Bushranger

Dowd jets off ... perhaps

EVERYONE has done the mad rush to the airport at least once in their life. Maybe you got halfway there and realised you’d forgotten your passport. Maybe you just slept in. It’s all well and good when you’re not a prominent figure. Outgoing Darwin Council chief executive Brendan Dowd found out the hard way on Thursday morning that it’s quite embarrassing when the airline calls your name because everyone else had already boarded.

Bushy hopes he got away all right and has a good Christmas holiday.

While rumours swirl

THE rumours about the departure of Darwin Council chief executive officer Brendan Dowd were swirling around for sometime. Bushy has learned Kon Vatskalis and Gary

Haslett played key roles in the process — we will let others take from that what they will. The opening may pave the way for the return of Adele Young, who is a former chief of staff and political heavy in previous Labor governments. She is the chief executive of Townsville Council and as someone said to

Bushy the other day: “A little fish in a big pond where here she is a big fish in a little pond.” Is she returning? We will know in March 2018.

Dog gone poor service

THE NT News fashion writer Georgina Mur

phy had a traumatic trip down south to spend Chrissy with her family. Flight was all right, but her beloved dog Billy was lost in the abyss they call airport luggage transport. Eventually the little tacker was thankfully found but Ms Murphy was not happy — rating the Sydney ground crew zero out of 10 for their help.

Slippery traveller arrives

SPEAKING of live animals heading down south, The Australian’s Northern Territory correspondent Amos Aikman recently had a passenger in his luggage he probably wish-

es had got lost in transit. As he hurriedly packed his luggage in Darwin, a Territory snake had slipped into his suitcase, unbeknown to the distinguished scribe. After a long-haul flight, the slippery traveller arrived safe. His fellow traveller caused Amos quite a shock when he unpacked Bushy hears.

Demerit points all round

LOTS of red faces and no explanations from Government departments as to why motorists have been receiving unwanted notices in the mail about their demerit points status that contained the private details of other motorists and their demerit points on the reverse side.

Hot one from down south

BUSHY had to laugh at sweltering Geelong residents complaining that it was warmer in their fair city than in Darwin. Bushy couldn’t help but wonder if the southern softies would be able to cope with Darwin’s humidity as well.

Inside job with inquiry

MEMBERS of the legal fraternity are scratching their heads over the Government’s newly created position to oversee commissions of inquiry. It seems a key appointment went to a Treasury staffer with no legal experience, despite well-qualified legal practitioners putting their hands up for the job.

Surprise Santa

LAST meeting of the year for Darwin Grey

hound Association at Winnellie Park on Wednesday. It was a twilight meeting highlighted by the Christmas Cup. Santa Claus made an appearance and the kids went nuts when he made his entrance. Santa stepped over a fence in the home straight before being mobbed by the kids. Carrying his sack over his shoulder, Santa was waving to the crowd when disaster struck and he started to lose his strides. Santa grabbed his strides to keep them up as he continued to carry his sack full of goodies over his shoulder. Thankfully, Santa was able to adjust his pants before handing out bags of goodies to the kids.