Tonight on Living Black, proposed plans to ban the drinking of alcohol in public places in Alice Springs. It's not dealing with underlying issues such as poverty, homelessness, lack of education, unemployment that actually may contribute to people drinking so much. And For The Love of Country - we profile country music singer Sharnee Fenwick. It's really exciting to think that my songs are up there with the best and I'm up there with the best of them.

KG: Welcome to the new series of Living Black. Hello. I'm Karla Grant. A hearing was due to get under way today in the British High Court over the scientific testing of Indigenous remains before their return to Tasmania. But last week the British Natural History Museum offered to negotiate the matter outside court
with the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre. The TAC has accepted the offer of mediation but says it hopes it is not a stalling tactic that will allow more scientific testing on the remains. Emma Cook with this report.

VO1: It's a scientific test the British Natural History museum says isn't invasive and if not carried out will be to the detriment to both Tasmanian Aborigines and the human race as a whole. The museum argues the process of DNA extraction, as shown here on the bone of a bird, is vital to understanding the origins of Indigenous Tasmanians.

CLYDE MANSELL: We know our ancestry. We know where we're from and we know where we're connected. It's a part of the Aboriginal knowledge and we don't need the museum to confirm that.

VO2: On a visit to London in 2000, Prime Minister John Howard secured an agreement from the British Government that would seen more Aboriginal remains repatriated back to Australia. Last November the British Natural History Museum agreed to release its collection of the remains of 17 Indigenous Tasmanians, mostly unidentified, some of which were robbed from their graves. But it's a promise that came with a catch. The actual return would be delayed until March 31 so that the museum could carry out further data collection on the bones, including the DNA testing.

MICHAEL DIXON: Once these remains are returned to Tasmania, the TAC have made it known that they will be put beyond any future scientific research possibility, so it is important that we extract, you know, for the international scientific community the maximum amount of data possible.

VO3: And while the museum has said the testing will have little impact on the remains, the tests on the bird bone at the Australian Museum in Sydney demonstrates the amount of drilling that takes place.

CLYDE MANSELL: Every time they drill into those remains they take a part of that person's spirit away which will never ever be able to return to Tasmania and to the land.

VO 4: Britain's High Court has adjourned the case brought by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre to stop testing after the Natural History Museum's offer of mediation. The museum says the move will save both sides hundreds and thousands in legal costs.

MICHAEL DIXON: It's clear that both sides are incurring costs. And whereas the time to investigate some form of dispute resolution might not have been available previously, it clearly could be now.

CLYDE MANSELL: The mediation offer at this stage, as the museum has said in its press release, is all about cost saving. It's got nothing to do with finding a solution for Aborigines. And, I mean to say, at the moment it looks like mediation could go ahead without representation of Aborigines in London because we've not received anything from the Commonwealth Government.

VO In light of this, the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre has appealed to the Federal Government for financial assistance to send their delegates to take part in mediation talks in London. Another group, the Lia Pootah - who are not officially recognised by the Tasmanian Government as being Aboriginal – are also claiming ownership of the remains. They want them to stay where they are.

KAY McPHERSON: If they hold them for the time being in safekeeping, at least we know they're safe. The remains that have come back to Tasmania have not been given absolutley no respect.
VO: Regardless, the remains will be returned, however whether any further testing will be conducted before they are handed over will depend on the outcome of the mediation talks - if and when they take place.

CLYDE MANSELL: Well, they should be returned to the Aboriginal community so we can afford our ancestors their rightful send-off in terms of giving them a culturally appropriate burial or cremation.

KG: Emma Cook with that report.

The Government is yet to respond to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre's calls to fund delegates to go to London and participate in mediation. And we will have further updates on that story over the coming weeks. Still to come on Living Black, plans to ban the drinking of alcohol in public places in Alice Springs. The issue of drinking in public has been a long-running concern for the Alice Springs Town Council, so now they are taking steps to ban drinking in public altogether. However, there are widespread concerns from various organisations who work at the core of this issue. They say that the "out of sight, out of mind" approach is not the solution. Here is video journalist Angela Bates with the story.

VO 1: Fed up with the sight of public drunkenness, the Alice Springs Town Council has lodged an application with the NT Licensing Commission to make Alice Springs a dry town.

ALICE SPRINGS MAYOR FRAN KILGARIFF: We've been plagued, really, by antisocial behaviour and issues such as litter, violence, that sort of thing for a long time in Alice Springs.

V02: Under the new proposal, drinking alcohol in all public areas of Alice Springs will be prohibited except for popular picnic spot Telegraph Station. Local Aboriginal organisation Tangentyere Council says the dry town proposal will only shift the problem, not solve it.

WILLIAM TILMOUTH: I really think it's just a populist strategy. It's a strategy that is un-researched. It's a strategy that will exacerbate the problems within town camps.

VO3: Jonathon Pilbrow from the Northern Territory Council of Social Services says underlying social issues need to be addressed.

JONATHON PILBROW: It's not dealing with underlying issues such as poverty, homelessness, lack of education, unemployment that actually may contribute to people drinking so much.

VO4: It would seem that addressing the alcohol problem and not shifting it is now more crucial than ever. Coinciding with the dry town debate was the release of the National Drug Research Institute's report which revealed alcohol-related deaths in Central Australia are the highest in the country.

TANYA CHIKRITZHS – CO-AUTHOR OF THE REPORT: One of the main causes of alcohol-attributable death among Indigenous males is suicide. That's gotta be telling us something - that we need to be changing the fundamentals, need to be offering much greater opportunities for these people.

VO 5: There are already laws in place in Alice Springs designed to eradicate drinking in public areas, such as the two kilometre law, which prohibits people from drinking within 2km of a licensed liquor establishment. Police only have the power to tip out the alcohol. It's a law which Alice Springs Mayor Fran Kilgariff says hasn't been working.

FRAN KILGARIFF: That's an old law. It's about, I think, about 25 years old. And general consensus is it just doesn't work. People hide their alcohol or go and buy some more. It's not effective.

VO 6: Lack of police resources has been identified as one of the failures of the two kilometre law.

WILLIAM TILMOUTH EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TANGENTYERE COUNCIL: I can't see why, if the police are struggling with the two kilometre law, why should the enforcement of the dry area legislation be any easier. There are a lack of police staff and resources and this will just stretch it even further.

VO: Mayor Fran Kilgariff agrees.

FRAN KILGARIFF: One of the issues we found was that it needs to be... to have a strong police force, enough police to actually enforce this legislation. And that's going to be something that we will be lobbying hard for as well.

VO 8: But there are no guarantees the Northern Territory Government will increase police resources. Also of great concern, under the proposal more Aboriginal people will enter the justice system, a system which already sees one of the highest incarceration rates in Australia.

CHRIS MCINTYRE – DEPUTY DIRECTOR LICENSING, RACING, GAMING AND LICENSING: Police do have the power to put it before the courts. Now, in putting it before the courts, there is also the option of redirecting that through to what we call the alcohol courts which has been established to force people into treatment and intervention.

VO: President of the Northern Territory Police Association Vince Kelly believes arresting people is not the answer.

VINCE KELLY: Well, I think one of the biggest difficulties facing Northern Territory Police and the Northern Territory community is that the Aboriginal Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Clearly the philosophy in that, in my view, was to move away from apprehending not only Aboriginal people but all people for minor street offences, for public drunkenness and that type of thing and take them into police custody.

VO 10: Late last year, as part of the NT Government's Alcohol Management Plan, a Liquor Supply Plan was introduced to reduce liquor outlet trading hours and restricting the quantity and type of liquor purchased.

DONNA ACHEE PEOPLES ALCOHOL ACTION COALITION: Empirical evidence that's coming in is that it’s working, even though there is a negative aspect to it as a result of the broken glass. Evidence shows that these strategies work.

JONATHON PILBROW: If we introduce another layer of alcohol policy, the concern will be that it will cloud the Liquor Supply Plan and we need really robust data from that plan.

KG: The Northern Territory Licensing Commission is holding public hearings in Alice Springs tomorrow and Friday to hear further submissions from businesses and community organisations before making a final decision on whether to go ahead with the dry zone plan.However, joining me now to discuss what the implications will be is Northern Territory Minister for Health Dr Chris Burns.

KARLA GRANT: Dr Burns, welcome to the program.

DR CHRIS BURNS: Good evening, Karla.

KARLA GRANT: Do you believe that this is a good step forward for the community?

DR CHRIS BURNS: I think anything that will reduce harmful alcohol consumption in Alice Springs has to be good for the community. As Health Minister I know that our hospital is overburdened with the results of alcohol consumption, harmful alcohol consumption. The emergencies department has got people who have been assaulted, women who have been assaulted - domestic violence. I think we need to try and cut down harmful alcohol consumption within the community of Alice Springs.

KARLA GRANT: How does moving people on reduce the alcohol consumption? Is it just a quick fix?

DR CHRIS BURNS: I think there's many elements to trying to reduce alcohol consumption in any place, and Alice Springs in particular. I mean, there is supply and demand - so there are various things being looked at in terms of the supply of alcohol and certain alcohol products. But there's also the issue of demand and trying to reduce people's reliance on alcohol. I think that's a much wider question and it is very important.

KARLA GRANT: OK. What about the introduction of alcohol levies? Is that one way of combating this problem?

DR CHRIS BURNS: That avenue has been closed off by a High Court decision some time ago. The Northern Territory government, former Northern Territory government, used to have levies on wine casks. There was an appeal to the High Court and those levies were abolished, were said to be unconstitutional. So it's not really an option that we have got.

KARLA GRANT: But the park program did work so would you reconsider that?

DR CHRIS BURNS: The Living with Alcohol program that flowed from those wine cask levies certainly did have a positive effect but I think times have moved on and we need to look new measures to combat harmful alcohol use in the community.

KARLA GRANT: There has also been great concerns about the proposal, saying that it will just shift the problem off the streets and into the town camps and private homes. What do you say to that?

DR CHRIS BURNS: I think most people would be aware of the government looking at the whole issue of town camps and looking at bringing the town campus into the whole Alice Springs community, and also upping services within those town camps, including policing. But the town camps themselves can apply to become dry. I know that is a matter for discussion within the town camps at present.

KARLA GRANT: There has also been much criticism from various sections of the community, saying that the proposal is just dealing with the effects and not the underlying causes, such as poverty, homelessness and education and employment. What is your view on that?

DR CHRIS BURNS: I think people are right to point to those areas where we need to address, to reduce harmful alcohol consumption whether it is in Alice Springs or elsewhere. But certainly in terms of education, as a government we have made significant investments in education, particularly in the more remote areas. And for the first time we have got Aboriginal students Year 12, actually going through the whole schooling on their community. That never happened before. I think also we are looking at the issue of regional development and employment through a whole range of mechanisms. I think that's also important. And also this government, along with the Commonwealth, investing more in housing. So I think it is a very important issue and it's certainly one that this government is focused on.

KARLA GRANT: Dr Chris Burns, thank you very much for joining us.

DR CHRIS BURNS: Thanks very much.

KARLA GRANT: And that was Northern Territory Minister for Health Dr Chris Burns. Still to come on Living Black, our news round-up and we meet talented country music singer Sharnee Fenwick. Sharnee Fenwick is a rising star on the country music scene. At this year's Tamworth Country Music Festival Sharnee made it to the grand finals in both the Toyota Star Maker and the Telstra Road to Tamworth. She now plans to go to Nashville in America, and also start recording her album. Video journalist Kris Flanders caught up with Sharnee to talk about her love of performing and her plans for the future.

(Sings)
Don't think I ever looked twice
Now, you're gonna leave him tonight
Leave him tonight
I'm leaving tonight...

SHARNEE FENWICK: Music takes me to a different world, you know. It takes me probably inside the head of Sharnee that I don't usually get into unless I'm listening to it or playing it. It's just the sense of... I don't know It's sort of like a sense of freedom and all that kind of stuff that music does for me that I love.

VO 1: Sharnee Fenwick hails from Newcastle in NSW, and at only 19, her voice and lyrics have already carried her a long way in her short career. Recently she tasted success when her first single 'How 'Bout Never' reached the Top 20 on the Australian Country Music Charts.

SHARNEE FENWICK: It's all about a guy that you've been with and you've broke up and you've tried to get back with him and he doesn't want you, and then he finally wants you and you basically say ‘How bout never?’

(Sings)

It was a song that I found really good to release at the end of high school, you know. That happens, you know, the boyfriend and girlfriend issue happens in high school. It's really exciting to think that my song's up there with the best and I'm up there with the best of them.

Support from her family and friends has been vital to Sharnee's success, with her mum being her biggest fan.

LEEANNE FENWICK: I think she's been destined to get into music and I've been very blessed in that always she sang to me since she was about the age of two. When you hear your children sing, or certainly Sharnee sing, these songs and when I see the songs she's written with these wonderful stories, where they come from and the feelings that she puts on paper.

SHARNEE: I usually try and write about things that I've experienced or that's happened within my family or with a friend or something.

V/O 3: Awards for Sharnee have been coming thick and fast. At the 2006 Deadly Awards she won Best New Talent.

SHARNEE FENWICK: You don't really think about winning anything, well, I don't. I do it all for the love of music. But when I win awards it's overwhelming to know that people are respecting me.

V/O 4: And it's her love of music that takes Sharnee to Tamworth every year for the Country Music Festival.

SHARNEE FENWICK: The gigs in Tamworth are so much fun you know. Everyone is here to listen to music so you're playing for people who want to be there and want to listen. It's definitely my favourite. I love doing the Tamworth festival. Kasey Chambers came up and told me she really enjoyed my performance. She's definitely one of the people that I just admire the most. It's been a very successful Tamworth, very very exciting.

V/O 5: One of Sharnee's biggest supporters is
country music legend and guitar maker Allan Tomkins.

ALLAN TOMKINS: She plays one of my guitars. It's always a pleasure to have her on our shows where she does a wonderful job. She's a real nice person and she beams when she's on stage and she's the same person off-stage. It's lovely to see that the young ones coming through with so much talent.

SHARNEE FENWICK: There are times it's very overwhelming when I perform but it's
the biggest adrenaline rush and I absolutely love it. I get high from performing. So I absolutely love singing and playing all the time.

V/O 6: Crowds respond to Sharnee and her infectious character. In return Sharnee gives people exactly what they want – entertainment.

SHARNEE FENWICK: I just hope that everyone can leave with a smile and that they're remembering who I am and that I've made everyone's night happy. And I just want everyone to enjoy the show.

KG: Let's take a look at what's making news around the country. Last week an historic land use agreement was reached between the NSW Government and the Githabul people, in the State's north. After a decade of negotiations, the Githabul people have been granted native title rights over 112,000 hectares of land, including 10 national parks and 13 State forests. The agreement recognises their ongoing physical and spiritual connection to the land, and gives them control over future developments in some areas of crown and leasehold land.

And in another landmark decision, the Federal Court has given traditional owners exclusive rights to intertidal zones along the Northern Territory coastline. Blue Mud Bay, 200km south of Yirrkala in East Arnhem Land, was at the centre of the land rights claim. The decision effectively bans commercial fishing licences for barramundi, mud crabs and trepang operators. However, the Northern Territory Government is set to appeal the decision, arguing exclusive rights over the sea would jeopardise the rights of fishermen. The Northern Land Council has moved to ease concerns, saying traditional owners want to work with governments and the fishing industry.

It has been six years since they last met in the ring but tonight boxers Sam Soliman and Anthony Mundine will face each other again for the WBA super middleweight title. They last met in September 2001 when Mundine won in a controversial split decision. But Sam Soliman is determined to set the record straight. After weeks of intensive training the two faced off at yesterday's weigh-in. Mundine and Soliman will step back into the ring tonight at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

And that is the program for today. Join us next week when we speak to the young men involved in crime sprees taking place on the streets of Adelaide.

MAN: This isn't a gang, this is one big family MAN: We steal from the rich and give to the poor, man, straight up. You call this gang-related? Ain't gang-related.

That is next week on Living Black. And don't forget if you would like more information on tonight's program, check out the Living Black website. You can find us by logging on to http://www.sbs.com.au and click on News. To close the program each week we will ask you what your views are on various issues pertinent to Indigenous affairs. This week we asked what your thoughts are on the big issues for 2007. On behalf of the team, thanks for your company. I'm Karla Grant. Goodnight.