Police Commissioner Michael Murphy has ordered a three-day curfew for Alice Springs following days of serious incidents in the troubled town, that saw four off-duty police officers bashed and robbed over the weekend and another officer run over by a car outside a bottle shop late last week.
Deputy Chief Minister Chansey Paech’s big spending on travel continued in the past financial year, racking up nearly a third of all ministerial travel across the NT himself, records show, including claiming “offical allowance” expenses under “other” costs, which has raised further questions about how the government is acquitting ministerial travel.
UPDATED: Master Builders NT CEO Ben Carter has suddenly and mysteriously resigned his position with the powerful construction industry peak body after less than two years in the top role.
The Labor Government spent twice as much taxpayer money to fly ministers around the Territory in the past financial year than it did over the same period in the lead-up to the 2020 election, newly released records show, while mysterious travel expenses costing tens of thousands of dollars listed only as “other” have been called into question.
Territorians will head to the polls in August with no idea what the independent body that investigates politicians for corruption will look like under the next government, following scandal in the Office of the ICAC that has led to Michael Riches currently under investigation for alleged “inappropriate behaviour” towards female staff and the acting commissioner refusing to explain a conflict of interest in relation to its largest investigation in three years.
Acting anti-corruption commissioner Naomi Loudon – who is being paid $500,000 a year to run the Office of the ICAC while commissioner Michael Riches is investigated for “inappropriate behaviour” – has refused again to publicly disclose her conflict of interest in Labor’s election travel rorts investigation, while the Centre for Public Integrity recommended she publicly disclose it to boost public confidence.
The City of Darwin has been forced to issue an extraordinary public statement to “clarify recent commentary” about the controversial Cyclone Tracy monument for Bundilla Beach, after Mayor Kon Vatskalis attempted to mislead the public by claiming it had nothing to do with the devastating cyclone and was simply “public art”.
Sky News reporter Matt Cunningham and Mix 104.9 presenter Katie Woolf are under fire for “toxic” comments made on air that appeared to downplay the alleged actions of besieged ICAC Michael Riches, who is currently under investigation for alleged “inappropriate behaviour” towards female staff members amid unresolved allegations of domestic violence.
Anti-corruption commissioner Michael Riches is under investigation in relation to “serious allegations” made about his conduct by “several” staff members in the Office of the ICAC and has been placed on leave until the end of September.
The Lawler Labor Government will not make any official changes to rules around the use of taxpayer money for campaign purposes ahead of August’s election in the aftermath of an ICAC report that showed the party used public funds at the 2020 election for political purposes, with the Opposition calling the surprise deferral “more of the same tricks” by a government that “lacks transparency”.
A secret email between the NT’s anti-corruption commissioner and the ICAC Inspector shows Michael Riches asked Bruce McClintock if he should resign last May when domestic violence allegations were first raised against him, but remained in the role, with the allegations only being investigated earlier this month.
An investigation into several “serious” allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” in the Office of the ICAC has been launched by the NT Public Employment Commissioner, as Michael Riches says he intends to return to work following extended sick leave related to unresolved DV allegations.
