Territory Story

Bill Savarino is a former chair of Lawyers Associated Worldwide (LAW) and lawyer based in Washington D.C. Being close to the epicentre of this unfolding crisis in New York, Bill talks about life in the US right now and how the country to dealing with Covid-19.

Tessa Czislowski is a Partner at Ward Keller and a Family Law practitioner. As the Covid 19 tightens it’s grip on our lives, one area that is under tremendous stress, are families caught up in relationship breakdowns. It’s hard enough dealing with this in normal times, but how do people deal with family issues during a global crisis? There are lots of questions and Tessa does a brilliant job answe...

Dr Vemuri is a doctor of economics. He has lectured at Charles Darwin University since it was known as the University College of the Northern Territory back in 1988. Dr Vemuri did his undergraduate studies at the University of Western Australia, his Masters in Mumbai, India and PhD in Birmingham, UK. With the rule book as far as economics thrown out the window as the current pandemic tears through...

The world has been turned upside down. Our economy and our lifestyle is unrecognisable from what it was even a week ago. Yet we are told there’s more to come. With all the directions and advice issued by governments, we thought it would be worthwhile speaking with a medical doctor about the virus. Originally from Perth, Dr Keith Ananda spent a year at the then Northern Territory University in 1991...

As Covid-19 dominates our daily lives and conversation, we decided to release this bonus episode to find out what is happening on the other side of the world. Peter Colman is an ex-Territorian and has been living in the UK for the past 20 years. He shares his story and talks about how the virus is affecting their daily life and the lives of people in Europe.

This week we took the show on the road and recorded this podcast in Melbourne. We caught up with AJ Kulatunga again and also one of Leon’s friends, Janak Ratnapala. Janak lives in Melbourne but he’s originally from Sri Lanka and first came to Australia to study electrical engineering at the then Northern Territory University (now Charles Darwin University). Janak talks about his life growing up in...

Sarah is an owner and director of Karen Sheldon Catering and Saltbush Enterprises: the first is an award winning local business; the second is a not for profit organisation creating opportunities for First Australians in the Northern Territory. The eldest of three children, Sarah’s family moved to Tennant Creek from Melbourne when she was still in primary school. Her mother, Maggie Hickey, was the...

Born in Adelaide, Rose travelled the world and was basking in the sun in a town between Portugal and Spain in 2013, when she got a call from Malaysia Airlines to head up their Darwin operations. Not sure at first, she was eventually persuaded. Six months into the job, disaster struck with the disappearance of MH370. Then four months later, MH17 was shot down over Ukraine. Rose talks about how she...

As crime is one of the central issues in the Territory (the other being the economy), we thought it was time to speak with the former Attorney General and Minister for Corrections, John Elferink. Under the previous CLP Government, John had introduced a range of reforms to the criminal justice system to deal with crime, and by all accounts, those policies seemed to be working. Crime certainly did n...

In this bonus episode we speak with Quentin Kilian, CEO of the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory. Earlier this week the Territory Labor Government passed legislation in parliament that effectively takes away the right of landlords to disallow pets in rented accommodation. You read right - the government is telling you that even though you are the owner of your investment property, th...

Marie-Clare is a born and bred Territorian. Growing up in the northern suburbs, she finished school and took a number of odd jobs before becoming and office manager and para-planner for a financial services business. In 2016 Marie-Clare had a tilt at politics and just missed out on winning her seat. She got the bug and has now been preselected by the CLP for the Palmerston seat of Brennan. Marie-C...

This is the second part of our two part series with Dave Toller, former Federal Member for Solomon and Deputy Chief Minister.

Like him or loathe him, Dave Tollner has been a force in Territory politics on and off for 20 odd years. There’s no question where Dave stands on many issues: he’s anything but equivocal. But what’s Dave’s story? We find out on this podcast; starting in Biloela, Queensland where he was born and his meandering journey that brought him to Darwin as a professional basketballer. But it was John Howard...

Steven Klose is a born and bred Territorian. His father, ‘Snow’, is a German Australian and came to the Territory in 1953 on a VSA motorcycle (Steven said he’ll need to confirm the motorcycle). Having spent his whole life in the Territory including hiding under the bed as a four year old during cyclone Tracy, Steven shares his life story. We then meander into politics as Steven has joined the new...

Anke Nagel was born in Munich, Germany. She grew up in Belgium and went back to Germany to study culture and languages. In her early twenties, she followed her parents to Australia for a holiday; part of that trip took her through Alice Springs, where she met her future husband. Anke is a registered migration and advises people seeking to live and work in Australia. This is her Territory Story.

2020. A new year, a new decade...and a name change. In our first episode of the year, we tell you why we changed the name of the podcast from ‘Boundless Possible’ to ‘Territory Story’.

Varenya’s family migrated to Darwin from Guyana in South America in the 80’s. He finished high school and then went onto university and earned a degree in Science. After getting married and two children later, Varenya decided to move to Sydney and try the big smoke. On this last podcast of the year, Varenya shares his Territory story and his unique perspective on Darwin from Sydney.

This is the last episode for the year. Peter and Leon chew the fat on the year and make an important announcement regarding a name change for the podcast in the new year.

Nathan has just finished year 12. As a local Darwin boy he’s been thinking about how to help struggling businesses in the Smith Street generate foot traffic in a tough economic environment exacerbated by a general move away from bricks and mortar shops to online retail. Nathan talks about his idea, which also won him the Youth Business award.

This is our first episode recorded in Alice Springs. Alice Springs is about 1,500kms south of Darwin, in the heart of Australia, but still in the Northern Territory. It is the second biggest city in the Northern Territory after Darwin, with a population of about 30,000. Pippa Tessmann has been a resident of Alice Springs for more than 30 years. She arrived from England as a backpacker and loved th...

Lorri Salyards is the CEO of Lawyers Associated Worldwide (LAW), an association of over 100 law firms in 50 countries. LAW was having its executive committee retreat in Darwin and this was Lorri’s first time here. Lorri shares her story of growing up in Nebraska and then her career in law firm administration in Denver. She also gives us her first impressions of Darwin.

One of ten children, Connie Jape is a daughter of one of Darwin’s most iconic family dynasties. Born in East Timor, Connie’s family was forced to flee the country in 1975 following annexation by Indonesia. Her family history traces back to southern China. Following the move to Darwin her father had to start again, and from humble beginnings, Kong Su Jape built one of Darwin’s most successful furni...

One of the great things about living in the Territory is that doors open for us, and this is a classic example. Phil Ruthven is arguably the Warren Buffett of Australia. He’s rented a house for 30 years even though his privately owned company, IBIS World, is worth half a billion dollars. Originally from Sydney, Phil graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of New South W...

Gary is a Member of the Northern Territory Parliament and Leader of the Opposition. Born in country New South Wales, Gary grew up in Sydney and without tertiary education, became one of the first computer programmers for the banks back in the 70’s. As has happens to many Territorians, opportunity brought Gary and his wife, Rhonda, up to Darwin in the 80’s and he ended up running the Territory’s IT...

Gerard Rosse is the CEO of the Urban Development Institute of Australia - Northern Territory. Born in Melbourne to Mauritian parents, Gerard grew up in Ingham, North Queensland, before heading to Cairns to study Town Planning. His life journey eventually brought him and his wife to Darwin, where after a few stints in other jobs, he landed this role with the UDIA-NT. Gerard shares his Territory sto...