Chief Minister Michael Gunner and his Cabinet colleagues approved the $12 million taxpayer grant to the Darwin Turf Club one day after receiving an “official” grant application that contained sparse details of economic benefits for the NT and while the government was in the throes of a financial crisis, the ICAC’s damning investigation has revealed.
The CLP Opposition’s calls for a “detailed parliamentary review” into the ICAC Act, rather than the one currently being conducted behind closed doors by a hand-picked public servant, has been shot down by the Gunner Government in Parliament today in what the Opposition labelled a “shocking display of dictatorship”.
The ICAC has delivered an explosive report into the Gunner Government’s $12 million grandstand grant to the Darwin Turf Club, with findings of “corruption, misconduct, breaches of public trust and mismanagement of public resources”, implicating senior public servants, local businessmen and Darwin Turf Club members.
Serious questions have been raised over how an NT Government investigation ordered by Chief Minister Michael Gunner into the $12 million Darwin Turf Club grandstand scandal did not turn up any instances of suspicious conduct or raise any alarm bells, given the material reported in the NT Independent’s recent special investigation series.
Senator Sam McMahon has denied allegations she was drunk on the floor of the Senate chamber Tuesday night, issuing a statement from an unnamed “spokesman” who criticised the claims for being from unnamed sources.
Darwin Turf Club chairman Brett Dixon advised his board to seek money from Thoroughbred Racing NT – another taxpayer-funded body he is the chair of – to cover an increase in costs of the Silks lounge, a project his construction company was carrying out works on, internal Turf Club documents obtained by the NT Independent reveal.
The Darwin Turf Club’s major players, including those who sat on the panel that selected Jaytex as the winning contractor for the $12 million grandstand project, had serious conflicts of interest, some of which do not appear to have been disclosed, the NT Independent can reveal.
Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Ken Fleming has broken his silence over the NT News’ recent onslaught of criticism, telling the NT Independent he will be addressing the issue “at the appropriate time” and said he hoped the NT News was pursuing the matter with “legitimate journalistic purpose”.
The NT Government’s chief building inspector says he has no concerns that the Darwin Turf Club knowingly allowed people to enter a building that was not certified, had failed two fire safety audits and ultimately suffered an electrical fire in an area that had hosted family fun days.
Independent MLA Robyn Lambley has blasted Treasurer and Chief Minister Michael Gunner for seeming to claim he fixed the previous CLP government’s debt trajectory during a fiery budget estimates hearings at Parliament today.
EXCLUSIVE: The majority of the Darwin Turf Club’s board of directors were nervous about public backlash, and some feared a corruption investigation, but they unanimously approved giving chairman Brett Dixon’s company the $12 million taxpayer-funded grandstand contract anyway, internal club records obtained by the NT Independent show.
EXCLUSIVE: The NT Government could be forced to pay millions in damages and every criminal court case over the past few years could be called into question after revelations the NT police college was using unqualified instructors and allowed new recruits on the beat before they could be properly assessed, a national civil rights organisation says.
