Business and Asian Relations Minister Robyn Cahill has travelled to Singapore as part of a Territory trade delegation to “strengthen ties and promote investment opportunities”, but her office would not say who exactly she is meeting with in the Asian city-state.
The Finocchiaro Government has abandoned the Northern Territory’s 2030 renewable electricity target, now criticising the plan as unrealistic and costly despite supporting it in opposition, while a specialist energy analyst who modelled the expense of meeting the target said the government is blatantly lying about the cost and inflating it tenfold.
The CLP Minister responsible for the Darwin Waterfront Corporation has balked at ordering an external investigation into possible misuse of public resources and unresolved conflicts of interest at the taxpayer-funded organisation, choosing instead to keep the matter internal, while questions have also been raised about conflicts of interest with the ICAC and the DWC’s chief executive.
EXCLUSIVE: Senior government executive Andrew Kirkman advocated for a pay rise for Darwin Waterfront Corporation CEO Alastair Shields, despite various conflicts of interest and while he was acting head public servant, six months before the DWC hired Mr Kirkman’s wife for an unadvertised role on a hefty pay packet, a secret government memo obtained by the NT Independent has revealed.
Webjet and Tourism NT are offering discounted flights to Alice Springs for travel during 2025, as part of its ‘Love Letters to Alice’ campaign to boost tourism amidst rising crime rates and declining business confidence.
The CLP Government announced it will move to recover $39 million in unpaid rent from public housing tenants and expediting evictions for those involved in antisocial behaviour, aiming to promote accountability among all tenants, but community groups remain concerned that evicting tenants will not significantly reduce crime at public housing complexes.
The Territory now has a ‘Coordinator’, following a late-night session of Parliament that saw the CLP Government use its numbers to pass the controversial legalisation that will create a new government position with the powers to circumvent existing public safeguards, that Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said would “redefine the way business is done in the Northern Territory”.
A fresh five-year Designated Area Migration Agreement has been established for the Northern Territory, enabling employers to access more overseas workers until June 30, 2030, significantly increasing the number of eligible occupations from 135 to 325.
Romy Carey has been announced as the new chief executive officer of the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association, replacing Will Evans.
Territorians will pay for a high-priced Melbourne lawyer to defend senior government executive Andrew Kirkman’s actions at an upcoming Federal Circuit Court hearing in Darwin, after another court found he threatened to blackmail a female staffer and inflicted a mental health injury on her while engaging in “aggressive” and “threatening” behaviour in 2021.
A new travel connection has been established between the Northern Territory and Malaysia following AirAsia Malaysia’s announcement of its non-stop service from Darwin to Kuala Lumpur, that was made possible with an undisclosed amount of taxpayer funds.
The NT’s land councils are demanding the Finocchiaro Government scrap its Territory Coordinator Bill, claiming it excludes Aboriginal people from decisions about their traditional lands and hinders their ability to protect their heritage, while a dissenting report to Parliament by an MLA states the bill is “not in the best interest of the Northern Territory”.
