Brown Throated Slot

 

What as morning, I was debating with myself if I would do a post due to how I have been feeling but here I am doing one. It is Tuesday so it is creature day and this week wed are looking at the Brown-Throated Sloth, there is a bloody lot that is unusual about this mammal.

Such as its thick brown fur regularly looks green-blue because of the algae growing on it. The colour helps it stay well, hidden in its rainforest home. Next instead of toes it has three long claws on both front and back feet, which help it hang upside down from branches. It can also swivel its head almost 90 degrees and its mouth are shaped in a permanent smile.

It is the size of a cat, weighs around 4kg and rarely walks, it stays in trees except when it needs to poo, which it does once a week.

They eat leaves, twigs, and fruit, because they move so little and use hardly any energy a single meal can take up to a month to pass through its body.

It is a species of three-toed sloth found in the Neotropical realm of Central and South America. It is the most common of the four species of three-toed sloth and is found in the forests of South and Central America.

Although they can walk along the ground, and even swim, they spend most of their lives in the high branches of trees, descending once every eight days or so to defecate in the soil. It has no preference for sleeping say or night.

 

Earth Facts/Weather

 

It is Monday and the last day of the school holidays.

It is also time for this week’s facts, this week we are looking at weather.

The word weather is used to describe the conditions in the atmosphere close to the Earth’s surface.

The Sun plays a crucial part in determining the weather. Its rays have the strongest effect where they hit the ground around the planet’s surface or the equator. So, the further away from the equator the colder it is.

Regions along the equator receive the same strength of sunlight all year round, these places only have two distinguishable seasons, wet and dry.

Heat from the sun causes water from the seas to evaporate, as the water vapour rises and cools it condenses, forming tiny water droplets which group together to form clouds.

Weather conditions change throughout the year because the Earth is tilted on its axis. As the Earth orbits the Sun, the Suns rays fall on different areas causing the seasons.

Week 17 of 2024

 

DAD PASSED 5 YEARS AGO

A decent enough night, it is another wet morning with the temp being 16 degrees. I had to turn the heater on for a bit.

By midday it was 20 degrees.

The spat between Jess, Sam & Tim has gotten worse that is till Tasha got involved giving Jess & Sam a lecture then Tim about respect, acceptance and not acting like children. She also had a go at Tim about his refusal to see someone about his depression and his refusal to try medication for it.

It has felt like a long sad day.

A new day, the start of the last week of school holidays. A cold start to the day with a temp of 14 degrees. I am feeling drained this morning, shaking and sweating and feeling sad.

Summer is here today.

Sandy came over to us her new car, it is a white 2013 Holden Captiva, runs on diesel.

Tim & Summer went to Kmart so Tim could buy a couple of heaters. He also stopped and bought Hungry Jacks for lunch I just had a small chips.

This afternoon Tim told me he will endeavour to call Sam she or her, but it doesn’t change his believes or opinions that is fine now one expected it to.

I have no idea why he changed his mind because yesterday he was adamant he would not do so.

I could tell when he told Jess that she was happy.

I had a better night last night it is only 13 degrees this morning. Also, this morning I found a bunch of my medication laying lose on my desk, Tim obviously spilt them which is annoying but what can you do.

Summer is here today, and she has been a big help dividing fruit, unpacking groceries as well as other stuff.

Tim had a job interview, he said it went well. However, they want to wait till after he has seen his hand specialist again about removing a plate in his wrist, before offering him a job.

The temperature got to 25 degrees around midday.

Had a rough start to last night, I was tossing and turning and moving so much I felt seasick. Tim said it took my 5 hours to settle.

Once I settled, I slept well.

This morning’s temp at 5am was 13 degrees.

Tim has gone to a doctor’s appointment then he is going to cash in some bottles.

By midday it was 26 degrees.

ANZAC DAY

Had a much better night settled quickly and slept pretty much through the night.

The temp at 5am was 13 degrees but doesn’t feel that cold. It got to a top of 23 degrees by 11am.

I washed the kitchen and bathroom floors using the steam mop then Tim went over it using a normal mop and plain water. Tim also cleaned the exhaust fan in the bathroom.

Had a good night’s sleep, woke with the alarm, discovered Tim had done a load of washing and tossed it in the dryer, it is folded and waiting for me to put it away.

It is 12 degrees at 5am.

Tried on the new grey pants I bought. They are a size too big, but I can’t return them as they were on the clearance rank. I also will need them hemmed but they felt good on, I was going to wear them to the doctors but changed my mind as a piece of thread got caught in my toes.

By midday the temp was 21 degrees.

Had a doctor’s appointment all went well just needed forms filled in, also had a flu shot.

I feel terrible this afternoon like I have the flu, damn flu shot.

Had another good night, did take me a while to settle fully but once I did, I slept through the night. It is 11 degrees at 5am. By midday it was 21degrees.

I haven’t felt well all day just like I have the damn flu, but I don’t have to do anything but rest.

I did manage to answer 4 letters which is something and blog of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Borderline Personality Disorder/Fear of Abandonment

 

Hi, everyone this week we are looking at fear of abandonment and borderline personality disorder.

We all must deal with the death of a loved one or the end of a relationship as loss is a natural part of life. However, people with BPD live in fear of such loses.

People with BPD tend to think the following thoughts, you’re going to leave me, you don’t really love me, or you aren’t here for me.

Those with BPD can have tremendous fears of rejection and being abandon to the point they may sabotage themselves and relationships. The fear they feel can be real or just perceived but it is highly intrusive.

So it isn’t uncommon for the suffer to assume people will leave them, this can be caused by past evidenced of people leaving them or could just be a more general belief that they can‘t trust others and will end up being hurt.

A simple tiff with a loved one may trigger an abandonment response.

Those with BPD are essentially waiting for their loved one to leaved them which may cause them to withdraw, lash out, threaten or even in some case harm others, which sadly reinforces the likelihood of being left.

Suffers of BPD often feel empty inside and if the feel someone is going to leave them, they can become fearful and angry, lashing out first.

It is not a good idea to give the BPD suffer ultimatums or threaten to leaved if their behaviour doesn’t change this will only make them test the limits you set.

More next week.





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Parkinson's Disease and postured

 

Time to learn a bit more about Parkinson’s Disease this week at posture and dribbling, first off is posture. Many people thing of the characteristic posture of a slight stoop, with rounded shoulders and arms, legs, hips, and knees bent.

This posture places added strain on the joints and muscles and may cause pain.  While sitting the suffer may find themselves leaning to one sided, this one reason they should sit in chairs with arm support.  You may see a suffer waling with one arm held across the body instead of swinging normally by the side.

With concentration these problems can be corrected but sadly at times the suffer isn’t even aware they are doing these things.

Now dribbling this for me and many other suffers is distressing and it’s caused by excess saliva, it is more about how Parkinson’s reduces the amount of automatic swallowing we all do. Also, if the suffer has a posture problem causing their head to tilt forward which causes the saliva to accumulate at the front of the mouth.  People who find their head tilting forward are told to practice having their head tilted backwards.

Connected with dribbling is swallowing and swallowing can be so difficult at times due to many fac

tors including the disease itself but the drugs we take can make swallowing worse as well causing dry mouth or spasms of the muscles in the throat.  

Lest we forget

 

They shall grow not old,
as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them,
nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun
and in the morning
We will remember them.

Lest we forget

Australians Under Fire Intro Pt 1

 

So, after going through some stuff, I found this book called Australians Under Fire 1942 and have decoded to use it for my Wednesday posts.  We will start with the introduction that is in the book because the start of the book is the best place to start if you don’t want to be all over the damn place, which I do not. As the title says this book is focused mostly on the year 1942.

It seems like the year 1942 was a dark, uncertain, and crucial one for Australia, with several events taking place such as the bombing of Darwin, the battle of the Coral Sea, Milne Bay, Kokoda and El Alamein these where all major events Australia played a part in.

Since the start of hostilities in September 1939 us Aussies had fought bravely on distant battlefields in Greece, Crete and the Middle East.

Then at the end on 1941 the Japanese joined the war, and, on the 7 December 1941, they bombed Pearl Harbour bringing the USA into the war.  Till this time the war seemed far away to Aussies, however these events frightened many Aussies.

As the Japanese steadily advanced against the British on the island fortress of Singapore it became obvious that Britain wouldn’t be able to defend Australia.

Ironically during the first World War Japan’s navy acted as one of Australia’s protectors and was now a feared enemy.

Japan was in an ideal position to launch an attack on the northern part of Australia.

More next week.

Time for another creature

 

Hello Tuesday, you are day for another freaky creature, this week it is the Common Basilisk, have you heard of it? I have not but it is a lizard that has been nicknamed the Jesus Christ lizard.

It received this nickname because of its ability to run on water. When it’s threatened it can escape by sprinting towards any water. When they reach the edge of the water they just keep going.

They run on their back legs with their body upright and arm by its side. They have been clocked at 8km/h on water and 11km/h on land.

The reason it’s so good on water is its feet, it has big feet with flaps of scaly skin along the toes which create air bubbles which then push down which keeps it afloat.

The young can run atop water for up to 20m, but adults can only manage a quarter of that, not because they are slower just bigger. 

There is little chance of them drowning as they are great swimmers and can stay underwater for up to 30 minutes.

More Facts Because it's Monday

 

Monday again, so time for some more facts, still about sea creatures.

There are a million known species of plants and animals living in the world’s oceans, with many more to be discovered.

There are around 65,000 newly discovered species of yet given formal names.

Coral reefs cover less than 1 per cent of the ocean floor, but support around 25 per cent of all marine life.

A female octopus is called hen, The Giant Pacific Octopus lays around 100,000 eggs at a time.

Most of the octopus’s body is spongy and flexible, but its eyes are more solid. Ost spies can squeeze through tight spaces that are only slightly larger than their eyes.

An octopus’s eyes remain at the same orientation regardless of its position, so if it is on its side or even upside now its gaze doesn’t change.

 

 

 

Week 16 of 2024

 

Another good night, slept till the alarm went off but I did get up once to pee. Temp is 15 degrees at 5am.

There was an incident in Sydney were a man entered a shopping centre and stabbed and killing up to 6 people including a 9-month-old, on the 5am news they said the baby was still alive, but the mother died. The man was shot and killed by a police officer.

Tasha came down and asked if I would like to go to Woolies myself tomorrow, I said I would.

Had a really good night, woke at 4.50am with at temp of 12 degrees according to the laptop or 15 degrees according to my phone.

Tasha took me out shopping but after half an hour, I start to sweat a lot it was dripping off me and I felt I was going to collapse.

The rest of the day has been good.

It is 10.30pm and I can’t settle down, I am drenched in sweat and my body will not stop moving.

Sam just walked in and is concerned that I am awake and that I am moving so much.

When I went back to bed last night Sam sat with me holing my hand and talking in a soft voice till, I started to relax. I then went back to sleep and slept through to 5am. It was 14 degrees when I got up but reached a top of 25 degrees.

Kathy dropped the girls off, they have spent a lot of time with Tasha, Tim bought Hungry Jacks for lunch.

Just before 11am I went for a nap slept for an hour and 15 minutes, could have slept longer but didn’t that would be a good idea.

The girls spent a far bit of time with Tasha.

Had a better night, although it did take me a while to fully settle.

Temp this morning is 16 degrees, I do have both front and back doors open but will close one shortly, I expect.

By 11am it is 23 degrees.

Tim rang to see how we go about arranging for a bulk waste collection, as I thought the Dept of Housing needs to arrange it. I thought Tim was somewhat rude on the phone but he didn’t.

It is chilly Thursday morning here in my part of Newie, a decent enough sleep after a restless start to the night. It is 15 degrees at 5.30am, by midday it was 24 degrees.

Tim went and brought fresh bread a couple of snags and a bit of bacon and made snags, bacon & cheese sandwiches for lunch.

It started to rain at 3pm, the temp was still 22 degrees. The rain was pissing down but didn’t last long.

It is cold this morning with a temp of 13 degrees, too cold now to open the doors. I had a good night better than the last few as I settled down much faster.

Kathy rang as she usually does on a Friday, but she was in a right mood so didn’t talk, instead I said we will talk on Monday.

Sam came down this morning to just chill with me for a while and was here over an hour maybe longer.

I am having trouble settling again so I got up for a bit, spent 45 minutes talking to Tim, now I am back to bed.

After returning to bed last night I settled without issue, I slept till the alarm went at 5am. It is a wet morning with a temp of 15 degrees, I think we are in for a wet day.

Jess came down to tell me about an issue she had with her dad last night concerning Sam‘s medication and how she doesn’t keep track of it.

When he got up Tim showed me the messages from Jess, they were not bad messages and a couple of his replies seemed childish to me and uncalled for and I said so. I know he was pissed that I didn’t agree 100% with him but I don’t have to.

It has rained on and off all day getting to a top temp of 17 degrees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Borderline Personality Disorder

 

Have you heard of borderline personality disorder?

Do you know what it is?

Well, I am going to tell you.

Borderline personality disorder is a mental illness that severely impacts a person's ability to manage their emotions. This loss of emotional control can increase impulsivity, affect how a person feels about themselves, and negatively impact their relationships with others.

There are nine signs of the condition.

·         Fear of Abandonment. You're going to leave me

·         Intense Interpersonal Relationships

·         Identity Disturbance

·         Impulsivity

·         Recurrent Self-Harm/Suicidal Behaviour

·         Affective Instability

·         Chronic Emptiness

·         Inappropriate Anger

·         Psychotic Symptoms

 

This isn’t a condition I suffer from, but I do have a sister who does. Over the next few Saturdays, I will be writing more about this condition. Explaining a little more about each of the nine signs.

Parkinson's and walking

 

Well, here we are at another Friday so here is a bit more about Parkinson’s Disease, this week we are looking a bit more at walking with Parkinson’s.

There are a number of very specific and somewhat strange symptoms that can affect one’s walking.  The most common would be what is called start hesitancy, this is when someone with Parkinson’s goes to take a step and can’t, this is because the automatic movement of lifting one foot off the ground doesn’t happen.  The reason for this seems to be that the disease makes it difficult to induce the reflex reaction to shift the centre of gravity on to one foot so the other can be lifted and moved forward.

This doesn’t happen all the time but when it does it becomes near impossible to walk, because it comes and goes some family, or friends may think the person isn’t trying but the fact is the more we try to move the more difficult it is to do so.

Oddly many will find using stairs not as difficult as walking on flat ground.

Sometimes if the sufferer is given a little push to try and get them moving, they will stumble then start to walk with small steps often becoming faster an unable to stop till they either fall or run into a wall or other obstruction. Trust me this is frightening and embarrassing and so hard for people to understand. It is called retropulsion or propulsion and in a crowded place can be dangerous.

If someone has this problem often, they should always at least have a walking stick with them which brings attention to the fact they have walking issues, making it less likely that other people will bump into them, as well as the fact having a stick will go a long way in preventing this symptom from raising its damn head.

Working Life in 1890's Australia

 

Throughout the 1890’s conferences had been held about the six colonies forming a federation, workers formed a large part of those who voted yes to the idea in the referendums held about it, the federation was formed on 1 January 1901.

Changes in Australian import and export affected waterside workers, as in they had more work.

As local manufacturing of clothing increased many women found work in factories.

The blacksmith was a familiar figure in city and towns when the horse was the main means of transport.

Women’s domestic work whether as a paid servant or a wife, mother or daughter was seen as a basic occupation. The telephonist back before it all went automatic was a new job mainly held by women.

Bread was known as the “staff of life” and during the 1890’s it was considered an important trade.

The increase in building work made trades such as carpentry and stonemasonry so important. Carpentry was used not only in the building of buildings but also in the creating of bridges, and fine furniture.

That is done with this series of post, there will be something different next Thursday.

Local Government

 

Like some other countries Australia has three levels of government, local, state, and federal, and we also have a Governor General. As I have wrote about all except local that is what todays post is about.

Local councils collect taxes in the form of rates from property owners, they also receive money from both state and federal governments. The money is spent on local matters such as: town planning, rubbish collection, water and sewage, dog registration and local roads.

In local council elections, voters elect representatives to councils across NSW. Each council is made up of between five and 15 councillors (one of whom is the mayor) they serve 4yrs.

By-elections are held periodically when a vacancy occurs in a civic office e.g. a councillor resigns or becomes a member of state or federal parliament.

A mayor’s salary varies from council to council, my local council is Lake Macquarie, and our mayor makes around $113,000, where as Newcastle’s mayor makes around $125.500. My daughter is under Cessnock council and their mayor makes about $61,280.

 

Creature Day----Potoo

 

Well, hello everyone time for another freaky creature, this week we have the Potoo. It is found in South American forest, if you saw it sitting on a branch its body will match the colour of the branch with its beak pointed skyward, you may not notice it.

It has huge staring eyes and eerie call “po-Too” “poo-Too”.

It will swoop from its perch when it sees food such as flying insects which it swallows whole.

It has a wingspan of 1 metre its eerie call when heard in the jungle at night can be either unsettling or out right scary. According to Brazilian legend, it’s a song from the dead, giving good luck to friends and bad luck to enemies.

Ocean Sea Creatures Facts

 

Good morning all here we are a6t another Monday, so it is fact day, this week we are looking at sea creatures.

The Earth’s oceans are home to an array of animals and plant life that live and feed at different levels of the water, these levels are called zones.

The sunlit zone to all ocean plants and many animals from corals and jellyfish to seals, sea turtles and sharks. Billions of microscopic plants called phytoplankton drift near the surface of the water, providing food for many creatures.

Only a little light makes it the twilight zone, so the animals at that level have adjusted to life in near darkness and very cold temperatures. These include crabs, squid, lobsters, and octopuses.

The sunless zone is extremely cold and the creatures that live there feed mainly on dead plankton which sinks to that level, which is extremely deep. It is difficult for humans to explore due to the water pressure being so high. It is home to lantern fish, cookiecutter sharks, and deep-sea jellyfish.

Then there is the abyssal zone, which is freezing cold and completely dark, the animals that live there can produce light from their bodies, to attract prey.

 

 

 

 

Week 15 of 2024

 

Daylight savings has finished for now, so it was 6am by the bedroom clock when I got up as Tim hadn’t changed it back, but he did do the loungeroom clocks. I am someone who likes to know the time and has 2 clocks in the loungeroom, 1 in the bedroom and the time showing on the microwave.

It was only 16 degrees when I got up. I also woke with pain in my jaw but after a couple of hours it settled down.

Tim is off to a mate’s memorial some fella from work.

By 10.30am it was 23 degrees and by midday it was 27 degrees. So, I turned the air con on.

Tim got home at 4.15pm, he said he had a good day.

Monday morning, the laptop tells me it is 25 degrees, but the phone says 17 degrees the phone is right, I can tell by the fact that I am on the cold side. I am glad I am not someone who has a problem adjusting to the start or end of daylight savings.

By 9am I had to change into shorts the temp was 21 degrees according to my phone.  Turned into another warm day with a temp of 25 degrees.

Sam was late again getting home from school, Tim thought he had missed him and since he had his physio at 2.30pm he came home but when his physio was finished at 3pm he went to check that Sam was home and no Sam wasn’t home, in fact Tim had been gone so long checking on Sam I was wondering what was going on and when I looked outside I saw both of them walking down the driveway.

Then Sam discovered he was locked out of the house, but thankfully Tasha arrived home shortly after and was able to let Sam in the house.

I was up at 4.50am needing to pee so naturally I stayed up; it is a cold 15 degrees this morning.

After Sam left Tasha turned up with a basket of her work clothes to toss in the dryer, she thought she was going to work tonight but there is a chance she may have a job in a couple of hours, and they won’t dry on the line in that amount of time.

The temp at 8.30am was 19 degrees.

Sue came over to do her washing, she also drove to Millers Bakery.

By 2.30pm it is 22 degrees, and I am starting to feel tired.

I slept through the night, Tim slept in his armchair and didn’t go to bed till I got up at 5am.

A cold and windy start to the day with the temp of 14 degrees.

Our new Foxtel box (pay tv) arrived yesterday afternoon, Tim and I will set it up sometime today.

Spoke to Kathy not much to say but I do like hearing from her even if it is only a 10-minute chat.

Tim & I set the new Foxtel box up, not hard to do when all you must do is disconnect the leads from one box and reconnect them to the other box.

The cleaners arrived again, and Tim spoke to them and showed them the video clip, the woman said there was a spider, but it didn’t wash with us. They were told their services were no longer needed.

Had a good night after a bad incident, I had got up for a small drink heard Sam in the bathroom we spoke for moment, and I went back to bed. Tim wasn’t here, he had gone out for a bit. Anyway, I had barely laid back down when I was overcome with fear, I had no idea what I was afraid of, but I started yelling and thrashing about. Sam heard me and came and helped me settle, he sat with me holding my hand till I started to drift off. I hope whatever that was it was a once of.

It was a lovely 12 degrees when I got up. By 11am it was a warm 22 degrees

Had a message from Jess saying Sam is sick so no school.

Had a visit from Sandy, she gave me a big hug, a little bit later Dawson came over to check on me.

Tim went to Centrelink in Wallsend and got the paperwork for me to apply for a disability Support Pension and for him to apply for a carer’s payment.

 

BEEN 3 YEARS SINCE MUM PASSED

Up at 4.50am to pee and of course I stayed up, a somewhat cold morning with a temp of 11 degrees, 6am it was 14 degrees.

Went to the doctors for scripts, then Tim and I went to a few other shops. I managed to buy a nice pair of long grey pants, just need Tim to cut them off.

 

Had a good chat with Sue and she had good cry, by the time got off the phone I was teary and had a cry.

Had a good night once I settled down, I mentioned to the doctor about the fear I felt the other night, which he called an anxiety attack, which I have not had a few years. Tim mentioned that some nights I’m up and down for a bit after going to bed, the doctor explained that is normal with Parkinson’s.

Sue came over to drop off a bottle of Vodka for Tim.

Dawson also came over for a visit, he had along talk with Tasha.

I stripped the bed and remade it on my own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                             

 

 

Parkinson's Disease Pt 12

Friday has arrived, so it is time for another post about Parkinson’s disease and this week we are looking at memory.

Now every man and his dog have memory problems which with age can get worse and having Parkinson’s and memory problems is just one more issue to deal with. Now I am not talking about having Parkinson’s dementia or Alzheimer’s but just normal memory issues which can be significant for someone with Parkinson’s.

It is seldom bad enough to cause a handicap, but we need to do the usual things when one has a bad memory such as writing things down, having a notepad handy is a must. I have one on my desk and one in my bedroom, as I often thing of things I want to do the following day just after going to bed and will get up and jot things down.

A usual and annoying symptom is when we are talking to someone and suddenly can’t remember what we were saying and just stop talking. If you are talking to someone with Parkinson’s and they suddenly stop talking don’t snap at them, just give them a few moments and usually it will come back to them, and they will continue the conversation.

Even though this thought block is annoying and frustrating, it is not considered a serious symptom from a medical point of view. As, it does not indicate any progressive mental deterioration or psychological abnormality.

Unfortunately, there is bugga all treatment for this and we just have to learn to deal with it.

 

Working Life In 1890's Australia

 

Ok this is part two about banners, in Australia banners became a feature of union processions from around the mid 1850’s. They would be made of silk or canvas and trimmed with gold fringe or braid, they varied from the simple to the far from simple, as in fancy. Either the original or a copy of the Melbourne Eight-Hour Banner is I believe on display at the National Museum of Australia but I maybe wrong.

The main source of traditional banner imagery were classical mythology, biblical stories, heraldic devices and freemasons ritual and symbolism. Most banners showed a masculine figure hard at work giving a man his dignity. Women were rarely shown but there was a plethora of lightly clad goddess like figures to show the ideals of truth and wisdom.

As well as showing the dignity of labour and skills of working people, they also showed the new technology and pride in the latest tools and such.

From around 1857 Australian symbols began to appear such things as the rising sun, the southern cross later other symbols including Australian places, wildflowers, and native animals.

Over the years problem of weathering by wind and rain resulting in repainting and retrimming of banners but thankfully many of these old banners can still be seen in collections around the country.

In the 1890’s despite unemployment troubles, the demise of some unions and the problems of some unions not even being able to afford a horse and cart to move the banners, the processions kept up.

Whereas the early marches can be seen as rites of social integration those of the late 1890’s often became a form of social protest. In 1891 the procession in Melbourne had 52 trades and as many banners, they marched to the sound of 20 brass bands.

More next week.

The role, of our State Premiers and Chief Ministers

 

Ok we have looked at our Prime Minister, our Deputy PM and our Governor General, so let’s move onto our state Premiers.

We have 6 states, and each state has their own premier. We also have two main territories the Northern Territory and Australia Capital Territory. The territories do not have Premiers but instead have Chief Ministers.

The Premier is the senior representative and spokesperson for the Government, is usually its predominant Parliamentary performer, and tends to set the overall tone and direction of the Government.

The chief minister of the Northern Territory is the head of government of the Northern Territory. The office is the equivalent of a state premier. When the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly was created in 1974, the head of government was officially known as majority leader.

In a 1998 referendum, the voters of the Northern Territory rejected a statehood proposal that would have given the territory three senators, rather than the twelve held by the other states, although the name "Northern Territory" would have been retained.

Our Premiers and Chief Ministers responsibilities include schools, hospitals, conservation and environment, roads, railways and public transport, public works, agriculture and fishing, industrial relations, community services, sport and recreation, consumer affairs, police, prisons, and emergency services.