UPDATED: Deputy Opposition Leader Dheran Young was suddenly sacked as deputy Thursday night and replaced with recently elected Member for Nightcliff Ed Smelt, in a move Labor Leader Selena Uibo said would give Mr Young more time out bush to “support his constituents post-flood”.
A Labor adviser charged taxpayers $4,400 for a one-night trip to Nhulunbuy for vague “various stakeholder meetings”, including a mysterious $2,900 charge listed under “other” expenses, according to newly released internal travel records, while the CLP has inexplicably not disclosed its staffers’ travel costs.
EXCLUSIVE: Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has refused to explain why she misled Estimates hearings about what action the NT Police executive leadership team has taken to address the serious integrity failures identified in the Justice Alan Blow report into senior police promotion and recruitment processes.
The director of the NT Police college authorised nearly $400,000 for the supply and delivery of four BMW 330is from Melbourne despite Subarus used as official police vehicles, newly released police expenditure records show, while the NT Police executive team also spent nearly $10,000 at local shop ‘Stickers and Stuff’ on “promotional merchandise” for its anti-racism program in a year that saw its budget blow-out by more than $14 million.
The recently appointed Integrity and Ethics Commissioner says he sees nothing that would preclude newly appointed chief executive and former NT Police commissioner Reece Kershaw from being involved in sensitive investigations into NT Police and other corruption probes, while suggesting any potential conflicts of interest raised would be kept secret.
The “NT legal legend” described in media reports as backing the CLP Government’s controversial reforms to child placement legislation did not disclose that she worked for Minister Robyn Cahill as an adviser less than a month before making her submission to the parliamentary committee considering the new legislation.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro on Monday ruled out referring the now $850 million Labor-led ship lift project for a proper investigation, after a parliamentary inquiry late last year found the deal to build the facility for the Paspaley Group lacked transparency, any trace of public accountability and was carried out with questionable public benefit involving multiple unexplained contract variations.
The Northern Territory’s “problematic Super Inspector” position to oversee the recently created Office of the Integrity and Ethics Commissioner, that the CLP Government filled with former ICAC inspector Bruce McClintock, has been flagged by a national organisation as “a good example of how oversight can go wrong” with integrity bodies.
Federal Attorney-General Michelle Rowland has reminded her NT counterpart Marie-Clare Boothby that the NT Government has an obligation to maintain proper funding for legal aid for Territorians, amid fears from the Federal Government that increased pressure on NT courts and corrections has been exacerbated by funding cuts, which has produced “heightened risks to fairness and access to justice” that may be in breach of international human rights obligations.
A federal department held concerns about the Finocchiaro CLP Government’s proposed appointment of David Connolly as NT Administrator, newly released internal government documents show, with one brief suggesting Mr Connolly’s vast “meat inspection” experience “may not necessarily reflect the formal training or experience in public administration and understanding” necessary for the vice-regal position, while also raising concerns about the effect his public comments could have on eroding the public’s trust in the role.
A senior NT public servant’s internal email to department heads claiming the US Embassy in Canberra asked the NT Government to come up with “creative ways” for the Territory to celebrate the US July 4 Independence Day holiday has been called into question, after the Embassy refused to confirm it made the unusual request.
A senior NT Government bureaucrat has claimed the US Embassy in Canberra requested Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro “consider creative ways” for the Northern Territory to celebrate the United States’ 250th birthday on July 4 this year, such as holding fireworks displays, but instructed all department heads that any celebration must be covered “from within existing resources”, a leaked internal email has revealed.
