Police Minister Brent Potter has thrown his support behind embattled Police Commissioner Michael Murphy after it was revealed at a coronial inquest on Wednesday that Mr Murphy chose not to investigate racist awards handed out by the NT Police tactical unit when he first became aware of them last year and lied to the public about his knowledge of the awards six months later.
Police Commissioner Michael Murphy has admitted under oath at a coronial inquest that he was made aware of racist awards distributed by the NT Police’s elite tactical unit last August but took no action, later misleading the public when he said at a February press conference that he had no knowledge of them.
EXCLUSIVE: The NT’s anti-corruption commissioner Michael Riches says there is “no substance” to serious allegations made by his estranged wife in a recent social media post accusing him of perpetrating domestic violence against her over a 10-year period.
NT Police Commissioner Michael Murphy was made aware of racist awards handed out within the Territory Response Group at least six months before they were aired publicly, a coronial inquest has heard, contradicting Mr Murphy’s claims in February that he was “not aware of the TRG awards”.
ANALYSIS: It was odd that the current Independent Commissioner Against Corruption, the man who has yet to make his mark on the role after three years, was calmly and methodically engaging in woodwork in his home garage, while the people he was hired to investigate savagely wrapped up their last week of sittings down the street with the most important investigation of his tenure hanging over them.
Chief Minister Eva Lawler says Labor will not reimburse taxpayers for the public money it used to fly former chief minister Michael Gunner to remote communities in marginal electorates on polling days in the lead up to the 2020 election because it was all too “ambiguous” and refused to condemn the conduct that was the focus of a three-year ICAC investigation.
More racist awards and offensive images of Aboriginal people created and distributed by NT Police officers have been uncovered as part of the joint investigation into widespread racism in the TRG, with the new material labelled by the ICAC as “so offensive that I do not consider it in the public interest [to] be circulated”.
Anti-corruption commissioner Michael Riches “refuses to call out misconduct, mismanagement and corruption”, an independent MLA says, despite having evidence that Territory Labor and Michael Gunner used public funds for party political purposes at the 2020 election, calling for an inquiry into the Office of the ICAC’s conduct.
The NT anti-corruption watchdog’s long-delayed report into Territory Labor’s taxpayer-funded 2020 election campaign has ended with “no concluded findings” of whether former chief minister Michael Gunner “did or did not engage in improper conduct”, but flagged a secret second report will be provided to current Chief Minister Eva Lawler next month concerning Labor staffers’ involvement.
Chief Minister Eva Lawler says new legislation to legalise curfews needed to be rushed through Parliament before the August election because it cannot be left “to chance” with a possible new government coming in, while Attorney General Chansey Paech claims he was only ever opposed to permanent curfews, not temporary ones.
The Territory Labor Government has failed to effectively implement federal Closing the Gap measures aimed at addressing Aboriginal disadvantage, and cannot explain how decisions are made, what the costs are, if targets are being met, or how many Aboriginal organisations have been awarded taxpayer cash to provide outcomes for Indigenous Territorians, a damning Auditor General’s audit has revealed.
Chief Minister Eva Lawler disclosed the location of a Darwin region domestic violence shelter as part of a political photo-op that she publicly distributed in political material, an MLA has alleged, suggesting it could put victims’ lives at risk and calling for the government to pay for increased security at the facility.
