EXCLUSIVE: Animal welfare officers seized four dogs registered to Territory Coordinator Stuart Knowles from his rural Darwin property in late 2015 after they were discovered suffering from severe tick infestations and other health problems, a government animal abuse investigation report obtained by the NT Independent shows.
Aboriginal Investment NT has appointed asset consultancy company JANA to manage its two royalty-fed investment funds worth a combined $655 million, with the organisation having previously announced the majority of the initial $180 million it received was to be rolled into one of those investment funds, rather than distributed to small Indigenous business owners.
Darwin Council will not say if developer DCOH will pay the estimated $2.8 million car parking shortfall levy for its share of car parking at the new 21-storey civic centre-office tower, which the council itself is partly financing with the same car parking shortfall levy that other developers have been required to pay.
Santos is expected to commence production at its Barossa offshore gas field off the NT coast later this year, following final federal approval being granted this week.
The Coalition has pledged to lower airfare prices in the NT by lifting cabotage restrictions that prevent foreign airlines from carrying passengers on domestic flights in Darwin, but has not confirmed any airline willing to do that and may find it difficult to attract any, an aviation expert said.
Long-serving government executive Andrew Kirkman suddenly departed his role in the public service Thursday afternoon after 26 years, amid the growing scandal at the Darwin Waterfront Corporation that has led to calls for an independent public inquiry.
Two parking levies that Darwin Council intends to use to build its new civic centre-private office tower with developer DCOH should be scrapped, the Property Council NT has said, because councils have collected and used them largely at their own discretion without transparent governance controls.
A Federal Court application has been lodged seeking to force Darwin Council to hand over documents relating to the deal it struck with developer DCOH to build the controversial 21-storey civic centre-private office tower, along with details of how it is using ratepayer money on the project.
The Middle Arm industrial precinct could end up costing the NT Government $5.5 billion in capital outlays and a further $140 million in annual operating expenditure for the next 50 years, which would affect its ability to fund health and education, a new report by an energy economist for the Environment Centre NT has found, while a federal Labor MP revealed her government’s $1.5 billion equity investment in the project is a long way from being finalised.
An NT mine operator which runs the Warrego mine rehabilitation project near Tennant Creek has been placed into external administration, according to ASIC records.
Darwin Council is using money collected from a public car parking levy to help finance its joint venture with a private developer to build the new Darwin civic centre, in potential breach of the legally-mandated Car Parking Contribution Plan, that will see each public car parking space at the new development cost three times more than previously planned, and which will provide 202 public parking spaces instead of the 1800 pledged.
Tourism Minister Marie-Clare Boothby has refused to comment on an internal “briefing” she received last week into allegations of mismanaged conflicts of interest and possible misuse of public resources at the Darwin Waterfront Corporation, after previously claiming she would “make some decisions” about the matter.
