EXCLUSIVE: Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker, along with other police executives, made the decision to charge Constable Zach Rolfe with murder, police diary notes show, which directly contradicts the top cop’s claims last week that he had never been in a meeting where the charge was discussed, and was not involved in the process to charge.
The chief health officer has revoked the vaccine passport requirement for people going to sporting events as long as people are not drinking, which allows un-vaccinted people to go the Parramatta Eels versus North Queensland Cowboys game next month.
NT Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker met with senior police executives 13 minutes before detectives investigating the death of Kumanjayi Walker were ordered to arrest and charge Constable Zach Rolfe with murder, notes from senior police show, despite the top cop saying last week he had never been in a meeting where the charge was discussed, and was not involved in the process to charge.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner has said the Territory could be in a COVID-19 “emergency” for a further four years in a confusing explanation for the need for his government’s controversial legislation giving the chief health officer special powers for two years after the end of the health emergency declaration.
ANALYSIS: Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker’s second attempt to explain himself and his political masters this week, in the wake of the most high-profile criminal trial since a former NT police chief went to jail, saw him once again divorced from reality, contradicting his previous statements and leaving us all with more questions than we had before.
An internal notice to members from NT Police Assistant Commissioner Michael White warned officers not to speak to the media about a fellow officer charged with ‘failure to rescue’, reminding them about their code of conduct, breaches of which are used to issue Section 79 disciplinary notices.
The Gunner Government is looking for a consultant to undertake a social impact study on the potential benefits of a Northern Territory AFL team, including how it could enhance the resilience and long-term financial viability of the Territory, while considering the “impact on the level of democratisation in the NT, and the gendered division of production-orientated labour, and the impact on fauna connectivity”.
A petition calling for Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker to be sacked has passed more than 9,000 signatures, while yesterday Chief Minister Michael Gunner said he was an “outstanding” commissioner, when asked if police officers supported the top cop in the wake of the not guilty verdict in the Constable Zach Rolfe trial.
The Gunner Government has quietly accepted the findings of a report that recommends building two off-stream dams with half the capacity of Sydney Habour along the Adelaide River, coupled with recommissioning Manton Dam, as the best way to supply Darwin with water long term, which could cost an estimated $1.45 billion.
Official figures show one NT Police officer has left the force every two days between late November to mid February, keeping the attrition rate roughly double what it was in the 2019-2020 financial year, a period the NT Police Association referred to as having “one of the greatest resignation rates of police officers in NT history”.
UPDATED: NT Police have charged a 38-year-old man with murder after he allegedly shot a 26-year-old man dead near Cutta Cutta caves.
Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker has refused to say whether the original police coronial reports into the shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker by Constable Zach Rolfe will be presented at the upcoming coronial inquiry, or if police are investigating how and why their existence was suppressed from the prosecutor and the Rolfe defence team.
