Faced with massively declining student enrolment numbers, budget deficits, staff sackings, departmental funding cuts and a massive bill for a Darwin city campus it can’t afford, Charles Darwin University vice-chancellor Scott Bowman announced on Friday that CDU will “establish a London-based study centre” with the aim of “exploring transnational education” to save the beleaguered university.
The first lots of the Holtze land release will hit the market soon, offering first-home buyers property starting at $189,000.
EXCLUSIVE: The NT’s Director of Public Prosecutions created new jobs in his office that were ultimately filled by his son and daughter-in-law, but Lloyd Babb says he was not involved in recruitment for the positions that weren’t publicly advertised and claims he declared a conflict of interest upon learning that his family members just happened to apply for the mysterious jobs.
A decision on whether to approve the 21-storey Darwin Council civic and commercial office tower hybrid development has been deferred by the Development Consent Authority, with the agency asking the proponents to explain how the building fits in to the historic precinct in which it would sit and how expanses of blank walls and reflective glare would be minimised.
The CLP Government has announced the latest round of a grant program which provides up to $3 million to co-fund projects that improve exploration efforts, assist in discovering and developing resources, and add to “geoscientific knowledge gaps”, across the Territory.
Tourism NT has launched a national campaign to attract Australians to “road trip differently” in the Territory this year, which will see “paid media exposure” and a “unique promotion with Uber”, as well as “on-ground activations” at interstate caravan and camping shows.
EXCLUSIVE: The publicly-funded Darwin Waterfront Corporation hired board member Andrew Kirkman’s wife for a key role that was not advertised late last year and that came with an undisclosed hefty pay packet, the NT Independent can reveal, raising questions about undeclared conflicts of interest at the corporation and a cosy culture of political appointments and nepotism.
Darwin Private Hospital will close its maternity and birthing services in two months with the Health Minister Steve Edgington saying he had hoped Healthscope, the company which owns the hospital, would give expectant families at least nine months notice to allow them to properly plan their births.
UPDATED: The Finocchiaro CLP Government will spend more than $8 million to build a motocross track at Hidden Valley, despite the project’s cost blowing out to five times the original estimate provided by Labor, stating it could not end a contract out of fear of “wasting millions”, so will “redirect” $6.5 million to fully fund the project.
Kingpin Darwin is set to launch a new, never-before-seen dart-throwing experience that’s being dubbed “Augmented Reality Bullseye Darts”, with the public invited to experience the new technology starting on Saturday, with a free gift for the first thousand players.
A senior NT public servant on an executive contract dishonestly claimed sick days while he was gambling at a casino, on fishing trips and golfing, which amounted to “corrupt conduct” the ICAC has found after a four-year long investigation, but chose not to name the executive or the government department involved.
The independence of the Northern Territory Auditor-General’s office has been identified as “the most vulnerable to executive influence” of any jurisdiction in the country, according to an independent review of the AG’s office, with the current public sector watchdog calling for funding pressures and internal system problems to be addressed by the Finocchiaro Government to ensure its crucial independence continues.
