CHIEF MINISTER STILL MUM OVER WAR MEMORIAL GROSS ERRORS

Chief Minister Paul Henderson has been sending out invites to the celebration marking this year’s 70th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin , organised under the offensive title BRAND BOMBING-like Heinz tomato sauce and baked beans . There is outrage down south about the same commercial approach being taken to the nation’s ANZAC DAY planning for 2015.

Little Darwin is still waiting for the Chief Minister to respond to our questions about what he is doing to correct the gross spelling errors in the western wall of the Darwin War Memorial. There is an attitude within the NT Government spin doctor team that it does not respond to dot.com outfits like Crikey and blogs.

This is foolish – and dangerous for the government . In America the blogosphere is a potent political force which is rattling the conventional media . Little Darwin first pointed out the war memorial situation on October 18, 2009 -plenty of time, you would think, for remedial action. Nothing happened . Apparently the government prefers responding to the needs of the easily manipulated , local , dumbed- down news treatment .

In recent months, on several occasions , questions were directed to the Chief Minister via Fred McCue for a response . No reply -no email, no letter in a bottle , not even a phone call from Fred , renowned for seemingly having a Blackberry glued to his ear. Total silence . Why ? If the fact that Darwin’s war memorial has glaring errors with the 70th anniversary coming up , and the Chief Minister, on the face of it , is doing nothing to rectify the situation , then forget the notion of statehood , try Banana Republic for size.

THESE ARE THE ERRORS IN LARGE LETTERS ON THE GRANITE WALL: NETHERLAND’S EAST INDIES-should be NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES ; PHILLIPINES instead of PHILIPPINES and UNITED NATION PEACEKEEPING which should be UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPING.