ANALYSIS: Newly sworn-in Administrator Hugh Heggie is indelibly intertwined with some of the most controversial policies, and by extension legislation, the NT has ever seen, however as this government ordered, we will not get to see the reasons why the former CHO made the decisions he did for two years. The Administrator is intended to be apolitical – so why does the Chief Minister and friends get to select their boss of bosses and what are the problems this raises for the NT?
Barkly Regional Council Mayor Jeffrey McLaughlin has been charged for the second time in less than five months after allegedly driving with marijuana in his system again, sources have told the NT Independent.
Police are looking for “up to seven” young people who they allege held up the Hibiscus Tavern with an “edged weapon” and stole alcohol.
The Independent Commissioner Against Corruption has confirmed he will release his review into the troubled Batchelor Institute when Parliament resumes sittings, while an Institute whistleblower called for the governing council to be terminated and replaced with an interim administrator after losing its seventh chief executive officer since August 2017.
More than a hundred public bus services were cancelled in Darwin and Palmerston on Monday, the Transport Workers Union said, because bus operators could not find enough drivers as the job is poorly paid and dangerous.
The Fair Work Commission has rejected Charles Darwin University’s enterprise agreement because it said up to 151 casual employees who were ineligible to vote were inappropriately provided with access to the ballot.
Barkly Regional Council has refused to release details of a review into the council’s “people systems” and “business processes” undertaken by an outside law firm, which was announced in the wake of media reports of a “flood of resignations amid bullying and mismanagement claims” primarily focused on CEO Emma Bradbury and Mayor Jeffrey McLaughlin.
NT Police can now ban people from Casuarina Square Shopping Centre and some surrounding areas for 14 days for as minor offences as swearing or singing a dirty song, but also for being violent when drunk, involved in a crime, “displaying anti-social behaviour” or refusing to leave a licensed premises, after Alcohol Policy Minister Natasha Fyles declared it a high risk area on advice she said she received from a mystery “social order” body the government has never disclosed the make up of.
The Federal Government’s petroleum regulator has said it discovered Santos had plans to start work on its Barossa gas export pipeline next month, during an un-announced inspection of its headquarters before Christmas, and issued a directive that the company must identify any underwater Indigenous cultural heritage places along the pipeline route, which follows a December court victory by a traditional owner.
UPDATED: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrived in Alice Springs on Tuesday to hold meetings with community groups and police about the ongoing crime crisis that has exploded as a national issue in recent days, while the Chief Minister has announced new alcohol restrictions for everyone in Alice Springs for the next three months.
An 18-year-old man has been charged with two aggravated break-ins, as well as aggravated robbery, and aggravated assault for alleged crimes in Alice Springs, NT Police said, but it has given no details of the victim of the alleged assault, any injuries, or how the charged man was alleged to have assaulted them.
The administrator of the Action for Alice Facebook page was told by Assistant Police Commissioner Martin Dole that he may have committed a crime for publishing info about an indecent assault in the middle of the afternoon in Alice, but the senior police officer may have breached the criminal code himself by sending the text, a former senior police officer said.
