Cape York Weekly FREE – #086 | Tuesday, May 31, 2022
Editor: Matt Nicholls 0477 450 558 | editor@capeyorkweekly.com.au
IRWINS DENIED ROAD CLOSURE Page 6
EIGHT-PAGE SHIRE LIFTOUT Pages 11 to 18
WIK WARRIORS TEAM UP WITH RIO
A partnership between Cape York mining company Rio Tinto and Aurukun’s Wik Warriors program is helping young men become job-ready in the community. The bauxite miner has donated decommissioned demountable buildings to Wik Warriors so they can be re-furbished for the RESET training program and be put to use. Full story – Page 5
NIGHT MARKETS AND DUSK RUN Page 19
Cape York residents fed up with poor service
Telstra a disgrace By MATT NICHOLLS
ENOUGH is enough. Telstra’s disdain and blatant disrespect of Cape York residents needs to stop. Another item was added to the long list of grievances last week when Telstra was caught trying to
sneak through a development application for a 26.4-metre phone tower in Cooktown’s main street. No newspaper notices, just a very late sign installation and some snail mail to next-door neighbours. In the process, it appears Telstra has breached the state government’s Planning Act 2016.
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We shouldn’t be surprised. This is the same company that has treated Lockhart River residents like second-class citizens for the better part of a decade. Complaints from Seisia have also been ignored for years. Hundreds of millions of dollars in bauxite are shipped from Weipa
ORIGIN
annually, but good luck making a 10-minute phone call without getting disconnected. This appalling service comes from a company that was fined $50 million because it knowingly targeted and ripped off Indigenous people in remote communities. Telstra is also the business that
begs for federal funding to erect towers in remote areas because they won’t fork out themselves. For the record, the Archer River Roadhouse still doesn’t have its taxpayer-funded Telstra tower. Enough is enough. Cape York deserves better from Telstra. Phone tower story – Page 3
GAME 1 WED JUNE 8 GAME 2 SUN JUNE 26 GAME 3 WED JULY 13
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