CDU vice-chancellor Scott Bowman was exposed at the Federal Senate inquiry into the proposed Middle Arm industrial precinct on Thursday for attempting to stifle academic freedom and failing to disclose glaring conflicts of interest with major Middle Arm gas proponents in the university’s submission to the inquiry, which appears to have breached academic policies and marred the university’s reputation.
Leaked screenshots of a Territory Response Group email that police members shared depicting a “Black Monopoly” board with every space designated “go to jail” in 2008, has cast further doubt on TRG members’ sworn claims their unit of the NT Police was not racist.
The Lawler Government has released the long-awaited review into police resources, which made 18 recommendations to improve the NT Police force, following a decade of “deeply traumatic organisational events” that led to multiple organisational failures, including the inability to properly allocate its resources.
Official documents have revealed the Lawler Government made an error concerning which ministry was supposed to declare the Alice Springs “emergency situation”, raising further questions about the legality of the youth curfew and whether police have been exposed to legal risk in carrying out the orders.
Attorney General Chansey Paech has backflipped on his previous position that a youth curfew is “madness”, “punitive” and treats kids like “dogs,” as he publicly supported the Chief Minister’s unilateral decision to implement the Alice Springs curfew, which she has now indicated could be used in Katherine and Tennant Creek.
Chief Minister Eva Lawler has pledged to recruit 200 new police officers over the next four years, despite the Labor Government telling Territorians for years that there were enough officers, and announcing the figure before the review into police resources is publicly released.
NT Police Commissioner Michael Murphy has not ruled out deploying the Territory Response Group to assist in Alice Springs, despite preliminary ICAC findings that the elite group of officers engaged in racist conduct, while sources say the TRG members will most likely be deployed as general duties officers to prevent stoking racial tensions in the community.
UPDATED: Chief Minister Eva Lawler has declared a youth curfew as part of an “emergency situation” for Alice Springs after a day of rioting in the troubled town, pledging to send more police officers to restore order over the next 14 days.
The Territory’s anti-corruption commissioner released a statement Tuesday confirming that the Territory Response Group’s annual awards are “racist towards First Nations people” and calling for those involved to “take responsibility”, amid criticism of his joint investigation into racism in the police force.
CLP Leader Lia Finocchiaro’s chief of staff is departing the role she has held for over a year to run the CLP’s election campaign, with the chief of staff role to be filled by a party figure who quit the CLP last year over the membership’s position on the Voice referendum.
Chief Minister Eva Lawler has contradicted her Police Minister’s claims that the Labor Party knew about his racist and homophobic social media posts before they preselected him as the candidate for Fannie Bay, while the NT Independent can reveal that Brent Potter also shared a post appearing to condone domestic violence.
Department of Infrastructure chief executive Andrew Kirkman knew about serious corruption issues at the department’s Katherine office, including tender manipulation, failure to disclose conflicts of interest and other improper procurement practices since at least 2019, but does not appear to have taken any action, according to a new ICAC “review” that confirmed misconduct in the department.
