Papua New Guinea’s Auditor-General has more independence from the executive branch of government than the Northern Territory’s, according to a startling report, which has raised concerns about how effectively the NT Government is held to account for its exorbitant spending of taxpayer funds.
Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarandirri McCarthy and two federal MPs have labelled incoming NT Administrator David Connolly’s social media comments “reprehensible and offensive” and called for a public apology, while a national media outlet has reported further racially-charged commentary during a 2024 speech in which Mr Connolly also said that while he does not “offer offence, you are free to take it”.
The NT Opposition has called for the appointment of David Connolly as the next Administrator to be “put on hold and reviewed”, writing to the Governor-General over the weekend to seek “further advice” following revelations of his offensive social media comments, while Mr Connolly issued a statement on Monday claiming that he did not mean to “cause offence”, but stopped short of apologising to Indigenous Territorians for his repeated online ridicule.
EXCLUSIVE: The CLP’s new NT Administrator David Connolly wrote on a social media post about Aboriginal people that “you cannot convince me they are doing good for the country” and in another post claimed that based on a dictionary definition “I am Indigenous to Australia”, while also mocking Welcome to Country ceremonies, a cache of now deleted X posts obtained by the NT Independent reveal.
The taxpayer-funded Darwin Waterfront Corporation, which was thrust into the public spotlight earlier this year for unresolved governance failures, mismanaged conflicts of interest, and nepotistic hiring practices, ran a record $3.3 million deficit last financial year, while the DWC board’s chair appears to have ignored key recommendations to improve the corporation’s governance, according to its annual report.
The NT Police’s new IT operations system took more than seven years to complete, had costs blowouts of at least $15 million to an estimated $60 million and did not “fully deliver expected benefits”, a new Auditor-General’s report has found.
The Finocchiaro CLP Government is warning Top End residents of possible rolling power outages following cyclone damage to ENI’s Black Tip gas production facility, however a Power and Water executive says it’s essentially “business as usual” given the Black Tip facility has failed to produce gas on many occasions over the last five years, forcing the energy provider to enter into gas supply agreements with other companies and using diesel as a last resort.
The Building Compliance Taskforce established by the previous Labor government in 2022 to urgently inspect uncertified government buildings and bring them up to code did not carry out its objectives, the NT Independent can reveal, which follows bricks falling from a wall during last month’s cyclone at Royal Darwin Hospital, which was identified three years ago as one of the key public buildings not meeting compliance standards.
New political donation disclosures have revealed who funded local councillors’ election campaigns with a few surprises, including one mayoral candidate raking in more than $50,000 in donations – including money from a Chinese business executive connected to the Landbridge Group – while the other Darwin mayoral candidate claimed no donations at all; meanwhile a disgraced former Labor powerbroker appeared more times than any other donor on different lists and one councillor had a former chief minister’s father kick in for his successful run.
The developer behind the proposed 11-storey hotel at the Darwin Convention Centre has announced it will not proceed with the project following strong opposition from Larrakia elders, but the CLP Government has committed to proceeding with a “high-level concept” at the same site anyway.
The Finocchiaro CLP Government has passed legislative amendments to block the public’s right to access documents that would reveal the reasoning behind ministerial decisions, which it said was necessary to protect former Labor mines minister and current Tamboran Resources executive Nicole Manison’s emails from being made public as part of an ongoing court case.
The Territory’s politicians have once again been gifted a pay rise amid record debt, with their salaries now increased by $5,000 – which follows last year’s generous $8,200 pay rise – which works out to an eight per cent increase, while the government is currently offering public servants an annual three per cent pay increase.
