A rocket launching company the previous Labor government invested more than $5 million of public funds into has gone into liquidation, with the Chief Minister mocking Labor again for their poor investment decisions, but refusing to answer questions about whether she would now call a public inquiry into how Labor wasted millions of taxpayer money investing in doomed private business enterprises.
The NT Cattlemen’s Association has been forced to publicly acknowledge it works with Indigenous people and employs women in leadership roles as part of a “diverse and modern” NT cattle industry, following comments from NT Administrator and former NTCA president David Connolly, who claimed on Monday that his racist, sexist and homophobic social media posts, that also included joking about domestic violence and date rape, were a reflection of “the pastoral world”.
AirAsia will discontinue its Darwin to Bali and Kuala Lumpur routes less than a year after launching due to operating below a 70 per cent load factor, making them economically unsustainable, the company has indicated, while the NT Government has pledged to review its taxpayer-funded air subsidy scheme in the wake of the cancelled routes.
Latest business news highlights include a First Nations-led carbon forestry project attracting $81 million in investments, NEXTDC advancing its $120 million data centre project in Darwin, the Aboriginal Tourism Business Accelerator Program kicks off with a new cohort, and a $49.5 million contract awarded for another section of the Tanami Road upgrade.
Administrator David Connolly says he was a “naive cattleman” mixed up in the high stakes world of “agri-politics” when he made controversial social media comments disparaging Aboriginal people, women and the LGBTQI community and joked about domestic violence and date rape, which he said was “pastoral world” talk, while his former employer at Tipperary Station has provided some insight into why he left the station manager role last year.
Outgoing CDU vice-chancellor Scott Bowman’s legacy of a London campus has been scrapped after the university spent nearly $2 million on the flawed project and hired three of Mr Bowman’s mates with taxpayer money to run it, the university has said, while questions to its council about how it allowed the proposal to proceed have been ignored.
A new video showing NT Administrator David Connolly manhandling anti-fracking activist and current independent Nightcliff candidate Phil Scott at a business conference in 2023, leading to a violent shove and water allegedly thrown in Mr Scott’s face, has been described as “deeply disturbing” and conduct unbecoming of an Administrator. WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.
Scott Bowman’s role as vice-chancellor and president of Charles Darwin University has ended, the university has confirmed, amid the growing accreditation scandal that has affected hundreds of TAFE students, Territory businesses and others, with the full scope of the damage still being assessed.
WIN Network has moved to acquire Nine Entertainment’s Darwin television station, heralded by WIN as expanding its presence into the Northern Territory through the “vibrant” Darwin market, which comes just over a year after Nine suddenly axed its Darwin news bulletin and sacked staff.
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.
