Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby has declined to comment on whether she will take any action against Director of Public Prosecutions Lloyd Babb, after it was revealed his son and daughter-in-law were hired for jobs in his office that he created and did not publicly advertise, while the woman Mr Babb pursued in the Supreme Court for hiring a friend says the “blatant hypocrisy” is destroying the public’s trust in the office.
Chief Justice Michael Grant has issued a rare public statement in the wake of public outrage over a young offender being granted bail to fly to Lajamanu on a taxpayer-funded chartered plane for a funeral that he later absconded from, telling the public their criticism of the situation is misguided and that they fail to understand “the circumstances of compassionate bail”, while also criticising the current legislation.
EXCLUSIVE: The NT’s Director of Public Prosecutions created new jobs in his office that were ultimately filled by his son and daughter-in-law, but Lloyd Babb says he was not involved in recruitment for the positions that weren’t publicly advertised and claims he declared a conflict of interest upon learning that his family members just happened to apply for the mysterious jobs.
The CLP Government knew since last September that private maternity services were shutting down in Darwin, but did nothing to warn the public or prepare frontline clinical staff, an independent MLA says, leaving everyone “blindsided” by the move.
EXCLUSIVE: The publicly-funded Darwin Waterfront Corporation hired board member Andrew Kirkman’s wife for a key role that was not advertised late last year and that came with an undisclosed hefty pay packet, the NT Independent can reveal, raising questions about undeclared conflicts of interest at the corporation and a cosy culture of political appointments and nepotism.
A CLP backbencher has accused Senator Malarndirri McCarthy’s staffer of attempting to “physically intimidate” an unnamed CLP MLA while Parliament was sitting last week, claiming the staffer followed up the “harassment” by making “unfounded accusations”.
A senior NT public servant on an executive contract dishonestly claimed sick days while he was gambling at a casino, on fishing trips and golfing, which amounted to “corrupt conduct” the ICAC has found after a four-year long investigation, but chose not to name the executive or the government department involved.
The independence of the Northern Territory Auditor-General’s office has been identified as “the most vulnerable to executive influence” of any jurisdiction in the country, according to an independent review of the AG’s office, with the current public sector watchdog calling for funding pressures and internal system problems to be addressed by the Finocchiaro Government to ensure its crucial independence continues.
Staffers in former Labor chief minister Michael Gunner’s office used taxpayer money and resources to perform party political campaign work during the lead up to the 2020 NT election while knowing it was “inherently improper”, a new report by the Office of the ICAC has found, but again nobody has been held responsible. READ HOW THEY PULLED IT OFF
UPDATED: Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro appeared on Thursday to walk back from her $3 million election pledge to give long-serving NT Police officers a bonus to keep experienced cops on the beat, after being questioned about it in Parliament, but later said she was still “committed” to a bonus although it is unclear how it will work, how much it will cost and how much police officers will receive.
NT Parliament erupted into a public mud-slinging match on Wednesday afternoon, with politicians from both major political parties throwing their past indiscretions and scandals at one another during debate about “improving integrity in Parliament”.
The Finocchiaro CLP Government misled the public with taxpayer-funded radio ads promoting its Territory Coordinator position, the Auditor-General has found, which were carried out to promote “party political” ends and included misleading statements in breach of legislation.
