A person accused of a crime in the Northern Territory will no longer be able to access legal aid and those on bail facing criminal offences, including children as young as 10, will also no longer be covered, part of “drastic action” taken by Legal Aid NT director Catherine Voumard to save money outlined in a letter to lawyers.
The Department of Business says it is looking for “an appropriate course of action” to deal with the Darwin Basketball Association’s ongoing governance and financial failures, while the association incorrectly told members that media were forbidden under its constitution to attend its recent annual general meeting, where it produced financial statements showing its auditors once again raising questions over the group’s solvency.
Auditors have warned the Darwin Basketball Association is at risk of going under for the third year in a row, this time due to a more than $600,000 cash shortfall for the year, with the association blaming Basketball NT for its situation but claiming it is confident in its solvency partly based on the $9,000 it pulled in from a weekly bingo night at the Casuarina Club, a figure the auditors have also called into question.
Test results from early 2024 show barriers underneath the military fuel tanks at East Arm to prevent leaks were ineffective, the Environment Centre NT has said, which was confirmed by the Department of Lands, Planning and Environment in a letter sent three weeks after Environment Minister Joshua Burgoyne approved the tanks for use and they began to be filled with jet fuel.
A Darwin hostel manager has questioned whether the Finocchiaro Government would care more about her if she had been killed during a violent bashing allegedly at the hands of a man who was described as “not safe to be released into the general community”, who was booked into her hostel by a government contractor without disclosing his violent history, adding the government was “causing crime” by neglecting its responsibilities.
EXCLUSIVE: The manager of a Darwin hostel says she is lucky to be alive after being repeatedly kicked in the head by a man who was previously described by a psychiatrist as “not safe to be released into the general community”, but who she said was booked into her accommodation by a government contractor through the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency without disclosing his long history of violence.
Two Northern Territory Government departments have refused to explain the contradictions contained in an internal government report into a breach of fracking legislation by Empire Energy – now called Beetaloo Energy Australia – which involved one department sending a letter to “encourage behaviour change” after considering prosecution of the matter, while the other considered the company had done nothing wrong but still took action “to ensure it does not happen again”.
A 4WD owned by a member of the public allegedly rammed into the side of a stolen ute with children inside, including a 16-year-old driver, in an attempt to stop it after a two-hour dangerous driving rampage that included a campdraft camp in Tennant Creek where it almost ran over three small children, sources have told the NT Independent, while NT Police has provided an account of how the stolen ute was stopped that does not match the photographs of the damaged vehicles.
Facebook posts showing Public Employment Minister Jo Hersey attending union protest rallies against the previous Labor government’s public service pay freeze have contradicted her claims the union failed to fight against the 2022 pay freeze, but the Minister is now criticising unions for donating to Labor’s 2024 election campaign, which all comes amid a bitter battle over a new contract for public servants.
Three men have been charged for allegedly stealing up to 400 head of cattle from a station in central Australia in August, NT Police said.
Voluntary assisted dying legislation should be adopted in the Northern Territory, a new report by the government’s Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee has found, but it comes with 86 recommendations including instructions on how to draft the legislation, while the CLP Government has given no indication of when it will be introduced to Parliament.
An internal government report into a fracking legislation breach by Empire Energy – now called Beetaloo Energy Australia – shows that while the NT Government first recommended prosecuting the company because a fine was considered an insufficient deterrent, it later decided to send a letter to “encourage behaviour change” instead.
