EXCLUSIVE: The crucial ‘pipeline’ of NT Government infrastructure works that keep businesses operating in the Northern Territory has slowed to a trickle, industry and government sources have confirmed, with the slowdown leading to uncertainty and fear of impending “mass layoffs” while construction and civil works companies currently consider their options in an unprecedented situation.
Police Commissioner Martin Dole has appointed a different temporary deputy commissioner amid ongoing turmoil in the top brass and while an AFP investigation into allegations against the NT’s most senior police officers continues, with Mr Dole’s previous unexplained and “very odd” pick as deputy now replaced with a senior officer who previously held the role, despite a recruitment process for a permanent deputy having been conducted late last year.
The Finocchiaro CLP Government has announced the Northern Territory’s latest ‘Investment Committee’ that will provide “independent advice on [government] investment opportunities” to help grow the stagnant economy, which appears to be the latest iteration of the previous Labor government’s Infrastructure Development Fund that was shut down amid scandal in 2019.
A private consultancy company started by one of the Territory’s most senior public servants has recently employed another senior bureaucrat, with both heavily involved in establishing the NT Government’s private investment attraction and gas regulation policies over the past five years, raising questions about the potential for confidential government information to be used for private gain.
The Finocchiaro CLP Government says it may enforce existing legislation from 1949 called the Price Exploitation Prevention Act it says would force fuel retailers to disclose the full cost structure and price margins of its fuel or face jail and could be used to allow the government to set the price, a move that was described by the last CLP government as a rash decision.
NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole has lost a legal bid to keep “serious allegations” about misconduct of officers made by a former assistant commissioner secret, after ineffectively arguing their conduct was “sensitive” and that he preferred the allegations “remain confidential” before a potential settlement could be arranged.
One of the most respected CLP chief ministers in the NT’s history has publicly criticised the current CLP Government and Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby for “absurd” and inaccurate claims around how the Territory’s first euthanasia laws came to be, while accusing the government of being “inept” over its handling of the current proposed legislation.
Disgraced former speaker Kezia Purick threatened to “personally knock” the Australian Christian Lobby “on the head” during a segment on ABC Radio’s Mornings program Thursday that has not been uploaded online, which the Christian group’s director says was a direct threat of violence against Christians in the Territory for their position on voluntary assisted dying.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has returned home from Canberra with no new committed federal cash for flood recovery efforts, pledging instead to dip into the Territory’s over-stretched coffers for a $100 million Flood Recovery Fund that will be overseen by Minister Jo Hersey – the same Minister who drew the ire of the Federal Government by spreading false “speculation” on social media Monday that the NT Government would be billed for ADF members helping clean up Katherine.
UPDATED: Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro is currently in Canberra to plead with the Federal Government for more money to help with flood recovery efforts across the Territory, while her Education Minister spread “speculation” on social media Monday morning that the NT Government will have to pay for 50 ADF personnel from RAAF Base Tindal to assist with cleaning up the Katherine area – which was later confirmed as false.
Speaker Robyn Lambley has taken CLP backbencher Tanzil Rahman to task in an extraordinary public scolding in Parliament, telling him that threatening defamation action over allegations he bullied two female parliamentary staffers is a direct attempt “to silence people who have every right to speak”, the latest blow in the growing scandal the Chief Minister has tried to ignore.
The Finocchiaro CLP Government used its numbers in Parliament to block backbencher Tanzil Rahman from being investigated by a parliamentary committee over allegations he bullied female staff members, after Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro repeatedly refused to say what action she has taken on the matter and Mr Rahman’s failure to refute the allegations or apologise in a statement over the weekend.
