As it’s ANZAC Day tomorrow, we thought we’d share with you the fact that Western Australia had the highest percentage of enlistments in WWI as a proportion of population of the Australian states (10 per cent).
Also, the ranks of the famous Light Horse Brigade were filled with many outback cattlemen who proved to be first class soldiers. As the Australian Light Horse Association has described: “Bush life had hardened them to go for long periods with little food and water and they…had remarkable ability to find their way in strange country and use its features for cover, in both attack and defence.”
Many supporters have told me about this important article in The Age last Thursday about the meaning of ANZAC Day and about how we look after our veterans. This letter explains how the indexation of veterans’ pensions has lagged behind the pension MPs pay themselves! If you’d like to add your name to the letter please ring Peter Gregory at the IPA on 03 9600 4744 or email him on pgregory@ipa.org.au with your name and affiliation by 4pm today and he’ll forward it on.
Leading Australian demographer, Bernard Salt, has mapped internal migration across Australia between 1986-2011, showing many areas in Northern Australia are actually shrinking in population.
The Fly-In-Fly-Out question has once again dominated the news in recent days. This report from the West Australian and this report from the NT News, show the detrimental impact FIFO can have on workers and their families.
Director of the ANDEV / IPA North Australia Project, John Shipp, had this to say in the West Australian last Tuesday about what should be done to improve housing affordability in FIFO towns.
His argument was backed up by industry submissions to the FIFO Inquiry, held in Perth last week. Territorians missed out on participating in the Inquiry which skipped Darwin.
One final note – Mining and energy aren’t the only booming industries in Northern Australia. This article from Cairns.com.au highlights the potential for further growth across the North in the higher education sector.
If you’d like more information on our vision for a new North please contact John Shipp, at jshipp@ipa.org.au or on 0429 706 661.
Also visit our website: www.andev-project.org/
As always, please feel free to share your vision for a new North by emailing me at jroskam@ipa.org.au.
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