Serious censorship If a report in the NT News is to be believed, the NT Police Commissioner Paul White is attempting the most significant censorship since World War II. The newspaper reports that he has ordered his Alice Springs-based media office not to give information about crime to any newspapers, television or radio based outside the town. The ruling applies to the NT News even though it covers the whole NT. The newspaper claims that the number of crimes being reported by police has fallen dramatically and that burglaries are now never reported. This, despite the NT experiencing several thousand break-ins a year. |
When police take over a State or Territory and decide how much the public will or won't know about crime, it is time to examine the very basics of freedom of the press and freedom of information. The 'police state' that existed in Queensland in the 1970s and 1980s was far from healthy as the Fitzgerald Inquiry was to prove. Crime doesn't just go away if it is not reported and failure to make people aware of the dangers of not securing premises, vehicles or taking personal precautions is a way of providing softer targets for criminals. WA police are fairly transparent in their approach to media and 'clearance rates' for crime in the Kimberley are high. By reporting crime and the successful solving of cases, police give the community more confidence. It is time the NT Police Minister had a firm word with the Police Commissioner or admitted that crime was getting so out of hand that it had to resort to 'hush up' tactics to hide the situation from the public. |
Wrong word Issue 2 of the official newsletter of the Department of Environment 'SustainAbility' has on its front page a huge picture of water gushing out of a standing pipe into an irrigation channel. The caption reads: "The mighty Ord River and surrounding groundwater in the Kimberley feed a burgeoning irrigation industry which must be carefully managed to protect the river and groundwater system." The Collins Concise Dictionary defines burgeon as 'to develop or grow rapidly'. Perhaps some burgeoning in land release might lead to the area having a more sustainable farming future.
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