NT Homelessness Summit to hit high note



Gabby Wright performs at Urban Quest



The NT Homelessness Summit will hit a high note today when up and coming local singer Gabrielle Wright performs an original track about life on the streets.

The Palmerston Senior College student, who recently took out the Telstra Road to Discovery, co-wrote Blind Eye and will perform the song for the first time in Darwin.

“The song tells a story,” Ms Wright said. “I hope it touches everyone who hears it and sends a message about those who are alone in this world and perhaps in need of a little help.”

The lyrics ask ‘can anybody see me now’ and encourages listeners not to ‘turn a blind eye’.

The 17 year old soul singer said Mission Australia Case Manager Kellie Streeter approached her with the song idea after she won the charity organisation’s Urban Quest in April.

“I was surprised and honoured that Kellie asked me. She just wants to help people,” Ms Wright said.

Ms Streeter, who works with homeless people on a day-to-day basis at Mission Australia said the song was helpful in her work.

“My vision for the song is to advocate for those that are silenced in our community,” Ms Streeter said.

“I’ve played it for some of my clients and they relate to it. They’ve walked that path.”

The pair went to Melbourne to have the song produced and met  up with Urban Quest judge and music industry guru Mark Holden for his seal of approval.

Gabrielle will perform Blind Eye at the NT Homelessness Summit at SkyCity Casino from 3pm today and Mission Australia staff will assist in the facilitation of workshops.

The NT Homelessness Summit is hosted by NT Shelter for delegates across the Territory who work in the homelessness sector.  

For more information visit www.ntshelter.org.au/

Facebook just keeps growing in the NT

By Tracy Jones

Following a dip in Northern TerritoryFacebook membership post Christmas, membership has surged again to increase by 32 per cent over the past 12 months.

There are 95,320 Territorians on Facebook, up from around 72,000 on 30 September last year and well ahead of the previous peak in December of 84,580.

Most interesting is where that growth is coming from. While teens and those in their thirties and forties have left Facebook since June, people in their twenties and those aged 50 and over have flocked to the social media network.

The green and red bars in the graph below shows the current break-up by age and gender of Facebook users as at 30 September 2012. The blue line shows total Facebook members in each age bracket as at 30 June 2012.

Perhaps it's all the new parents in their twenties sharing baby photos with their parents.

While the number of LinkedIn members remains relatively small, it has maintained its place as the fastest-growing social media platform in the Northern Territory with an annual growth rate of almost 60 per cent over the past 12 months. In Katherine, growth was 72 per cent as shown in the graph below.

It's a shame we are unable to produce reasonably reliable statistics for Twitter. Anecdotally, it appears to have experienced steadt growth, particularly among opinion makers and shapers.