UPDATED: The Fyles Government must explain to Territorians what their plans are to cut funding for frontline police staff in the middle of a crime crisis, the Opposition, police union and an independent MLA say, after Police Minister Kate Worden was photographed with a secret memo that revealed proposed massive budget cuts to the NT Police over the next four years.
The NT’s anti-corruption commissioner is hiring an “events coordinator” just three months after claiming his office’s failure to meet its KPIs and lack of public action on corruption was the result of budget cuts.
A confidential Cabinet document photographed in Police Minister Kate Worden’s hands appears to show the Fyles Government intends to cut the police budget in the middle of a crime crisis by $16 million next financial year and a staggering $31 million over the subsequent three financial years, with “frontline staff reductions” expected, the NT Independent can reveal.
How could the disgusting and depraved acts of a child sex predator in the Labor Party’s midst be kept so quiet, even after he was charged with raping a child? How could the social set in Darwin, who love to gossip, not be gossiping? So who in Labour knew what and when about Kent Rowe?
Territory Labor no longer has the moral authority to lead the Northern Territory or bring about much-needed reforms to reduce sexual and family violence after senior party members expressed their support in character references for convicted child rapist Kent Rowe ahead of his sentencing, a Senator says.
EXCLUSIVE: Senior Territory Labor figures, including a former deputy chief minister and the partner of a Supreme Court Justice, expressed their support for convicted paedophile Kent Rowe to the courts ahead of sentencing earlier this month because of his “successful” contributions to the party, the NT Independent can reveal.
The NT’s Investment Commissioner has resigned suddenly, the NT Independent can confirm, with Andy Cowan offering his resignation on Monday.
Another senior coronial investigator for the NT Police has told an inquest that former assistant commissioner Nick Anticich shut down the coronial investigation into the death of Kumanjayi Walker because its findings conflicted with the criminal investigation into Constable Zach Rolfe.
The Fyles Government has used its numbers in Parliament to pass sweeping changes to the Anti-Discrimination Act that it says will protect “the most vulnerable” Territorians but that critics say will hamper free speech.
The senior investigator in charge of the coronial investigation into Constable Zach Rolfe’s actions in Yuendumu has told an inquest that the NT Police’s criminal investigation was the most biased investigation against a suspect he had seen in his long and distinguished career with the NT Police force.
Proposed “radical and dangerous” changes to the NT’s Anti-Discrimination Act are being brought about to further Attorney-General Chansey Paech’s personal agenda and are not in the best interests of Territorians, an independent MLA says.
One of the five teens involved in ramming police vehicles with stolen cars in Katherine on Wednesday night was released on bail just hours before the incident, the NT Independent can reveal, after being arrested for stealing cars earlier in the week.
