EXCLUSIVE: Another Charles Darwin University program has been called into question amid the recently disclosed TAFE accreditation failure, with the Bachelor of Humanitarian Aid and Development course the subject of an external review following multiple student complaints into delayed fieldwork placements, over-enrolled classes and serious staffing issues, including allegations responsible instructors were not properly qualified.
Outgoing Charles Darwin University vice-chancellor Scott Bowman will remain in his position until the end of April on ‘gardening leave’ the university has confirmed, which will see him paid in the vicinity of $125,000 over that time, but the university would not say what type of payout he may receive after signing a five year contract extension in late November that was worth as much as $3.5 million.
Health Minister Steve Edgington has refused to say whether the Finocchiaro Government will fund the second half of the controversial NT Health Acacia IT system which has cost $320 million so far, instead hand-balling the issue to bureaucrats who told a parliamentary committee it was being shelved pending new funding approvals, while the head of the responsible department reportedly told a parliamentary inquiry last week they had no estimates for how much it would cost to complete the system.
Former Australian Federal Police commissioner Reece Kershaw has been hired by St John Ambulance NT in a new undisclosed role, following the appointment of a new chief executive, while both the NT branch and St John Ambulance Australia declined to respond to an allegation that a preferred CEO candidate was put forward by the federal body and rejected by the NT organisation.
Darwin’s property and juvenile crime police unit, Strike Force Trident, is being moved from the Casuarina Police Station to be absorbed by the Crime and Intelligence Command at the Peter McCauley Centre, the police union has said, a move the man who established the unit said could see members siphoned off to other parts of the agency due to political pressures, leading to a potential increase in property crime.
Half of the controversial $320 million NT Health Acacia patient record IT system is being shelved pending new funding approvals, bureaucrats have told a parliamentary committee, despite their own previous warnings that not fully implementing it risks a “catastrophic IT systems failure” that could disrupt health services.
St John Ambulance NT has announced Deputy Chief Minister Gerard Maley’s chief of staff Abigail Trewin as the new chief executive of the troubled organisation, with the politician paying tribute to her in a press release announcing her appointment but failing to disclose she was working for him.
Police Commissioner Martin Dole has appointed Commander James J. O’Brien as acting deputy commissioner, leap-frogging him over four assistant commissioners and three acting assistant commissioners, in a move labelled “very odd” and a “massive slap in the face to all the staff ranked above him” by a former officer, but described as a “common occurrence” by the top cop.
Three senior NT Police officers, including two executives, were issued with serious discipline breach notices for alleged racist comments during a recent senior management meeting, with one of the accused identified as one of five officers who lied in a statutory declaration to the Kumanjayi Walker coronial inquest, sources have told the NT Independent.
A Holtze Prison inmate is being treated for a less serious form of diphtheria, the Northern Territory Centre for Disease Control has confirmed.
Basketball Australia will not comment on the findings of its national integrity unit’s investigation into questionable proposed income streams at the now-defunct Darwin Basketball Association, while former DBA chair Gary Shipway has not responded to questions, with his employer, News Corp, stating his role overseeing the financially collapsed association is unrelated to his current role as deputy editor of the NT News.
Former NT Police and Australian Federal Police commissioner Reece Kershaw has been appointed the interim chief executive officer of the troubled St John Ambulance NT organisation until the recruitment process for the role is finished, the organisation said.
