New HR and well-being staff positions have been advertised by the NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services the same day the NT Independent revealed that an unreleased internal review showed that the tri-service had no defined strategy to deal with mental health, following the suicides of five serving or former police officers in four months.
Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker has told Estimates he has a lot of support within the NT Police force despite nine police union branches calling for a vote of no confidence in him, and once again in a confusing and cryptic public performance, said there were “many mistruths”, “misguided beliefs” and “disgusting commentary” about him in the media, that he could not discuss because of unnamed “processes” being undertaken.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles is being “undemocratic” by continuing her predecessor Michael Gunner’s ban of the NT Independent, the national journalism union has said.
Details of a teenage boy who spent six hours in surgery for injuries sustained after the motorbike he was on was hit by another motorbike on the Finke Desert racetrack, was not made public by the NT Police, despite the media unit issuing a statement about a similar crash earlier in the day, his family has said.
NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services still has no defined strategy for dealing with mental health and well-being, according to an internal report Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker raised at last month’s funeral for an officer who killed themselves, while two other serving and former officers have since taken their lives in recent weeks.
Nine of 12 Territory police regions have now voted for the NT Police Association to hold a vote of confidence in Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker, sources have confirmed to the NT Independent.
The Education Department has been employing Bachelor of Education students who have not finished their degrees to teach unsupervised in Northern Territory classrooms due to a shortage of qualified teachers, Charles Darwin University has revealed following questions from the NT Independent.
The NT Police executive has told all sworn officers an “erroneous belief” by some members that “knife equals gun in all circumstances” was not part of official police training, in a statement that contradicts the sworn testimony in the Constable Zach Rolfe murder trial by the NT Police College’s former officer in charge of defensive tactics training Senior Sergeant Andrew Barram.
Jamie Chalker should stand down as the NT Fire chief executive officer, the United Workers Union NT boss has said, for allegedly telling new recruits on their second day of training “all firefighters are greedy”, and that he was “coming after” one senior fire officer who is also a union delegate.
Officers in a fourth Territory police region have voted for the NT Police Association to hold a Territory-wide vote of confidence in Commissioner Jamie Chalker and Deputy Commissioner Murray Smalpage, sources have told the NT Independent.
The NT Primary Health Care Network said the appointment of Lauren Moss as the Territory’s first Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Minister was a “landmark moment” in Territory health.
A fire in the mechanics workshop of the Thamarrurr Development Corporation on Saturday night caused structural damage, NT Police said, in the latest incident at the troubled community that has been the centre of unrest for months.
