02 NEWS
TUESDAY AUGUST 18 2015
Bid to lift speed limits
Craig Dunlop
THE Territory’s open speed
limit zone is set to expand
by 85km.
Chief Minister Adam Giles
confirmed the Government’s
plan to expand the 206km
open speed zone at a business
dinner this week.
“While there are a lot of
people who say they want
open speed limits from Darwin
to Katherine, that is a
challenge,” Mr Giles said.
“Very soon we’ll be announcing the opening of about another 85km and we’ll put
$2.5 million into improving the
Stuart Highway down there.”
Mr Giles did not say where
the 85km stretch would be.
In a statement, a spokesman for Mr Giles said a summary report into the current
206km trial would be made
public in coming weeks.
“As outlined in July, the NT
Government is looking to expand open speed limits following the success of a 12-month
trial,” the spokesman said.
“A summary report of the
trial and more details on the
possible expansion of open
speed limit zones will be
released within the next
few weeks.”
Last month, Transport
Minister
Peter
Chandler
speculated that the stretch between the two trial zones
could be opened up, but said
he would like to see the
trial extended.
“I need to take it back to
Cabinet ... because it’s a Cabinet decision on whether we
turn it permanent or whether
we continue with the trial,” he
told the Centralian Advocate.
“There are some other sections of road that I ultimately
think should be included in the
trial area and I’ll need to talk to
(the Transport Department)
about that and to see whether
or not we can do it.”
Opposition
Transport
spokesman Ken Vowles said
the report should have been
made public before Mr Giles
started announcing plans.
“All evidence and every
study points to one direction –
more speed means more
accidents. Territory Labor
agrees with doctors, nurses
and paramedics who are antiopen limits,” he said.
It’s a man’s world – unless you work in travel industry
Matt Garrick
WHILE men are earning
nearly 20 per cent more on
average than their female
counterparts in workplaces
across the nation, at least one
industry in Alice Springs is
bucking the trend.
The Red Centre travel
industry is booming with wellpaid working women, according to Alice Travel and Cruise
co-owner Dunja Ganama, who
voiced her “surprise” at recent
statistics revealing the national
gender wage disparity still sits
at 18.2 per cent.
“It always surprises me. I
know that statistic exists, but
it’s not what I experience in
this industry,” Ms Ganama
said.
“The travel industry is very
female dominated, and therefore, from my experience, people, no matter what gender you
are, are normally paid equally.
“It depends on how well
you perform.”
The travel industry attracts
a lot of women due to the traits
applied to the job each day,
Ms Ganama said.
“Women like to talk a lot,”
she laughed.
“And we have to do a lot of
things at the same time. We
have to constantly deal with
deadlines, it’s an open office so
we constantly hear what
everyone else is saying, we’ve
got clients walking in interrupting what we are doing,
we’ve got emails coming in …
and I might be generalising
here, but they’re very much
female traits.”
Despite these theories,
Alice Travel and Cruise still
hires two men in their Todd
Mall office.
“I have worked in travel
agencies where there was
never a male to be seen,”
Ms Ganama said.
“When we go to conferences, people are often surprised.
WAGE RAGE:
WOMEN STILL PAID
NEARLY 20 PER CENT
LESS THAN MEN
Data released by the
Australian Bureau of
Statistics shows that the
average man working
fulltime earns
18.2 per cent or $283.20
per week more than the
average full-time working
woman
The Northern Territory
had the third-highest gap
in Australia, with a
difference of $296 a week
Across Australia, average
weekly ordinary-time
earnings of women
working full-time were
$1275.90 per week,
compared to men who
earned an average weekly
wage of $1559.10
“And I would not dream of
paying anybody anything different because of their gender.”
On a Federal Government
level, the Minister Assisting
the Prime Minister for
Women, Michaelia Cash, said
while there is more work to be
done, several sets of statistics
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Co-owners and managers of Alice Travel and Cruise Dunja Ganama and Saffron Russell are lucky to
work in an industry where the gender pay gap is narrower than others.
Picture: MATT GARRICK
released this month showed
Australia was “making meaningful progress when it
comes to gender equality in the
workplace”.
“It is vital that an environment is created in which
women have the skills, support
and incentives to work,”
Ms Cash said. “For so many
Australian women the economic security that comes
with having a decent job, leads
to higher retirement incomes
and less vulnerability to
poverty, homelessness and
family violence.”
When asked if she had faith
Cromwell Drive, Alice Springs
Ph: 8952 1921
in the Australian Government
solving the issue of gender pay
differences, Ms Ganama said:
“This Government has a very
bad track record of having female MPs and female members. They’re not doing very
well, so I think they have a very
long way to go.”
THE Northern Territory will
feature heavily in a major UK
exhibition for birdwatchers.
More than 25,000 people
are expected to attend the
2015 Birdfair, which takes
place from August 21 and is
the largest event of its kind in
the world.
Tourism NT is a sponsor
and the Territory will be
represented by a number of
guest speakers.
Tourism Minister Adam
Giles said it was a great opportunity to market our region.
“The UK is one of our largest international markets …
and this exhibition will help
promote the NT as a leading
holiday destination,” he said.
The Birdfair will coincide
with the Centre’s own Bird
Festival, at Alice Springs Desert Park from August 19-23.
FUNCTION
HIRE
BBQ’s Buffets Platters Music
Dance Floor Pool Tables
Indoor / outdoor facilities
Non members welcome.
NT LABOR leader Michael
Gunner will be in Alice Springs
tomorrow to meet organisations focused on children and
to host the first Alice Springs
town
hall
meeting
on
children’s policy.
“Alice Springs is leading the
way and I’m looking forward
to getting a first-hand briefing
from
Central
Australian
groups,” Mr Gunner said.
“I’ve met with Congress a
number of times and I’m keen
to have a look at the delivery of
their Nurse Family Partnership Program on this trip.”
Mr Gunner launched an
“early childhood development”
discussion
paper
on Sunday.
“I intend to define the next
Territory Labor Government
by our commitment to the
children of the Northern
Territory,” he said.
“The Northern Territory
needs a genuine commitment
from government to improve
our
children’s
health,
education and developmental
outcomes.”
Mr Gunner said a Labor
Government would develop
and implement a plan to cover
the gap between birth and the
start of school.
“I want to hear feedback
from parents, experts, and the
community about the existing
and new initiatives outlined in
the discussion paper.”
The town hall meeting on
Wednesday will begin at 6pm
in the Andy McNeill Room at
the Civic Centre, all welcome.
Touch of NT at
UK bird festival
Between November 2013
and May 2014, men’s
salaries increased an
average $24.90 a week
and women’s increased
only $7.09
The female-dominated
healthcare and social
assistance sectors have
the highest gender pay
gap at 30.7 per cent,
followed by financial and
insurance services at
30 per cent and rental,
hiring and real estate
services at 29 per cent
Children’s
policy talk
for Labor
Phone 89522166
Email: off[email protected]
New Owners • New Menu
New Experience
49 Stephens Road
(opposite the Convention Centre)
Phone: (08) 8952 6100
Fax:(08) 8952 1988
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