While multiple unresolved integrity scandals hang over her head, Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro introduced legislation to Parliament on Thursday to establish a new Ethics and Integrity Commission, which she said will “streamline integrity oversight”, but failed to seek any public input on the changes and chose not to refer the proposed bill to the Parliament’s scrutiny committee for bipartisan oversight.
Racing Minister Marie-Clare Boothby has defended the beleaguered Racing and Wagering Commission’s alleged conflicts of interest with the industry it regulates – that formed the focus of a recent Four Corners investigation – by suggesting it would be “amazing” if she could take two crossbench MLAs to the racetrack and lay a couple bets down with them to “see what happens”.
The Finocchiaro CLP Government’s pick to run the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority went to university with the Chief Minister’s husband and remains close friends with him, the NT Independent can reveal, with the appointment made amid sweeping changes to the Sacred Sites Act and the government’s move to push through the proposed Darwin Waterfront hotel project despite traditional owners’ objections.
The Finocchiaro CLP Government has refused to comment on revelations Darwin Waterfront Corporation chief executive Alastair Shields is using the Kitchener Drive multi-storey carpark as a private garage for his vintage Mercedes collection at taxpayer expense, while tax compliance issues remain unanswered, with the Auditor-General recommending the corporation ensure it has met all tax reporting requirements.
EXCLUSIVE: Darwin Waterfront Corporation chief executive Alastair Shields has been using at least two valuable parking spaces on the top level of the Kitchener Drive multi-storey carpark as his own personal garage to keep two Mercedeses – including the red one that featured in a recent Four Corners episode – which the former chair of the corporation says he had no knowledge of, raising questions about undisclosed gifts and whether fringe benefit tax has been paid for Mr Shields’s free parking fancy.
Racing Minister Marie-Clare Boothby has caused confusion over her government’s claims it is reviewing potential conflicts of interest concerning the Racing and Wagering Commission raised in a Four Corners investigation last week, telling Parliament on Tuesday its review is “business as usual” while the board is doing its job “really well”, despite allegations of a cosy relationship with the $50 billion online gambling industry and the commission’s failures to effectively regulate it.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has refused to publicly release the official rules around the use of the taxpayer-funded white car chauffeur service while revealing on Monday that Education Minister Jo Hersey has now paid back taxpayers for misusing the service, which she previously refused to do, while also telling the public to have “confidence” that the secret rules are being followed.
Former chief minister Clare Martin has been appointed – not elected – president of Territory Labor amid upheaval in the party, that has seen its elected executive members sacked in the fallout of the internal review into Labor’s 2024 election wipe out, the NT Independent understands, and replaced by six new members, who were also not elected by party members.
UPDATED: Fresh off an “inquiry” into questionable senior police appointments that found serious dysfunction in how senior officers are promoted, including that merit is not the over-arching principle, Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has appointed Martin Dole as the next NT Police Commissioner without going through a proper hiring process to seek the best candidates.
The Northern Territory’s heavily conflicted and “useless” regulatory authority that oversees Australia’s $50 billion online gambling industry was exposed on ABC’s Four Corners program Monday night, which featured NT Racing and Wagering Commission chair Alastair Shields fleeing media questions in an old Mercedes that initially wouldn’t start during a hasty getaway.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has failed to front the public following the release of the damning Justice Alan Blow review into NT Police senior employment practices, issuing a statement to claim she will accept the report’s six recommendations, but making no mention of why she failed to set it up as a proper inquiry, which the NT Police Association said fell “well short of what was expected”.
Education Minister Jo Hersey has become the first CLP minister to admit using the taxpayer-funded white car chauffeur service for a personal trip, raising the prospect of other potential misuse by ministers, but claims she received advice from a body that has nothing to do with the car service that her personal trip to Casuarina was “within the guidelines”, even if “it doesn’t probably float with the public”.
