NT construction giant Sitzler has secretly proposed a 200-bed workers camp in Katherine that local residents say does not comply with the local planning scheme and could have severe consequences for the area, while the NT Government and the company have remained silent about the proposal and the unusual development processes employed.
Darwin Mayor Kon Vatskalis has banned councillor Amye Un from all council premises in an extraordinary move related to his ongoing feud with Ms Un, who drew the ire of the Mayor for publicly criticising the Fyles Labor Government giving a $100,000 grant to a former alderman who is up on charges.
CLP Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro has finally taken a position on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, telling party members in an email on Tuesday morning that she will be voting no at the upcoming referendum, after months of indecision and creating massive turmoil in the party.
Darwin Mayor Kon Vatskalis has escalated his blood feud with councillor Amye Un, filing a formal complaint against her with the Local Government Association of the NT – a body he is the president of – for public comments she made criticising a Labor Government grant.
Darwin Alderman Amye Un says the Mayor and Council CEO’s attempt this week to intimidate and silence her for criticising a Labor Minister is not the first time they have made false accusations against her, revealing a letter the Mayor wrote her last year in which he claimed the President of Timor-Leste had filed a formal complaint about her – a complaint he is unable to produce.
EXCLUSIVE: Previously redacted government documents related to the ongoing corruption probe into the NT Labor Government’s alleged misuse of public funds during the 2020 election have finally been released by the Office of the Chief Minister, exposing a Labor politician’s name who was onboard taxpayer-funded campaign flights that the government fought to keep secret for nearly two years.
Darwin Alderman Amye Un says threats of disciplinary action by Council’s CEO and Mayor Kon Vatskalis for publicly criticising Labor Minister Paul Kirby and former alderman Paul Arnold on social media, is an attempt to “intimidate” and silence her.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles has hired Michael Gunner’s former media adviser a year out from the 2024 NT general election through a secret contract with a newly created Victoria-based consultancy company with links to Federal Labor.
EXCLUSIVE: The NT Ombudsman has dropped an investigation into allegations senior NT Police detective Wayne Newell perverted the course of justice while in a key role in the Zach Rolfe murder investigation, citing in internal documents that it is “not in the public interest” to pursue, the NT Independent can reveal.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles has refused to explain if she will refer an investigation into how a broke water bottling company was given $10 million of public money onto police, three months after the ICAC referred the matter to her, which critics say is the latest example of this government sweeping corruption issues “under the rug”.
The NT Police brass claimed five weeks ago it had referred a criminal complaint against a senior detective who investigated Zach Rolfe to the anti-corruption commissioner, however the NT Independent can confirm the ICAC is not investigating the matter and has put it back on police.
Roughly 30 young offenders with a long list of prior crimes across the Northern Territory have had their records wiped clean following the Fyles Government’s changes to the age of criminal responsibility that took effect Tuesday, including fingerprints and DNA evidence deleted from police databases.
