Katherine

2011年7月3日星期日

Traditional owners celebrate native title wins

在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
在 ServiceModel 客户端配置部分中，找不到引用协定“TranslatorService.LanguageService”的默认终结点元素。这可能是因为未找到应用程序的配置文件，或者是因为客户端元素中找不到与此协定匹配的终结点元素。
By Lucy McNally

Updated June 2, 2011 14:24:00

Traditional owners are preparing for a ceremony at Victoria River Downs in the Northern Territory today to celebrate a Federal Court decision set to speed up the process for settling native title claims.

Lawyers say the decision will pave the way for a simplified native title claim process.

Until this week there had only been 15 determinations on native title claims, which first began to be lodged in the Northern Territory in the late 1990s.

Two days ago, the Federal Court ruled six Indigenous groups held rights to over 16,000 square kilometres of land between the Victoria River District and the West Australian border.

Today, it will deliver another six determinations covering 15,000 sq kms of land at a ceremony at Pigeon Hole, about 380 kilometres south-west of Katherine and close to the Victoria Downs cattle station.

The recent court determinations were made by consent, with both the Territory Government and pastoral lease holders agreeing claimant Indigenous groups had rights.

Barrister Raelene Webb says to have so many determinations reached at once is a major step.

"The law of native title is now fairly settled," she said.

"Consent determinations over pastoral leases will now be achieved fairly readily."

There are still around 100 claims of native title yet to be settled in the Territory.

Tags: community-and-society, indigenous, land-rights, laws, nt, katherine-0850

First posted June 2, 2011 12:29:00

View the original article here

Passengers call loved ones during plane emergency

Updated March 30, 2011 15:49:00

A woman who was on a light plane that was forced to carry out an emergency landing at Katherine, 300 kilometres south of Darwin, says she feels lucky to be alive.

Louise Patel was on a Chart Air flight yesterday travelling from Ngukurr to Katherine when the pilot informed passengers the landing gear would not come down.

The pilot was forced to circle for 45 minutes.

During that time passengers were allowed to make phone calls to loved ones.

"My brother Anthony down in Sydney, he took the message and said, 'Right, I'll say a prayer for you'.

"So I was happy I contacted them."

The plane eventually landed safely.

"It was really just a big relief when we did land," she said.

"It was the best, smoothest landing that I think we've ever had.

"The fireys were right along beside us as we were taxiing, just in case."

Chart Air says a false indication in the cockpit led to the issue.

Tags: air-and-space-accidents, australia, nt, darwin-0800, katherine-0850, ngukurr-0852

First posted March 29, 2011 17:18:00

View the original article here

Aboriginal men march for health week

Posted June 7, 2011 16:34:00

Hundreds of Aboriginal men from all over the country have marched down the main street of Katherine to promote men's health.

About 300 men came from the Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland for a week-long summit on men's health.

Traffic came to a stop in downtown Katherine this morning as the men and Aboriginal health workers marched down the main street.

They were led by young men performing traditional dance and were supported by women lining the footpath.

They are trying to improve the lives of men and their families by combating alcohol abuse, smoking and domestic violence.

Tags: indigenous, mens-health, people, nt, katherine-0850

View the original article here

Community braces for flooding as river peaks

Updated April 5, 2011 12:53:00

Parts of a remote Northern Territory community are expected to be flooded on Wednesday morning when the Daly River peaks.

Fourteen people have already been evacuated from the community of Nauiyu, 300 kilometres south-west of Darwin.

Emergency Services expects the river to peak at 13.7 metres at 10am tomorrow.

Commander Dave Proctor says the community's oval, some access roads and one or two houses may be inundated.

"River heights continue to rise and counter disaster planning is well underway," he said.

Liz Bott, who manages the community's arts centre, says everyone is calm.

"We haven't had any rain today and we're justing hoping there is no further rain up in the catchment," she said.

The weather bureau is forecasting isolated showers and storms for the district tonight.

But the floods are not expected to be as bad as those that devastated the community six weeks ago.

Meanwhile, Emergency Services says the Katherine River is receding.

The owner of a tavern on the Arnhem highway near the Adelaide River crossing says people should avoid trying cross the river.

Peter Shappert says there was about 600 millimetres of water over the highway this morning.

Earlier this year the road flooded and the pub doubled as a school for stranded students.

Mr Shappert says he does not think that will have to happen this time.

"It's been pretty wet here," he said.

"Most people out this way are pretty over it.

"We just want the dry here so we can do stuff.

"We're just lucky that this week it is school holidays, so hopefully by the time the new week starts the roads will all be back open for them."

Tags: floods, australia, nt, daly-river-0822, darwin-0800, katherine-0850

First posted April 5, 2011 09:37:00

View the original article here

New evidence sees murder accused walk free

Posted June 7, 2011 16:36:00

A man charged with murder has walked free from the Northern Territory Supreme Court after the prosecution admitted new evidence had come to light.

Jordan Thompson, 18, was standing trial accused of murdering former teacher Michael Condrick, 50, in Katherine last June.

Mr Condrick had been stabbed in the throat and Mr Thompson had pleaded not guilty to murder.

The court had previously heard Mr Condrick was known to have paid young men for sex after meeting them during his time as a teacher in remote Aboriginal communities.

After two weeks of sittings in front of a jury, Crown Prosecutor Matthew Nathan today told the Supreme Court the Director of Public Prosecutions did not intend to continue prosecuting the accused after new evidence came to light yesterday.

The trial was stopped.

Justice Jenny Blokland told the jury that new forensic material had been discovered which was "in conflict with other evidence submitted" and presented potential ramifications for the trial.

She said it was still unclear why the new evidence was not available earlier.

Mr Thompson was told that after spending a year in custody he was now able to leave court a free man.

Justice Blokland thanked the accused for his cooperation and said potential injustice had been avoided.

Yesterday Justice Blokland warned members of the jury that an "issue" had arisen which was "something that entirely concerns fault on the part of the police".

Tags: courts-and-trials, police, darwin-0800, katherine-0850

View the original article here

Bush patients can wait a day for medivac

Posted May 18, 2011 16:05:00

Northern Territory Health groups say bush patients are forced to wait up to 25 hours for air evacuations and lives will be lost if changes are not made.

CareFlight runs the aeromedical services for the Territory Government.

Katherine West Health Board spokesman Sean Heffernan says in the latest incident, a man was forced to wait 18 hours for an evacuation.

He says that is despite a letter from Health Minister Kon Vatskalis guaranteeing quality services.

"We got a letter only last Wednesday from Minister Vatskalis saying that patients will be picked up by CareFlight," he said.

"Basically, the following night we found that that letter wasn't able to stand up, so that was quite disappointing to us."

Dr Louise Harwood, also from the health board, says lives will be lost if the situation does not get better.

"We would have people evacuated from our region probably most days, and maybe most weeks there would be at least one situation where that delay was longer than we would think is acceptable," she said.

Luke Bowen, from the Northern Territory Cattlemen's Association, agrees the service is not doing well enough.

He says there are not enough planes doing the work.

"We have a service currently in place that is often struggling to keep one plane in the air, let alone three, which is part of the contract," he said.

"We have a situation, a crazy situation, where planes have to go to Alice Springs to be serviced and they spend more time in the garage than they often do flying."

Tags: states-and-territories, healthcare-facilities, health-administration, nt, katherine-0850

View the original article here

Dead policeman's family want king-hit campaign

Posted June 17, 2011 13:13:00

The family of a Northern Territory police officer who was killed after being punched in a nightclub say they are happy a man has been found guilty of his manslaughter.

Sergeant Brett Meredith, 39, was off duty when he was king-hit by Michael Martyn, 40, causing him to hit his head on a Katherine nightclub floor in the early hours of New Year's Day last year.

He died later in hospital.

A Supreme Court jury took just over two hours to deliver a unanimous verdict yesterday after a two-and-a-half-week trial.

Sergeant Meredith's widow Amee says it has been a long ordeal for the family, including their three children, all under seven years old.

"It has been 18 months for us now," she said.

"We've sat through this and, at the end of the day, there are no winners here.

"Justice has prevailed ... but it doesn't mean Brett is coming home.

"It's more a finalisation of things for us."

Ms Meredith says she and her dead husband's mother will now turn their attention to a national campaign about the dangers of king-hits and raising awareness that one punch can kill.

"He was a good boy and he didn't deserve to die like that," she said.

"Nobody does, nobody does.

"That is what we want to get out there, that one punch can kill, as quick as seconds, and you're gone."

At the conclusion of the trial, Justice Peter Barr asked the jury to consider whether Martyn was aware there was a risk death would result from the punch, and if so, was it "unjustifiable to take that risk".

After the verdict Justice Barr said given the seriousness of the charge, he was obliged to remand Martyn in custody.

Martyn will be sentenced next month.

Tags: courts-and-trials, murder-and-manslaughter, darwin-0800, katherine-0850

View the original article here

订阅：博文 (Atom)