Meeting with Acting Chief Minister

The Acting Chief Minister Nicole Manison met with the Mayor and councillors at a meeting on Thursday.

Posted: Thursday, 22 February 2018

Councillors and the CEO raised their concerns about the community of Tennant Creek and finding a solution to these issues. The meeting follows a community meeting on Wednesday in which Ms Manison and the Police Commissioner NT Reece Kershaw flew down to Tennant Creek to hear from residents reeling from the shock of news about the alleged sexual assault of a toddler. Mayor Steve Edgington said the alleged sexual assault of a toddler in Tennant Creek really was the straw that broke the camel's back in [town]. "The community is in shock over this. I'm in shock over it. We do need to do something about the issues in town," he said. He said the incident had prompted an urgent meeting of Aboriginal leaders on Tuesday to try and work through a number of issues plaguing the town. "The Aboriginal elders have banded together, they want to find solutions to preventing this from ever happening again." Mayor Edgington said a lack of public housing, education, and high rates of unemployment were all to blame, but the chief issue was alcohol. He called on the Northern Territory Government to take stock of what was going on, and said he had written three times to Chief Minister Michael Gunner and only received a response on Tuesday evening. "Tennant Creek seems to be the forgotten town at the moment. I call upon the Government to start allocating some resources to Tennant Creek to start working with the community," he said. "Today's meeting was for Council to open up the discussion with the Government and find solutions to serious problems."