1st of July, Territory Day

I sit typing, the scream of rockets whistle over head,  a thump, thump, THUMP as munitions explode over the back fence.  Then follows sporadic staccato, rat a tat tat.

I imagine that I am in Kabul or perhaps Iraq.

But no, I sit in my house on July 1st, Territory Day as hundreds of families light fireworks in their back yards, literally burning money.  My wife tells me that she saw an ambulance and fire engine heading toward one of the town camps♣.  I can here a siren in the background now.

The emergency department at the hospital will be treating burns tonight.

This could be a post about

the waste of money in a time of economic downturn
the risk to life limb and property posed by selling explosives to idiots who don’t know how to use them safely
the effect that it has on pets( i can hear terrified yelping of dogs)

But I have to ask what are we celebrating?

Officially of course we are celebrating the fact that

Self-government was conferred on the Northern Territory on 1 July 1978 by the Northern
Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978 of the Commonwealth.
This Act is effectively the Northern Territory’s “constitution”. As an Act of the Commonwealth
Parliament it is entrenched and is subject to amendment or repeal by that Parliament. [source]

The Territory is seen as somewhat of a frontier, “the last frontier”, things are rougher, edgier here.  I think it’s the last place in Australia that the public can legally buy and dispose of small explosives in their back yards.

Question a Territorian on his/her right to set off explosives on the 1st of July and he/she will probably tell you to “…get fucked – this is the territory”.

So we celebrate, we are proud that we threw of the shackles of Southern Oppression(from South Australia and Canberra).  We are governed by the people that live here, that we elect, they me be cowboys, but they are our cowboys.

It’s a myth that’s been sold to us, one that we lap up.

And who am I to speak on matters Territorian?

Territory born and bread for those that think that this qualification means squat – 34 years.

I have to question once again though what we are celebrating?

We can elect politician’s to govern us, we can self govern, but only when it suits the politicians elected in/by other states.

• Our elected politicians voted to enact voluntary euthanasia legislation (our duly elected politicians).  A federal  private members bill overturned it.
• The anti-discrimination act was temporarily repealed so that the Federal government could enact an intervention and rob aboriginal people of their rights.

It matters not whether these were good things, whether they may have had positive effects, whether you agree with them.

They illustrate very clearly, at least to me that Territorians are not first class citizens, our parliament (legislative assembly) is a joke in poor taste.  We are free to govern ourselves…

…but only to a point.

Happy Territory Day

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