Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro on Monday ruled out referring the now $850 million Labor-led ship lift project for a proper investigation, after a parliamentary inquiry late last year found the deal to build the facility for the Paspaley Group lacked transparency, any trace of public accountability and was carried out with questionable public benefit involving multiple unexplained contract variations.

The refusal to refer the controversial use of public funds by the previous Labor government for investigation now marks the fourth matter Ms Finocchiaro has publicly criticised the previous government for wasting public money on but has refused to take action over, including the amphibious aircraft debacle, NT Beverages and the rocket launching company.

The NT Independent asked Ms Finocchiaro about the ship lift matter at a rare press conference Monday morning, that was only the third press conference she has held all of this year, outside of flood updates.

Ms Finocchiaro said earlier Monday on radio that the government’s “hands were tied” with the ship lift project that blew out in costs from $100 million to $850 million as of this financial year.

The NT Independent asked why she did not seek independent legal advice when the CLP-dominated Public Accounts Committee recommended the project proceed despite finding potential misconduct connected to the previous government’s dealings.

“What we know is that the project is literally half-out of the ground [now] and so finishing this project [is] in accordance with the Public Accounts Committee, [that] made a very clear recommendation,” she said.

“What we want to do is make sure that that project sees Territory value by creating job opportunities and business opportunities for local Territorians.”

But the PAC never sought legal advice and relied on the previous Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics staff telling them the contract with Paspaley could not be broken without having to pay the company $600 million.

There was no evidence provided to back that claim up and the committee did not call crucial witnesses such as Labor ministers who approved the contracts or former DIPL chief executive Andrew Kirkman.

Ms Finocchiaro was asked why the PAC’s findings of possible misconduct involving the previous government would not be referred for a proper, independent investigation.

“So, certainly contracts are signed under the previous Labor government, and we’ve inherited that, which is why we’ve been really focused on making this the best ship lift that the country has ever seen,” she said.

She later added that creating a proposed new marine precinct near the ship lift, which is supposed to attract private investment, would help bring more public benefit, but did not explain why Territorians have not been told how the cost blowouts on the ship lift occurred and how public money was used.

“We have been very clear about the future of the ship lift and we need to make it the best ship lift we’ve ever seen,” Ms Finocchiaro said again instead of answering the question.

The Public Accounts Committee said in its report last November that it could not conclude how suspicious contracts were approved or varied due to current department staff claiming they were not involved and that the contracts were all protected under “cabinet in confidence” provisions.

It was also revealed that the Auditor-General’s warning in 2024 to commission a cost-benefit analysis of the project was ignored by the department, which reportedly told the Auditor-General it would develop one after the project was completed.

“Fundamentally, at no point in time has there been a business case developed for this project,” the committee said in its report.

“This means that the standards of transparency and public accountability have not been maintained, nor is there clarity regarding whether the project maximises outcomes and public benefit for the significant public expenditure.”

Taxpayers on hook for ship lift with no direct return on investment

Under the undisclosed agreement with Paspaley, the NT Government will build the now $850 million ship lift for the company to operate for profit with taxpayers receiving no direct revenue once the project is complete, scheduled for next March. The total project will cost Territory taxpayers more than $2 billion over the life of the project, with no direct return and $35 million a year in interest rates to pay back a loan from NAIF to build it.

The government is also paying for head works at the new Northern Marine Complex at East Arm, but is hoping to attract private investment for that project which was identified as a “development area” under the Territory Coordinator Act.

The ship lift’s cost blowouts were described by one economist as the biggest blowout in the history of Australia infrastructure.

PAC chair and CLP backbencher Clinton Howe wrote in the report last year that the ship lift deal is “the greatest transfer of public to private wealth in the Northern Territory’s history”.

But the CLP does not believe the matter should be investigated along with Labor’s other questionable projects funded at taxpayer’s expense.

That includes $10 million for NT Beverages, a water bottling company that went in administration months after receiving the taxpayer cash with taxpayers left on the hook for millions. An ICAC investigation was ended in July 2023, with the then commissioner stating he had jurisdictional limitations to follow the money once it went to an arm’s length body the government created called the Infrastructure Development Fund.

The ICAC called on then-chief minister Natasha Fyles to further investigate, which she ignored.

In 2021, the Gunner Labor government invested $10 million into Amphibian Aerospace Industries, claiming the investment of taxpayer money would create 300 jobs and contribute more than $100 million to the NT economy by the end of the decade, by creating an aerospace manufacturing industry.

By November 2024, the project was officially put “in limbo” with a $2 million loan reportedly recovered from the company, but another $3 million in equity remaining outstanding.

In 2022, the Labor government invested $5.4 million into Equatorial Launch Australia, the company that launched three NASA rockets from its Arnhem Space Centre, but the company was put into liquidation last year leaving taxpayers out of pocket for the $5 million investment.

Ms Finocchiaro has publicly criticised those failed investments but has previously refused to refer any of them for investigation.