Territory Story

Robyn Lambley is the Member for Araluen in the Northern Territory parliament, Deputy Leader of the new Territory Alliance Party and a long term resident of Alice Springs. Robyn was born in northern New South Wales, in country town called Grafton. After earning a degree in social work, Robyn worked for a few years before deciding to head overseas as a solo backpacker. Her first destination: Sri Lan...

On this weekend edition of the podcast, Chris Walsh, editor of the NT Independent online newspaper, talks about the stories making the news in the Territory including the government’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis, the sister cities secret deal, Terry Mills on fracking, the Madam Speaker fiasco and more.

Anders Stoltenberg is a lawyer in Denmark with the firm SØNDERRBY LEGAL, a member of Lawyers Associated Worldwide (LAW). Anders takes us on a deep dive into what it’s like to live in Denmark talking about food, politics, geography and culture. In 2017 Anders and his family came on a holiday to Australia for the first time. Their destination was Darwin and Uluru. Anders talks about his adventures i...

Born in Canberra, Bob Beadman joined the Commonwealth Public Service at 16 years of age and devoted his entire life to the public service, a total of 47 years. What makes Bob particularly unique is that he has worked for both the Commonwealth and the Northern Territory under both Liberal and Labor governments. He spent the majority of his career in Aboriginal matters. With his wealth of experience...

On this weekend’s edition of the podcast, Chris Walsh, editor of the NT Independent online newspaper, talks about the stories making the news in the Territory including the Chief Minister’s mysterious ‘Sister City’ signing ceremony in Shenzhen, the continued fall out from Terry Mills’s backflip on fracking, the Auditor-General’s scathing report on indigenous remote housing expenditure and more.

Tanya Heaslip came to Alice Springs when she was four and grew up on a cattle station. She was a student on the School of the Air but finished high school in Adelaide and then decided to do law. For Tanya however, the Territory was always in her heart and she came back and started her career in Darwin with the government. Her first assignment was assisting with the Royal Commission into the death...

Sanjukta Ghosh typifies the young, vibrant and confident Indian migrant that Australia is lucky to attract. Originally from Kolkata, Sanj (as she’s known) grew up in an interesting household by Australian standards. After earning postgraduate qualifications in hospitality, Sanj joined the Taj group of hotels and moved to Mumbai and then The Maldives, where she met her future husband. They then dec...

Austin Asche is a living Territory treasure. At the age of 94, Austin is still actively involved in contributing to the Northern Territory through various heritage and charitable causes. Born in Melbourne in 1925, Austin arrived in Darwin at the age of four. His father, Eric Asche, was a Crown Law Officer. Austin spent his formative years here before leaving to Melbourne to continue his schooling...

Dave Ives is a perpetually happy American Australian living in Alice Springs. Originally from New Hampshire, Dave joined the US Air Force as a medic and worked in the US until he was posted to Womera in outback South Australia. He met his Filipino wife there. They eventually returned to the US but Australia’s Cupid’s arrow had pierced Dave’s heart. He returned to Womera as a civilian and then move...

Bo Remenyi saved Leon’s son’s life when he was 9 years old by diagnosing him with a rare congenital heart condition, which is usually picked up on a post-mortem. Bo was born in Hungary on the day Cyclone Tracy wiped out Darwin. It was fate. Dodging Siberian gulags, her mother escaped the harsh oppression of the communist eastern block and brought Bo and her sister to Australia in 1988 as political...

Chris Walsh, Editor of the NT Independent, joins us for a weekly breakdown of the stories that made the news this week.

Tony Schelling is the owner of a Mortgage Choice franchise, a mortgage broking business in Darwin. Originally from Leongatha in country Victoria, Tony came up to Darwin in the early 80s with Westpac bank. After years in banking and lending, Tony is now having a tilt at politics and will be running as the CLP candidate for the seat of Casuarina in the next Territory election. This is Tony’s Territo...

Alison Ross is the owner of Elders Real Estate in Katherine, a town of 6,300 people located 320km south of Darwin. Originally from South Australia, Alison grew up in Whyalla and Ceduna before taking an opportunity to come up to the Territory ‘for 12 months’. 20 years later, Alison is still here. After several years working as a real estate agent selling not just houses but cattle stations too, she...

On this weekend’s edition of the podcast, Chris Walsh, editor of the NT Independent online newspaper, talks about the stories making the news in the Territory including: the bizarre change of venue for a press conference by the Chief Minister seemingly to avoid questions by Chris; the mysterious agreement signed by the Chief Minister in China last year that no one seems to know anything about; the...

Originally from Keith in South Australia, Maddison Clonan studied Environmental Science at Flinders University before heading to to Melbourne for a job in sales. However Maddison had her sights set on Darwin and so after a couple of years she packed her belongings into her car and drove 4,000kms north, to the tropics. She knew only one person when she came to Darwin and adjusting to the tropical c...

Dave is a local Darwin boy. He Was born here, grew up here and as the only child of the family, he left Darwin after a year at university to explore the world. Starting in Melbourne, then Thailand and the UK, Dave developed an interest in banking and then financial planning. He rounded out his overseas travels in South America, where he met and married a Brazilian girl. They eventually moved back...

As we reflect on the protests in the US and around the world against racial injustice, we decided to hear from two people who are close to the issues from two different perspectives. Hallie Mann is the former Executive Director of Lawyers Associated Worldwide (LAW) and lives in Minneapolis, the epicentre of where the protests began after George Floyd died under the knee of a police officer on 25 M...

On this weekend edition of the podcast, Chris Walsh, editor of the NT Independent online newspaper, talks about the stories making the news in the Territory including the Federal Court decision on compensation for the live cattle trade ban, the High Court decision on the use of tear gas at the Don Dale youth detention facility, business plan for the State Square project, morale in the police force...

Chloe Erlich is a photographer and a granddaughter of Bernie Kilgariff, one of the founders of the Country Liberal Party and a former Senator for the Northern Territory. Born in Alice Springs, Chloe has spent most of her life there with exception of a short stint in Adelaide and Darwin. As a photographer she’s had some interesting assignments, including photographing Oprah Winfrey when she came to...

Dr Robyn Smith is a historian and heritage practitioner here in the Territory. She’s lived here most of her life apart from brief stints in Papua New Guinea, Hobart and Melbourne. Amongst her many accolades, Robyn must be the only person to have won a Brolga (NT tourism award) and a Walkley (national journalism award). Both extremely prestigious and a testament to her dedication. She’s also an aut...

Senator Sam McMahon is one of two senators representing the Northern Territory in Canberra. Born in Sydney and raised in Queensland, Sam (as she is known) knew she wanted to be a veterinarian from a very young age. A very dogged and determined individual, Sam achieved top marks in high school and went on to study veterinary science at the University of Queensland. However it was a summer stint on...

On this weekend edition of the podcast, Chris Walsh, editor of the NT Independent online newspaper, talks about the stories making the news in the Territory including opening the borders, disclosing the state of the Territory’s financials before the election, the public service and the tradies scheme.

Toby George is a local Darwin boy, he went to primary school here before moving to the Gold Coast to finish high school. He started a degree in Marine Biology but through a series of life decisions including a stint playing semi-professional ruby in Canada, he pursued a career in remote sensing and then finally construction management in the Territory. Most recently he’s turned his mind to politic...

Steph Lady is a Hollywood screenwriter. His credits include Frankenstein directed by Kenneth Branagh and Dr Doolittle starring Eddie Murphy. Here’s the thing; Steph and his family moved from LA to Darwin three years ago. From Missouri to LA and LA to Darwin, we take a deep dive into Steph’s life in the US, how he became a screenwriter and what motivated him to move his family to Australia and Darw...

Tracey Hayes. Many know her, many don’t. Those that don’t will want to know her as she is a rising star in the ranks of the CLP and has already been crowned Treasurer in waiting if the CLP win the next Territory election or are able to form government with the help of the Territory Alliance or independents. In this epic episode of the Territory Story podcast Tracey opens the door to her life from...