Nigel's blog

Hammering away

I showed I can hit the tools with the best of them at the launch of the Manufacturing and Farming Sector Parliamentary Program which allows politicians to experience agricultural and manufacturing operations and day to day business activities at a grass roots level.
Being a handy bloke from the Territory I am always up for a hit.
It will give politicians firsthand knowledge on how legislation affects the manufacturing and farming industry and the jobs and the lives of workers in those industries.

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Religious leaders key to a more humane approach to animal slaughter

Religious leaders of Muslim communities in Australia and South East Asia hold the key to a more humane approach to animal slaughter because the method of killing cattle for human consumption is a religious issue right across the Muslim world, and not just in Indonesia. 

The banning of cattle exports to Indonesia is already causing incalculable damage to the Territory’s pastoral industry. It will price beef out of the pockets of Indonesian families.

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My trip with Abbott to Alice

Recently I had the pleasure of attending a meeting with Aboriginal traditional owners and elders from the southern region of the Northern Territory.  The meeting was arranged by Aboriginal people who had invited Tony Abbott to meet with them to discuss issues surrounding the circumstances prevalent in their communities.  Also discussed was the call by the coalition to increase federal government involvement in Alice Springs in the form of a new intervention.

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No-one can benefit from locked-up land

Land is one of the greatest assets that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have, yet for decades collective ownership and paternalistic government regulations have prevented them from developing this asset for the economic benefit of their family and future generations.

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Marthakal News - school attendance

I am delighted to hear so many students were attending school on Elcho Island. I understand Gawa Christian School has 38 enrolments and around 32 kids come to school each day. This is a fantastic result.  Shepherdson College has 562 students at its hub school in Galiwin'ku with around 69% attendance and 80 students at its four homeland schools elsewhere on the island averaging 60% attendance.

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Government wastes millions on Aboriginal home ownership program

A Federal Government program which seeks to increase home ownership on Indigenous community titled land was recently assessed by the Australian National Audit Office.

It is nothing short of outrageous that after four years, and against a target of delivering 460 loans across eight communities, the Home Ownership on Indigenous Land (HOIL) program was only able to provide $2.7 million for a mere 15 loans, while administrative costs totalled nearly $10 million.

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Marthakal News - Christmas message

Christmas is a time when people all over the world get together with friends and family. In the tropical north of Australia, we often celebrate Christmas during Gunmul, which is why housing is so important.

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Labor's failed border protection policy

In August 2008 the Rudd Labor Government began to unravel the Coalition’s strong border protection measures. They abolished temporary protection visas, struck an unprecedented deal with Sri Lankan asylum seekers aboard the Australian patrol boat Oceanic Viking, which traded away our national security, and once Christmas Island filled up began bringing asylum seekers to the mainland before their claims had been processed.

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Changing jockeys will not fix a dud horse

June 24 was a historic day in Australian politics.  Julia Gillard became Australia’s first ever female Prime Minister, which was a cause for celebration for women across the country. But it was also a historic moment because in the Australian Parliament’s 109 year history, no Prime Minister has ever been rolled by his own party in his first term. It was a historic day because it was not a clean change, brought about by the will of the people. This was a change brought about by the will of the union and faction warlords.

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2010-11 Federal Budget

In May the Federal Government handed down an underwhelming 2010-11 Budget, with virtually nothing in it for the Northern Territory. Labor’s plan to return the Budget to surplus within three years relies upon a great big new tax on Australia’s resources sector which will damage jobs and the economy in the Territory. This tax will tear the guts out of not just the mining industry in the Territory, but the substantial service industry surrounding it.

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