HO N CAN NE HELP Y0 ?

Kevin Rudd will have no trouble translating this Cantonese sign . Other mug punters , however, will not realise that this is not a Chinese incantation but the remains of a large sign on the reception desk which greets customers at the grotty Westpac Bank Casuarina branch. It should read HOW CAN WE HELP YOU? In its unsatisfactory form , it has been on display for many months along with shabby chairs, the plastic covering the arms peeling , and the unseemly stains on the footpath at the very entrance, the latter in situ for aeons . Little Darwin emailed Westpac HQ PR mandarin Paul Marriage , who promptly passed the spring roll to offsider Danny Long (senior media relations/corporate affairs/sustainability ) who said the NT regional general manager with responsibility for handing out free salty plums to Territory suckers would shortly be in contact . That email was dated May 13. Today-May 18-having not been contacted , called at Westpac and nothing had changed -same cryptic reception message, peeling and corroded chairs, yukky pavement upchucks /discharges . Graffiti on the wall in the inadequate nearby carpark which is like the dodgems . More than that, a close examination of the overall banking precinct revealed the general rundown state of the business area. Dead fronds hanging from a palm tree ready to fall down at any moment , possibly on people, stained columns, remains of a burger with the works which has been outside the Commonwealth for more than a week ( junk food clings to footpaths like super glue-imagine what it is doing to your intestines ) ; weeds in dirt patches posing as gardens which are full of butts, bottle tops ,even the emptied contents of a vacuum cleaner displaying many paperclips, plastic, mounds of dust and fluff. We all know that banks do not collude when it comes to setting rates , but surely it is possible for all the banks in the precinct to get together and arrange to clean up the place.