A Different Country

Whilst buying four beers in a bottle shop in Alice, I was confronted by a situation which put a new perspective on this part of Australia. I was asked for I.D., as was everyone else in the shop. And my driver's licence was scanned into a system which can check ID from some 50 odd countries.

I know the reasons why, and I won't pretend that I understand the minutiae of the UN intervention in the Northern Territory because I've read enough patronising tourist drivel to know that it's not that simple, but it still takes you back when something that you take for granted at home and in most of Australia suddenly becomes quite sinister. My namby-pamby, artsy, lefty, liberal pretentions were offended (mildly of course).


But, as I say, I'm just a tourist.