Darwin Lord Mayor Peter Styles says council has an “obligation” to private Darwin businesses to “open doors for them” in China, which is why it’s necessary for him, council chief executive Simone Saunders and two other staffers to charge ratepayers an undisclosed amount for a trade mission to Guangzhou in December that he also confusingly said on Tuesday is “not necessarily [about] trade”. Potential conflicts of interest with Mr Styles’ personal business interests, which were raised last week, have still not been addressed.

Trade and Business Minister Robyn Cahill, who pitched the Northern Territory as the “data centre capital of the globe”, was in Texas last month on a trade mission when the state’s Republican Governor ordered a sudden moratorium on data centres, citing the need to investigate environmental impacts and ordering no further government incentives because “Texans must come first”, but Ms Cahill’s office has refused to say what she learned on the taxpayer-funded trip.

Self-described “international trade and development consultant” Peter Styles will lead a nine-day, ratepayer-funded international trade delegation to China and Vietnam later this year in his role as Darwin Lord Mayor, which he says will strengthen international partnerships, promote Darwin as a globally-connected tropical capital, and create opportunities for strategic collaboration across Asia, but council will not say how much the trip is expected to cost.

The Limmen Bight Marine Park has been extended by 185sq kms, an increase of 20 per cent, which the government says will help support the world’s largest dugong population while protecting marine habitats and promoting sustainable tourism.

Twenty-four Territory business and industry bodies will travel to Texas with Trade and Business Minister Robyn Cahill for an unspecified period of time and at an unknown cost to taxpayers to make their case to US-based companies for benefits from Beetaloo Sub-basin gas-related projects in the NT, the Minister says. The total cost to taxpayers for the Texas trip was not disclosed, however Ms Cahill’s office “estimated” it will cost $27,000 alone for her to attend the voyage.