EXCLUSIVE: Darwin Mayor Kon Vatskalis’s “cooperation agreements” with Chinese government officials have been called into question after it was revealed in an internal CDU email that his wife is the current director of the Chinese Communist Party’s Confucius Institute, following years of public denials she had any connections to the organisation.
Territory Labor has attempted to expel MLA Mark Turner from the party for not following its rules, however in a cruel twist of irony for the party and its president, internal documents show Territory Labor has not followed its own rules in the dismissal.
The Chief Minister and other senior government officials secretly met with the Chinese Ambassador to Australia in Darwin to reportedly discuss a “willingness to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China in various fields”, the Chinese state media reported, while the Fyles Government did not publicly disclose the meeting to Territorians.
EXCLUSIVE: The independent body that determines NT politicians’ salaries and benefits has refused to explain how two Labor MLAs were able to charge taxpayers for personal holidays on their government fuel cards through a benefit scheme that does not appear to exist.
A senior CLP pollie sent a hand-written birthday note to one of the Territory’s most notorious murderers with government resources, wishing him a “very special birthday” and a “happy 58th”. FIND OUT WHO HERE.
The Darwin Turf Club was quietly given more than $4 million of taxpayer funds from the NT’s peak racing body to prop up its Silks club bar last year, according to internal financial documents, which also show the lounge has been unable to pay its debts of $70,000 a month and continues to operate at a loss, the NT Independent can reveal.
EXCLUSIVE: Labor Speaker Mark Monaghan has jetted off to the United Kingdom on a parliamentary junket amid a growing scandal involving the use of government fuel cards to pay for MLAs’ personal interstate holidays, the NT Independent can reveal.
EXCLUSIVE: The NT Independent can reveal the identity of the senior public servant who the ICAC found engaged in “corrupt conduct” to obtain some of the highest positions in major government departments and another public body. FIND OUT WHO IT IS AND WHERE SHE WORKED.
EXCLUSIVE: Calls for two Labor MLAs – including a Minister – to repay thousands of dollars they charged taxpayers for personal holidays interstate have intensified, while the independent body that determines politicians’ benefits will meet to discuss the issue on Wednesday, the NT Independent can reveal.
A 33-year-old man was arrested Sunday afternoon outside the Beachfront Hotel after allegedly threatening a person with a knife, just days after another man was stabbed in the chest at the popular pub, with the latest incident not publicly reported.
The ICAC has called on all public bodies in the NT to audit the personnel records of senior employees after finding a “public officer” engaged in corrupt conduct by lying about their credentials. READ THE FULL STORY HERE.
EXCLUSIVE: The Labor Government’s Speaker secretly approved “clarifications” to MLAs’ taxpayer-funded entitlements to permit politicians to use government fuel cards for personal travel, with Attorney General Chansey Paech the first to take advantage, charging taxpayers for a personal holiday to Adelaide from Alice Springs earlier this year while the crime crisis was at its peak, the NT Independent can reveal.
