Have a good weekend

FIRST!!! I’ve waited for this moment for so long…sitting here on a late V & O Friday afternoon seeing all those worthies from down south who jumped the queue…maybe everyone is sitting in a bar watching the cricket or in a car on their way home…
Me, I’m in downtown Yuendumu having a quiet afternoon after a busy week that started with Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin dragging a clutch of Federal and State Minister and Senators (Community Affairs…in the NT to look at advances in the War On Petrol Sniffing)…the activities of several MSM journos led to a run of three Crikey pieces from me this week – all of which can be seen here, here and here, in expanded form, on my Crikey blog – The Northern Myth…

I think that there is a longer discussion that needs to be had about how journalists conduct themselves when they come out to small, traditional townships like Yuendumu and neighbouring towns, particularly where the well-documented language issues are concerned – a journo in a rush might get away with a sidewalk vox-pop on the streets of Sydney or Bathurst, but when the person you are interviewing speaks English as a second or third language and has never read a broadsheet then a whole set of different issues come into play

I’m working on a piece for next week on Arts Minister Garrett’s resale royalty scheme and would appreciate any views from whatever front line any one has a perspective from on this issue – what I’m hearing from people I’ve talked to is that it will be…a dud…

And I’m trying to avoid taking the dogs for a walk this evening…that can be my LBF’s job…

Cheers and I hope more Australian wickets fall soon…and I welcome any thoughts about this grab-bag of thoughts on a Friday afternoon