-
Oct 21, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Roxanne Fitzgerald |Eleni Roussos
A year ago, locked in a sweltering prison in the heat of the Northern Territory, heavily pregnant Crystal Roberts never thought she would be where she is today. Her son Chase was born behind bars and spent the first 10 months of his life within the confines of a concrete cell. "For a few years I was struggling with a meth addiction," Crystal said.
-
Oct 21, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Jane Bardon |Roxanne Fitzgerald
Indigenous justice groups and Australia's Human Rights Commission have condemned the Northern Territory Government's announcement it is establishing three new prisons so it can jail 30 per cent more people within four years. Featured:Crystal Roberts, former prisonerGerard Maley, NT Corrections MinisterAnne Hollands, Australian Children's CommissionerNatalie Hunter, North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency family centre workerMichael Liddle, Alice Springs offender behaviour change program leader
-
Oct 8, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Roxanne Fitzgerald
The moment she realised she was being separated from her child and sent back into the concrete confines of prison will never leave Charen Briscoe. Flanked by prison guards, she entered with despair. She knew exactly what awaited her inside the Alice Springs Correctional Centre, where inmates are crowded in and it can be blisteringly cold or boiling hot.
-
Sep 29, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Roxanne Fitzgerald
Sam Goding spent years trying to hide how deep he was in the grips of a drink. He says there wasn't "one moment" where life took a turn from casual drinking to something much more problematic — for the better part of three decades, he was able to drink daily after work and perform at a high level. But slowly, the sinister control of alcohol sunk its claws deeper and it soon became unmanageable.
-
Sep 27, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Roxanne Fitzgerald
An influential environment group has mounted further legal action against the NT government in its bid to stop a US oil and gas company from fracking in the Beetaloo Basin a week after the NT Supreme Court rejected a similar challenge.
-
Sep 26, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Roxanne Fitzgerald |Stewart Brash
An Alice Springs brewery will be allowed to continue selling takeaway alcohol on days other businesses in the town are banned following a months-long investigation by the Northern Territory Liquor Commission. Takeaway liquor sales have been prohibited on Mondays and Tuesdays in Alice Springs since January 2023, when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese flew into the town amid a storm of political pressure and media attention over crime rates.
-
Sep 15, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Roxanne Fitzgerald
Dr Louise Woodward didn't think much of it when she put her hand up to take on an abandoned long-necked turtle that had been deemed unable to survive in the wild. The paediatrician was setting up a clinic on the outskirts of Darwin and thought children would enjoy the novelty of a turtle in an aquarium. "But I noticed that he was always at the tank, wanting to interact with the kids," she says.
-
Aug 23, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Roxanne Fitzgerald
In a bid to safeguard water for future generations, the native title holders of a cattle station in Central Australia have escalated their legal fight against one of the most substantial groundwater licenses granted in Northern Territory history. To mark the beginning of their fresh appeal against a 40,000 megalitre license granted to Singleton Station, native title holders held a smoking ceremony on the green lawns of the Northern Territory Supreme Court on Thursday morning.
-
Aug 22, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Roxanne Fitzgerald
The Greens and crossbencher David Pocock have called for an investigation into the federal government's $1.5 billion commitment to the Middle Arm Industrial Precinct on Darwin's harbour and for the funds to be directed away from supporting fossil fuel projects, after a senate inquiry into the project failed to reach a unanimous agreement.
-
Aug 21, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Roxanne Fitzgerald
Last year, the Northern Territory's current chief minister approveda controversial water allocation plan with no water advisory committee, and against the wishes of traditional owners, while the environment minister was on holiday. At the time of approval, the plan was condemned as the "worst water decision" in years, as it concluded that 210,000 megalitres — enough to fill roughly 100,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools — could be sustainably pumped from the groundwater every year.
