A man has been arrested after allegedly holding up the United Chemists Pharmacy in Tennant Creek with a gun, NT Police have said, claiming the incident was a “one-off” event, but multiple sources have told the NT Independent the pharmacy has been held up on at least one other occasion in the last two weeks.
A man accused of riotous behaviour and throwing a “chemical” at police officers during an anti-mandate rally last year was found not guilty on five charges in the Darwin Local Court on Tuesday, after the prosecution failed to meet a court ordered deadline to disclose evidence.
Youth workers covering shifts at Holtze prison on their day off from their jobs at Don Dale youth prison because of a prison officers strike has been criticised by their union who called for the plan to be scrapped, saying it is “dangerous” due to the youth workers not having the proper qualifications and relevant training.
Witnesses have provided accounts of recent serious crimes in the southern region of the Northern Territory that contradict details made public by the NT Police, showing them to be more serious than reported, and with police seeming to suppress important details from the public.
NT Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley has requested Territory Families youth workers to fill in at Holtze prison when prison officers go on a 24-hour stop-work on Monday, a departmental document shows, and follows on from Estimates hearings in late June where the Corrections Minister refused to disclose staff shortages in the department.
The NT Police top brass has directed a staffer to investigate the petty vandalism of a small number of federal election candidate corflutes – which they describe as “criminal damage” – that were repurposed with the slogan “Integrity matters, sack Chalker now”.
An independent investigation to determine exactly what hundreds of tonnes of toxic rubble dumped at Minmarama Park is made up of – and how it will be moved – should have been completed by now, a government document states, but the Minister has not revealed how much it will cost to move or whether taxpayers will be paying for it.
Twenty-five men have been arrested for allegedly being involved in riots in Wadeye, with 10 having been remanded in custody to appear in Darwin Local Court, NT Police have said.
The WA Police Union has blamed the “exodus” from the Western Australian police force on management and culture, with a record number of officers leaving, at an attrition rate of 4.6 per cent over the last year, compared to the 10 per cent for the Northern Territory over a similar period.
The Fyles Government plan to help reduce crime in Alice Springs, including housing police and Territory Families, Housing and Communities staff in the one building, has been described as “ignorant” and showing a “complete lack of responsibility,” by independent MLA for Araluen Robyn Lambley, and comes after it was revealed in Budget Estimates the government has no single documented plan to fight crime in the town.
NT cattle stations owner Rallen Australia said it obtained a temporary halt on road works by fracking company Tamboran Resources Limited on its land, until its stay application can be heard by the NT Supreme Court heard on July 15, but the miner later said the interim stop work had been lifted and misconceived as the company did have an immediate intention to undertake works on that track.
The establishment of First Nation Governments that would allow individual Indigenous groups to be self-governing and law making as ‘domestic dependent nations’, as well as a Treaty and Truth Commission, and an Aboriginal Ombudsman, are key recommendations made in the Northern Territory Treaty Commission final report released today.
