Education and Training Minister Jo Hersey has called on the Australian Skills Quality Authority to explain how the national regulator re-registered Charles Darwin University’s TAFE program last September without picking up on the massive accreditation failures that has now led to hundreds of students needing to resit their qualifications, amid continued calls for Scott Bowman’s resignation.
A federal inquiry into Charles Darwin University’s governance practices and general “competency” should be ordered immediately and vice-chancellor Scott Bowman’s “head must roll”, an independent MLA has said, in the wake of revelations nearly 400 CDU TAFE students and others were graduated without proper qualifications.
A growing scandal at Charles Darwin University that saw it graduate an estimated 130 carpentry apprenticeship students without the proper qualifications is now estimated to affect “an additional 250 students” who may have to resit their qualifications in other areas, with the number expected to rise to potentially thousands of students, the NT Independent understands.
UPDATED: The Independent Commissioner Against Corruption has disclosed the findings of its investigation into allegations NT WorkSafe’s electrical inspectors unit misused statutory powers, failed to manage conflicts of interest and failed to disclose secondary employment with commercial electrical companies the workplace regulator may have investigated.
Half of the controversial $320 million NT Health Acacia patient record IT system is being shelved pending new funding approvals, bureaucrats have told a parliamentary committee, despite their own previous warnings that not fully implementing it risks a “catastrophic IT systems failure” that could disrupt health services.
The NT Government’s decision to approve a 30-year water licence to Fortune Agribusiness for its Singleton Station project will now be considered by the High Court, following a challenge by native title holders from the Mpwerempwer Aboriginal Corporation.
UPDATED: A 47-year-old worker at Newmont’s Tanami gold mine in remote Central Australia has died, the company has confirmed, while investigations are underway.
Hibiscus Shopping Centre in Darwin’s northern suburbs is being offered for sale for the first time in more than 40 years, the sales agent has said.
The NT CLP Government has announced the extension of the HomeGrown build grants program, which will now run through September 2027, which it said will offer long-term stability for families, builders, and investors, with 400 grants having been approved for first-time home buyers to put towards building or buying their first home amid a “difficult time” to enter the NT housing market.
The Finocchiaro CLP Government’s continued refusal to improve oversight of its spending by strengthening the Auditor-General’s independence, powers and resourcing has led to a “significant gap in public accountability”, the Centre for Public Integrity says, and could lead to further systemic misuse of public funds going undetected.
China’s ambassador to Australia has warned that China “has an obligation to protect” Chinese companies’ interests overseas, indicating trade between the two nations “and that part of Australia” particularly will be affected if the Darwin Port is reclaimed by Australia, a day after the Prime Minister said commercial negotiations were continuing to overturn the 2015 lease by the NT Government that he said was not in Australia’s national interest.
The owners of the Yeperenye Shopping Centre in Alice Springs are planning a $27 million redevelopment of the facility, which will include a new supermarket tenant, and a rooftop restaurant.
