Third party merit reviews will be removed from legislation covering petroleum, planning and water by the Finocchiaro Government, which has been praised by NT Farmers but criticised by the Environment Centre NT as government bowing to big business, adding the reviews are a key part of establishing transparency and accountability in government decision-making.
A 17-year-old boy has been charged after allegedly trespassing at a Lyons home seven times over four days, stealing alcohol, and twice indecently exposing himself, NT Police said.
NT Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Andrew Warton has been given an unspecified amount of time over the fire season to take a ‘sabbatical’ to run Australia’s Casey Research Station in Antarctica, after only seven months in the top job, while the firefighter’s union has said the three most senior NT Fire roles have not been permanently filled 10 months after the new agency was started.
The police force is at “crisis point” and is “haemorrhaging” officers, the NT Police Association has said, calling on Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro to pay officers more, improve their working conditions, and immediately address chronic understaffing in a public pitch before a new enterprise agreement is negotiated.
Suspended ICAC Michael Riches did not investigate NT Health Department findings of nepotism in procurement and recruitment processes that it identified may warrant criminal prosecution, and instead conducted a “review” two years after the department raised its concerns, with the corruption watchdog finally making four “best practice” recommendations, while providing “guidance” to support ethical practices and thanking staff.
The head of Royal Darwin Hospital advised Territory divers in mid-December to reconsider diving activities because the hospital could not offer emergency recompression treatments due to the hyperbaric chamber unit being shut, while the Health Department will not say when it closed, why, or when it may re-open.
Darwin Council’s proposed 21-storey civic centre building that will be co-owned by a private developer has been criticised as an “horrifically expensive” cost for the council per square metre, but the Lord Mayor has said it is good value for money, while a residents’ petition has been launched to stop the project.
A series of CSIRO reports into the development of a multi-user carbon capture, use and storage facility at the proposed Middle Arm industrial precinct estimates the capital cost could be between $7.3 and $7.9 billion, but warned of ‘major uncertainty’ in understanding what additional costs could arise, while an energy peak body said using CCUS to deal with emissions was a “complete fantasy”.
Darwin Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis’s lawyer has told Cyclone Tracy survivor Antony Bullock they will use ratepayer funds to seek an injunction to prevent the publication of a mini-book he has written called The Ultimate Betrayal, which examines the process to select the controversial Cyclone Tracy 50th anniversary memorial sculpture, which follows a previous legal letter that initiated defamation action against him.
Former Barkly Regional Council chief executive Emma Bradbury will not be prosecuted as recommended by a lawyer who investigated the council, the Local Government Minister Steve Edgington has said, adding he will also not order an investigation into other actions at the council that were covered up despite his expressed concern about unresolved allegations of bullying, sexual harassment and mismanagement.
Directors who were at the Northern Aboriginal Australian Justice Agency when the organisation’s chief executive officer was unlawfully sacked have now left the board, with the size of the board cut in half and the constitution changed at its recent annual general meeting, following a threat by the NT Attorney-General to remove funding if the directors did not resign.
Police Commissioner Michael Murphy flew to Singapore on holidays Thursday afternoon, after spending just a few hours in crime-stricken Alice Springs, a police source has said, while NT Police confirmed he was on “scheduled leave”, which came ahead of the Chief Minister also leaving town early.
