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Obama for Territory trip?
NIGEL ADLAM
February 3rd, 2010
THERE is hope that Barack Obama will visit the NT next month.
Territory leaders want the American President to stop off in Darwin and Alice Springs while flying a triangle between Guam, Canberra and Indonesia.
What uniquely Territorian experiences should Obama have? Leave your suggestion below
The US Embassy has already sent the ambassador and charge d'affairs to Alice in the past two months.
Town council alderman Murray Stewart said: "They could have been testing the ground. I'm bullish about getting him here."
The Alice council invited Mr Obama to drop in immediately after his historic election in November.
And Northern Land Council chairman Wali Wunungmurra wrote to him: "I was absolutely overwhelmed, astonished and very happy that the American people voted in a Yolngu guy."
The President will visit Australia to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Australian-US alliance.
Australia's biggest US-Australian joint facility, the Pine Gap communications base, is near Alice.
"What better place to visit to celebrate the alliance than Alice, which hosts Pine Gap," Mr Stewart said.
A problem could be Alice airport handling the president's Airforce One - but Darwin has a military-controlled airport that could accommodate the aircraft. Also, Darwin is a convenient stop-off for Guam and Jakarta.
Mr Obama (pictured) will meet Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in Canberra to discuss economic recovery, climate change, clean energy, nuclear non-proliferation and the war in Afghanistan.
Many of the troops who have served in Afghanistan have come from Robertson Barracks in Darwin.
Mr Obama will not be the first President to have visited Australia - at least, before taking office. Herbert Hoover worked in Western Australia as a mining engineer, while Lyndon Johnson was briefly in Townsville as a soldier during World War II.
Source:
NT NewsGuan
