Bushranger

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A (very) bad bet

A DARWIN punter wasn’t having a good day on Melbourne Cup day with a string of losses and near misses, including Marmelo running second in the Cup. Things didn’t get any better for him in the last race at Flemington when he decided to play bookie when a mate interstate asked him to put $100 on

Cool Passion at $26. The punter thought his mate’s selection couldn’t win so he kept the $100 and didn’t put the bet on. Of course, Cool Passion saluted and the punter now owes his mate $2600. Ouch!

Fake news

ACCURACY and proofing work properly is a focus of all in the journalism industry but organisers of the Media Awards were left a little red-faced when they sent out their invite to the yearly awards night for next Saturday night. Industry stakeholders were told to hurry up and book their NT Meida Awards tickets. Oops.

Don’t leave, Chief

A SHUDDER must run through Labor cabinet ministers every time Chief Minister Mi

chael Gunner heads overseas. When potential bad news for the government drops the Chief has been overseas on official duties and away from scrutiny on a couple of occasions, leaving his party colleagues to face the public’s wrath. Mr Gunner was in Hawaii for the Tennant Creek child protection crisis and earlier this week he was in Japan when the Don Dale riot erupted.

Open exclusive

A FEW raised eyebrows throughout the Top End media industry again in relation to the reporting of the Don Dale Detention Cen

tre riots and Channel 9’s indulgent use of the term “exclusive” which it splashed all over its footage for both its local and national bulletins. It appears having Sky News (whose reporter, Matt Cunningham, held a 24hour vigil at the centre), extensive coverage from the ABC and the NT News, both online and in print, does not factor in to whether a big story is considered “exclusive” by some these days.

Super Sally marches on

DARWIN entrepreneur Sally Illingworth is absolutely everywhere on the professional social networking site, Linkedin. Bushie has written about Sally before and now she’s garnered nearly 35,000 followers. The energy she shows with her video content is second to none and it’s great to have someone from Darwin who has fans from all around the world. All Bushie asks Sally is to promote Darwin and the Northern Territory a little bit more. We need the population and now she’s a bona fide social media influencer she could be one of our secret weapons, especially now with incentives becoming available for people who move to the Northern Territory.

Farewell to the only GM

SHE’S one of the Territory’s best spin doctors and an absolute fashionista but now CLP media adviser Georgina Murphy has booked her last flight out of the Territory. The ever-on-the-ball professional, who also celebrated her 30th birthday this week, will be missed by journalists and the CLP alike, as well as the many who have loaned one of her many outfits and accessories for an event. Bushie understands her replacement, Lore

lei Fong Lim, will have big shoes to fill, and an even bigger wardrobe. Georgina will remain the Frontier fashion columnist until she outgrows the Territory down in Melbourne.

Who you gunna call?

Chief Minister Michael Gunner wrote to Darwin business owners this week outlining his plan to tackle anti-social behaviour. The letter included a yellow and black sticker and a fridge magnet that implores: “If you see it, report it” by phoning police on their 131444 general number. So basically the key initiative to stopping anti-social behaviour is ring police? Bushie does not think this is too groundbreaking plus the other big question is will police have the resources to respond if there is an increase in reports of drunks doing the wrong thing?

Minister’s tough gig

ON Monday Families Minister Dale Wake

field posted on social media that one of the toughest decisions she has had to make this year was selecting the winner for her Christmas Card competition. Bushie thinks sorting out her Territory Families portfolio which oversees the mess which created the child protection crisis in Tennant Creek and the current Don Dale shambles would be higher on the list of difficult decisions than a Christmas card competition but maybe it comes down to priorities?