Sunday, December 4, 2016

DARWIN MAKES RUDE COMPARISONS WITH TOWNSVILLE

Readers of  this  blog  in  the  Northern Territory   have  scoffed   at   some of the goings  on   in  the  North Queensland   city of  Townsville . When  the  Townsville Bulletin , a  Murdoch paper,  drew  up  a  list of  the  50 most powerful local  people , the number  one  spot   went  to  Johnathan  Thurston of  the  Cowboys . Some  people   sniffed  that  if  a  footballer  was   the  most  powerful  hombre  in  town , it  did not  say much  for  the  rest of  the  populace . Dems  fighting words.

Furthermore, it was  pointed out that  the  Northern Territory News, another in the Murdoch stable , had  a list of   powerful  people   running  to   120 ,  an Aussie Rules   footballer, Cyril "Junior Boy " Rioli #18. Tracy Hayes, CEO of  the   NT Cattlemen's Association  topped  the list  ahead of  the new  Chief Minister   Michael Gunner , Chinese  billionaire   Ye Cheng who was  given  the   crazy  99-year lease of  Port DarwinGina  Rinehart  , intent on  buying  the  Kidman empire.   Pretty powerful pussycats .

Another  arty ,  uppity  Territorian  asked  if  Townsville  is  becoming  a  cultural  wasteland  after   reading  about  the  Townsville  City  Council   sacking    curator  and  manager of  galleries , Perc  Tucker and   Pinnacles,  Shane   Fitzgerald , causing  angry benefactors  to  threaten  to  cut  off  hefty  donations .