Territory taxpayers have bailed out former DIPL chief executive Andrew Kirkman once again, preventing him from testifying in a Federal Circuit Court legal action scheduled for last week about a mental health injury he inflicted on a female staffer when he pounded his desk, screamed at her and told her in a 2021 meeting that her career would be “destroyed” if she challenged him.
A CLP-run parliamentary committee that ended a public hearing 45 minutes early and did not request documented evidence from Darwin Waterfront Corporation officials to back up its claims has cleared the organisation of wrongdoing, with the chair of the corporation claiming he was getting too “worked up” to continue discussing the issues involving the use of public funds for extended higher duties allowances and executive contracts awarded to the Chief Minister’s husband.
Three men are facing multiple drug charges following an NT Police bust in Holtze on Monday that resulted in 113 kilograms of cannabis being seized along with $170,000 in cash, which police said has “significantly disrupted” a Vietnamese organised crime syndicate operating across state borders.
Acting NT Police Commissioner Martin Dole has ruled out independent oversight of the police investigation into the death of a Yuendumu man during an arrest at an Alice Springs supermarket this week despite Mr Dole’s close ties to the community and his questionable involvement in the flawed murder investigation into former constable Zach Rolfe in 2019.
EXCLUSIVE: One of two ‘plain-clothes’ police officers who pinned a disabled Aboriginal man to the ground at an Alice Springs supermarket where he lost consciousness and subsequently died, has been identified as a police “liaison sergeant” who was not on frontline duties at the time of the fatal incident, the NT Independent can reveal, with the officer previously the subject of complaints over his use of force against Indigenous people. *NOTE: The feature image in this article is of a previous arrest by the officer, not a picture of the incident on Tuesday*
A two-hour hearing into the potential misuse of taxpayer money and other misconduct at the Darwin Waterfront Corporation has been quickly scheduled for Tuesday by a CLP-dominated parliamentary committee, following a referral from the Opposition last week, but the committee has yet to seek internal documents from the corporation as evidence to inform its investigation, the NT Independent understands.
Darwin Waterfront Corporation chair Patrick Bellot has offered confidential briefings to select elected officials about the Waterfront scandal, but has declined the NT Independent’s request to share his “briefing” with the public, amid concerns the information he has offered has not been independently verified and could be a breach of his duties under the Corporations Act.
Former ICAC Michael Riches “had a thing for pretty girls in the office” an investigation into his conduct as the NT’s anti-corruption watchdog has revealed, according to one former staffer, while 15 people described Mr Riches’s leadership style as “erratic, controlling, and awkward socially”, with one describing his office as “the most horrible place I’ve ever worked”.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has moved to alter the duties of the NT’s fiscal watchdog, but failed to consult with him about the changes, raising questions over what else the government intends to alter involving the Auditor-General’s powers and responsibilities, while failing to address critical risks to the office’s independence and funding shortfalls raised earlier this year.
UPDATED: Opposition Leader Selena Uibo last night referred “potential fraud and gross conflicts of interest” at the Darwin Waterfront Corporation involving the Chief Minister’s husband to Parliament’s public accounts committee, citing “serious allegations involving significant sums of public money”.
EXCLUSIVE: Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has defended hiring former low-level bureaucrat and one-time gas lobbyist Stuart Knowles as the Territory Coordinator, claiming on radio that he was hand-selected for the role without going through a public recruitment process because of his “vast experience” in the government and private industry and for his record of delivering “major projects”, but his work background suggests neither claim is accurate, the NT Independent can reveal.
The Finocchiaro CLP Government has passed reforms to the NT Sacred Sites Act, with Opposition and crossbench MLAs accusing the government of amending the legislation to help their “mates build a hotel at the Darwin Waterfront”, while others have criticised the lack of consultation with traditional owners.
