Chief Minister Natasha Fyles’ shares in gas giant Woodside Energy – a proponent of the Labor Government’s proposed Middle Arm precinct – will be examined as part of the upcoming Senate inquiry into the multi-billion dollar gas development, an independent Senator says.
EXCLUSIVE: Chief Minister Natasha Fyles currently holds an undisclosed number of shares in an oil and gas giant backing the proposed Middle Arm industrial precinct, raising concerns by critics that her private business interests could affect her government’s policy decisions around gas development, the NT Independent can reveal.
Independent MLA Kezia Purick’s free trip to South Korea at a five-star hotel funded by Big Tobacco has been rebuked by the Federal Health Minister, who recently sent a letter to federal politicians reminding them of their obligations under an international treaty not to cosy up with the tobacco and vaping industry, while calls also mount for her to abstain from voting in NT Parliament due to the conflict of interest.
Independent MLA Kezia Purick’s unfounded claims at an international tobacco conference that the Australian Cancer Council and the Heart Foundation are opposed to vaping because they “don’t have enough evidence” about the dangers of e-cigarettes have been refuted by the national agencies.
UPDATED: A man who was elected in a by-election just last year is the Territory’s new Police Minister, following a Cabinet reshuffle announced by Chief Minister Natasha Fyles on Monday afternoon, that will also see another backbencher promoted to the Labor Cabinet team at the expense of Paul Kirby and Lauren Moss, who have both been booted.
The appointment of Natasha Fyles’s chief of staff’s brother-in-law as the Police Minister has rubbed the union representing the Territory’s police officers the wrong way, who say appointing the one-year backbencher to the major role has raised “real concerns” the government is not taking the police portfolio seriously.
Treasurer and Infrastructure Minister Eva Lawler erupted in Parliament when asked to verify her claims earlier in the week that nobody in the Labor caucus is currently under investigation by the ICAC, which she said is a fact because she asked her colleagues “in passing in the lobby” and nobody said anything.
There is currently no oversight of the NT’s anti-corruption body, with the Chief Minister admitting the former ICAC Inspector’s position lapsed last month and has not been filled, which may put the ICAC in breach of his own Act in an unusual situation the Opposition said was blatant “mismanagement” by the government.
Speculation Chief Minister Natasha Fyles will announce a Cabinet reshuffle later this week was kicked into overdrive after Federal Labor Member for Solomon Luke Gosling let slip on radio that “change is coming” involving “new leadership within the NT team”.
UPDATED: The Fyles Government shot down independent MLA Robyn Lambley and the CLP’s motion in Parliament to have government members currently under investigation by the ICAC declare their conflicts of interest and recuse themselves before debating amendments to the ICAC Act.
NT Director of Public Prosecutions Lloyd Babb has refused to answer questions over why his office pursued charges against a Nine News reporter for allegedly impersonating a police officer with only the testimony of a witness described by the judge as “evasive” and “unreliable” in the latest embarrassing failure for his office.
Construction giant Sitzler has filed for an “exceptional development permit” to move ahead with its proposed 256-bed workers camp in Katherine that will only require ministerial approval to proceed, rather than undergo the typical planning process, which has irked residents who say the development will have disastrous impacts on the area.
