An NT prisons contract awarded to a private security company the Corrections Minister’s adviser previously worked for was handled independently of his office, the Minister has said, but he has refused to say how much it will cost taxpayers, while a privacy law expert said it was only in “extreme circumstances” that governments should hide the cost of contracts, with this contract not meeting the threshold.
Planning Minister Joshua Burgoyne has defunded volunteer community group the Planning Action Network, declaring the provisions of the planning legislation, which he recently weakened by removing third party reviews from, were robust and that there was already sufficient public consultation.
The Finocchiaro Government has signed a secret deal with private security company G4S to provide prison officers, with the cost of the contract and the process used to award it not made public.
The redeveloped land around the controversial Cyclone Tracy memorial at Bundilla Beach cannot be opened to the public because the council is waiting for a toilet to arrive from Sydney, which could take another two months, Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis said, while warning the public to use the toilet properly when it arrives.
A decision on whether to approve the 21-storey Darwin Council civic and commercial office tower hybrid development has been deferred by the Development Consent Authority, with the agency asking the proponents to explain how the building fits in to the historic precinct in which it would sit and how expanses of blank walls and reflective glare would be minimised.
Charles Darwin University vice-chancellor Scott Bowman was given a pay rise in the same year the university reduced its profitability by close to $40 million despite increasing revenue, CDU financial documents show.
Darwin Private Hospital will close its maternity and birthing services in two months with the Health Minister Steve Edgington saying he had hoped Healthscope, the company which owns the hospital, would give expectant families at least nine months notice to allow them to properly plan their births.
A proposed three per cent pay rise for all public servants by the Finocchiaro Government was described by the police union as an insult, while the Community and Public Sector Union said skilled workers were leaving the public service and the Northern Territory altogether for better pay and conditions elsewhere.
“Special” corrections officers whose training requirements have not been publicly defined will be able to work in Northern Territory prisons following the Finocchiaro Government passing “urgent” legislative changes through Parliament this week, but the United Workers Union has warned the move has opened up the prison system to private labour hire, with a petition being circulated calling for a vote of no confidence in the Corrections Commissioner.
A woman who yesterday allegedly stabbed a woman in back of the head at an Alice Springs licensed premises, and then stabbed a man in the arm and upper body, is still on the run, NT Police said.
The Finocchiaro Government will cut a total of $200,000 in funding per year to the Environment Centre NT and the Arid Lands Environment Centre over the group’s legal challenges to government decisions on fracking and water allocations, with the Top End group calling the government a “puppet for big business” that is “running scared from scrutiny and accountability”.
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.
