The Federal Government has announced $250 million in renewable energy spending for the Northern Territory, which the Australian Conservation Foundation said it expects will in part go toward connecting solar plants to the grid that have sat unconnected for years, following warnings from the NT Utilities Commission of widespread blackouts starting over the next three years without investment in the system.
Business highlights this week include the NT Government signing minerals and energy agreements with energy giant JOGMEC, Informa Connect hosting Northern Territory Resources Week, and Master Builders NT scouting for a new chief executive, plus more energy news.
The NT Government must review and change emergency powers that permit police to suspend liquor licenses of venues for two days, Hospitality NT has said, after Alice Springs businesses alleged police are unfairly targeting them.
The NT Government awarded 17 contracts in the last week to a total of $5.71 million with the largest being awarded to Blueprint (NT) Pty Ltd for Urban Public Housing – Construct 6 x 1 Bedroom Dwellings – 74 Peko Road, Tennant Creek Region.
Due to escalating costs and dwindling customer interest, the Skyline Ferris wheel will not be returning to Darwin’s Stokes Hill Wharf this Dry season.
DIPL chief executive Andrew Kirkman has been referred to the Public Employment Commissioner following a court ruling that found he engaged in “an aggressive, threatening and inappropriate manner” toward a female staffer, while an internal investigation in 2021 recommended forbidding recording conversations in the department after Mr Kirkman was exposed.
SECRET RECORDING: Department of Infrastructure chief executive Andrew Kirkman slammed his fists on his desk, yelled at a female staffer and said her career would be “destroyed” if she appealed his decision to move her out of the office, a secret recording aired in a Work Health Court hearing has revealed.
Chief Minister Eva Lawler says ministerial staffers can solicit political donations for Territory Labor, but only after work hours, as the NT Electoral Commission released the latest political donation returns, that show Tamboran Resources is Labor’s largest donor ahead of the 2024 general election. SEE THE FULL LIST
In the last week the NT Government has released 10 tenders, including Relocation and/or Collection, Storage and Disposal of Abandoned Vehicles on NTG Controlled Roads for a Period of 36 Months in Alice Springs Region.
EXCLUSIVE: Labor campaign mastermind and federal gas lobbyist consultant Gerard Richardson was hired by former chief minister Natasha Fyles at considerable cost to Territory taxpayers, before she was forced to resign in scandal and his contract terminated.
The NT Government awarded 44 contracts in the last week to a total of $15.3 million with the largest being awarded to SNAICC – National Voice for our Children (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation) for Reforming the Child and Family Sector for a Period of 12 Months.
The Lawler Government is in discussions with two unspecified “potential green energy projects” to take the place of Fortescue Future Industries at the controversial Middle Arm industrial area, it has claimed, while the Federal Government has said it still intends to spent $1.5 billion on infrastructure at the site, but a final business case would have to completed before the project is formally assessed for final funding.
