Federal Finance Minister Katy Gallagher says the Finocchiaro CLP Government is gaining a reputation as being “very difficult to work with” following a meeting on Friday that the Federal Labor Government scheduled to discuss why the NT was leaving tens of millions of dollars on the table in unclaimed flood disaster relief payments and why other money it has collected from the Commonwealth is not being spent on domestic violence prevention, remote housing and in other crucial areas.

The Finocchiaro CLP Government will relocate residents of the Batten Road YiSSA transitional housing facility to Batchelor as part of a costly plan that will see a new repurposed demountable facility built that will also accommodate remote flood evacuees, but the decision has irked Batchelor residents and its local council who say the government did not consult with anyone there before announcing the “bad idea”.

The NT News’ coverage of gas development in the Beetaloo Sub-basin was the focus of national scrutiny Monday night as Media Watch criticised the newspaper’s reporting as “cheerleading for gas companies and the government” that has repeatedly failed to provide the whole picture, while noting the paper takes in untold amounts of advertising money from industry and the CLP Government. All of it has raised questions over whose interests the newspaper is serving.

Territorians will have the option of a digital driver license by the end of this year, the NT Government has said, billing it as a “secure and convenient way” to carry and display licences on smartphones, but security concerns have previously been raised by cybersecurity experts about the potential for hacking of personal information and surveillance.

Gas will start flowing from the Beetaloo Sub-basin into the NT’s electricity grid starting Tuesday, marking a pivotal shift from years of resource exploration to production, but the Chief Minister has warned Territorians not to expect to see any reductions in their power bills.