do not think thatspeed per se is the dangerthey make it out to be.

And I think that statisticsmay back me up.

Speed in conjunction with

alcohol, fatigue or otherextraneous factors can bea problem.

If the doctors and surgeonswere genuine in their con-cerns, they would be agitat-ing to ban people fromdriving troop carriers ondirt roads.P.D. Pedersen, Tiwi

ONEVOTESOMAKESURE IT COUNTSPEOPLE should vote for aparty, not a person; that wayyou get what you want (if youcan believe the promises weget from any of them).

Stop preferential voting,that way you will get theparty you want and not someperson on the bottom of theballot sheet whose votes willgo to the party they nominate— one person, one vote.Kath, Palmerston

TELEVISIONSCHEDULEADOG’SBREAKFASTIS it just me or would otherTV viewers like a return tomore even program times?

It used to be programswere made in half-hour slicesthat started and stopped onthe hour or half-hour.

This enabled viewers toschedule tea and bathroombreaks and change channelsduring ad breaks.

Now it’s a dog’s breakfast.Programs rarely start or stopon their given times andeven if they do there is anoverlapping time zone.

With a series of programs,normally a first season ofprograms played out fol-

lowed by varying numbers offollow-up seasons.

The last season was fol-lowed by an interval of aboutfive years when all theseasons were repeated in cor-rect numerical order.

Now we have ‘‘encores’’ offirst seasons starting half-way through the secondseason’s showing.

And I don’t want a ‘‘sneakpeek’’ of a show coming threemonths later.

The scrolling news head-lines in news programs areredundant and distracting.

You either watch the newsor read the news. You cannotdo both and anyone who hastried knows the feeling ofjust missing seeing some-thing they might have want-ed to see or seeing the tailend of a headline scroll offthat they might have wantedto read.

Save scrolling headlinesfor breaking news only.

Any comments from TVmanagement? Any suggest-ions anyone else?Michael, Anula

TURNBACKCLOCKTOTURF’S GLORYDAYSTHE Turf Club needs to re-flect about its great eras andhow the club was run; thosetimes were not so long ago.

Have a look at the fieldsizes at a time when On TheBeam won the cup and TallyHo was winning the sprint.The club was great.

What happened to thecostly idea of taking NT Rac-ing to Asia?

This was a costly self-indulgent idea that did noth-ing at a local level. The timeand energy would have beenbetter spent creating moreowners with syndicates.Stuart Davie,Mildura

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 taxi drivers be allowed to record passengers’ conversations?

Should hoons have their car confiscated permanently?

To cast your vote go to www.ntnews.com.au Yes 64% No 36%

The FixerWHAT:A sprinkler orsomething has busted in theWanguri Park, soaking theground by the playground,turning it intomud.WHO’SRESPONSIBLE:Darwin council generalmanager for infrastructureLuccio Cercarelli.CONTACT:8930 0581

DOYOUknowof something in theTerritory thatneeds fixing?GiveThe Fixer a call on8944 9750,email thefixer@ntnews.com.auor followonTwitter@NTNTheFixer