News

Munic­i­pal Plan and Budget

Coun­cil offi­cial­ly endorsed the 2023 – 24 Munic­i­pal Plan fol­low­ing the Plan being avail­able for pub­lic com­ment for 21 days. The Plan includes ASTC’s bud­get for the 2023 – 24 finan­cial year, includ­ing major projects, events, ini­tia­tives, infra­struc­ture upgrades and more. The full 2023 – 24 Munic­i­pal Plan is avail­able on ASTC’s web­site.

Ankerre Park

Coun­cil­lors vot­ed in favour of accept­ing own­er­ship of the new­ly com­plet­ed Ankerre Park. Locat­ed in Kil­gar­iff, the park includes brand new play­ground equip­ment and pro­vides fam­i­lies in Kil­gar­iff with an excit­ing space for out­door activ­i­ties. The cre­at­ing of the park aligns with ASTC’s Live­abil­i­ty and Sus­tain­abil­i­ty 2030 strate­gic plan to increase assets that encour­age active lifestyles. 

Gam­ing Machines

With a recent increase to the num­ber of gam­ing machines in Alice Springs, Coun­cil­lors resolved to write to the Attor­ney Gen­er­al of the NT and request a meet­ing. Coun­cil­lors aim to gain a bet­ter under­stand­ing of the North­ern Territory’s deci­sion-mak­ing process, as well as dis­cussing ideas that can pro­mote edu­ca­tion about respon­si­ble use of gam­ing machines and reduce harm asso­ci­at­ed with gambling. 

Part­ner­ships with Clon­tarf and Birth and Beyond

Enabling com­mu­ni­ty groups to pro­vide impor­tant ser­vices in Alice Springs is a key func­tion of Coun­cil. With this in mind, Coun­cil endorsed part­ner­ship oppor­tu­ni­ties with both the Clon­tarf Foun­da­tion and Birth and Beyond. 

The Clon­tarf pro­gram plays a vital role in assist­ing young men in Alice Springs achieve pos­i­tive life out­comes and has tremen­dous suc­cess across a num­ber of schools in our com­mu­ni­ty. This part­ner­ship will help the pro­gram grow into the future, help­ing more young peo­ple reach their potential.

Birth and Beyond is a lead­ing organ­i­sa­tion in help­ing young par­ents with the stress and demands of hav­ing a young child. In par­tic­u­lar, the organ­i­sa­tion plays a piv­otal role in assist­ing mem­bers of the com­mu­ni­ty that may be iso­lat­ed from fam­i­ly. Coun­cil are proud to enter a part­ner­ship that will help Birth and Beyond in pro­vid­ing sup­port to more fam­i­lies across our community. 

More out­door din­ing and night mar­ket stalls

This is a win for fans of out­door din­ing! In an effort to sup­port the night time econ­o­my in Alice Springs and grow one of our town’s favourite events, Coun­cil­lors resolved to waive fees for stall­hold­ers at all ASTC Night Mar­kets. This aims to attract more stall­hold­ers to our Night Mar­kets, help­ing more peo­ple share their tal­ents with the com­mu­ni­ty. Poten­tial Night Mar­kets stall­hold­ers will still need to apply by con­tact­ing Coun­cil on 8950 0505 or astc@​astc.nt.​gov.​au.

Coun­cil­lors also agreed to waive alfres­co din­ing fees for all busi­ness­es through­out Alice Springs. Coun­cil aims to encour­age all busi­ness­es to reach their full poten­tial, with this move assist­ing in that pur­suit. There should be as few bar­ri­ers to own­ing a busi­ness as possible. 

QAN­TAS lobbying

Along with the Mem­ber for Lin­gia­ri Mar­i­on Scrym­gour, Coun­cil­lors recent­ly met with exec­u­tives from QAN­TAS to dis­cuss the fre­quen­cy and prices of flights for our res­i­dents. It is a long-held con­cern of res­i­dents that the price to fly out of Alice Springs has con­tin­ued to grow, impact­ing our town’s live­abil­i­ty and acces­si­bil­i­ty. High prices have a neg­a­tive impact on tourism and busi­ness and reduce our town’s abil­i­ty to grow. These con­cerns were all brought to the atten­tion of QAN­TAS exec­u­tives and again dis­cussed in the Coun­cil Meet­ing. The May­or and Coun­cil­lors will con­tin­ue to advo­cate for prices to become more afford­able for res­i­dents and ask for gov­ern­ment to inves­ti­gate oppor­tu­ni­ties to sub­side rates if possible. 

Be safe this Ter­ri­to­ry Day

Ter­ri­to­ry Day is a great occa­sion to cel­e­brate every­thing that makes the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry unique. Coun­cil encour­ages every­one to cel­e­brate this year’s Crack­er Night safe­ly and responsibly. 

Even with the recent wet weath­er, fire­works can be dan­ger­ous and cause unin­ten­tion­al fire igni­tions. It is rec­om­mend­ed that either buck­ets of water or a work­ing hose are kept in close prox­im­i­ty to any areas where fire­works are being let off. This will ensure that any fire which starts as a result of a fire­work can be quick­ly extinguished.

It’s also impor­tant to remem­ber that while we may enjoy the fire­works dis­plays, pets and oth­er ani­mals often do not. If pos­si­ble, bring your pet indoors and pro­vide them with a safe and secure envi­ron­ment. Remem­ber that you can let off fire­works until 11pm on 1 July. Those with unused fire­works left­over can con­tact NT Work­Safeon 1800 019 115 to organ­ise to hand them in for safe disposal.