NT Greens Member for Nightcliff Kat McNamara was referred on urgency to Parliament’s disciplinary body last night by the CLP Government for hosting a “casual information session” in her electorate office, that the CLP allege was a misuse of her taxpayer-funded office and part of a plot to recruit new Greens members.
CLP backbencher Andrew Mackay suspended the business of Parliament on Thursday night to urgently refer McNamara to the Privileges Committee for an immediate investigation “into the issue of electorate office entitlements for the purpose of electioneering”.
He told Parliament at 6:45pm that McNamara was holding the “casual information session and introduction to the NT Greens event” that started at 5:30pm at her electorate office “at shop five, Pavonia Place, which is paid for by the NT taxpayer”.
The referral of McNamara for disciplinary action comes while the CLP is under fire for using the taxpayer-funded white car chauffeur service to attend party political events that it refused to order an investigation into or publicly explain.
Mr Mackay, a rookie MLA from the rural area, said he was concerned the event at McNamara’s office was for the “alleged” purpose of “driving recruitment for the NT Greens political party”, which he said breached MLA entitlements and the MLA code of conduct.
He then tabled “three screenshots of the event” that was happening at the time, but which were not uploaded to Parliament’s tabled papers website last night.
“The event was advertised as being able to just talk about decision-making, policies, election fundraising and more,” Mr Mackay told Parliament.
“On the event page it talks about the ways you can get involved with ‘our growing movement’.
“It is incredibly important that we use our electorate offices for their purpose, helping our constituents. The use [by] the NT Greens to have a political event hosted at a taxpayer-funded office is unacceptable.”
Speaker Robyn Lambley then asked if anyone else wanted to speak on the motion to refer McNamara to the Privileges Committee, but nobody took up the offer.
She said she contacted McNamara “around 20 minutes after I received notification of this motion” and informed her it was occurring.
McNamara was not present in Parliament at the time.
The NT Greens said on Friday morning that she was not at the event and was instead “travelling interstate for a family matter”.
Despite not speaking in Parliament at the time of the motion, CLP Leader of Government Business Steve Edgington released a statement at 8:30pm last night, reiterating Mr Mackay’s claims of the “alleged misuse of her taxpayer funded electorate office for electioneering”.
“After two weeks of relentless lectures from the Labor-Greens-Johnston alliance about the use of taxpayer resources, it is now alleged the NT Greens have been caught with their hand in the cookie jar,” Mr Edgington said.
“The Privileges Committee will now investigate and determine the appropriate course of action regarding this alleged serious breach of public trust.
“The Member for Nightcliff has been absent from Parliament all afternoon – failing to represent her electorate and instead appearing to choose a NT Greens party event over her duty to represent the people she was elected to serve.”
NT Greens convenor Jonathan Parry said McNamara was not at the event and was travelling interstate for the “family matter”.
“Advice received prior to the event indicated that it was within acceptable uses of the electorate office,” Mr Parry said.
“We have sought to clarify this this morning.”
The CLP’s move to refer McNamara to the Privileges Committee follows her attempt to raise a censure motion against Deputy Chief Minister Gerard Maley yesterday for his “ongoing threatening, intimidating and aggressive behaviour” towards women in Parliament’s crossbench that was shot down by Mr Edgington before any debate.
It also follows Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro’s refusal to release the rules around the use of the ministerial white car chauffeur service, which documents show she and other ministers used to attend party political events including at a local pizza shop and golf club during parliamentary sittings.
Ms Finocchiaro said last week that Education Minister Jo Hersey had breached the rules by taking a personal trip in the car service, but again refused to make those rules public, stating that the public could have “confidence” that they were being followed despite the breach.
NOTE: This story was updated to include comments from the NT Greens
Do I understand the situation correctly? The highly respected CLP are going after a superbly vocal, passionate about corruption, MLA, who calls out the corruption without fear of favor, who is, for all practical purposes, the Only opposition in Parliament, while the actual well-funded ALP Opposition just lies low and quiet due to a deficit in talent and IQ points?
Meanwhile, the CLP Dictatorship in less than 14 Months in office, have proudly accomplished:
The highly respected Education Minister, with fabulous hair, takes a gifted flight from a local businessman, not knowing her duties and obligations as an MLA or as a Minister of the Crown.
The sage Attorney General misuses the free Politician’s car service.
The not-so-law-educated attorney General blunders her way into her relatives’ fraught, highly controversial manslaughter/hit and run case, damaging her shredded reputation further.
The same Attorney General has been referred to the marketing organization called NT ICAC by a vocal Victorian Senator.
The same, not-so-genuineness and highly non-photogenic Attorney General cannot string a sentence together to defend a damning and nationally shaming Four Corners expose on the Good Old Darwin Boys running the National Gambling Industry, confirming the Territory is a failed state.
The highly respected Opposition Leader misuses the free Politician car service and does not resign, unlike an Opposition leader from the Civilised South would.
The chief minister has a personal photographer. The other CLP MLAs look dishevelled and, admittedly, some are downright frightening when seen in full sun.
The Well Photographed Chief Minister’s (WPCM) husband has a ton of unanswered questions about lucrative pay deals at the Waterfront and was swept away in a shameful Parliament chat (confirming the NT’s failed state status).
The WPCM husband has not disclosed what she knew about her husbands lucrative Waterfront pay deal.
The WPCM gives an Official “Eff You” to all Territorians and refuses to disclose the rules pertaining to the use of the free Politician car service, thinking she has survived the issue.
The WPCM awarded her father-in-law an Order of Australia, something he was not awarded in the many, many years when she was not the WPCM!
The WPCM runs from the media to keep up the tradition set by Booted Out Gunner and Escorted From Parliament Fyles.
The WPCM strategically hires the partner of a senior NT NEWS journalist on the fifth floor.
The WPCM allegedly kicks out a respected indigenous local and actual great gentleman and strategically puts in the not-so-educated, hot behind the collar (his own words) husband of a Radio show presenter into a $100,000 for 6 meetings a year (thats a cool $16,666 per meeting going into the family household) board position!
For some reason I cannot put a finger on, The NT NEWS simply cannot print a bad story about the current Government, which raises the question of how much money does the NT Government spend on NT News advertising to keep them shut up? Advertising expenditure at the NT News has never ever been asked in the NT’s Parliament ever.
Given the NT Government is approaching bankruptcy, would it be fiscally prudent to:
Advertise the actual NTG pay packets of the Fifth Floor staff?
Advertise the actual remuneration of all NTG Board members?
Cut the free Politicians only care service and sell off the cars!
Cut the Chief Minister’s dedicated photographer?
Can the Politicians stop attending 2 to 3 awards/parties a day, funded by taxpayer-funded NGO’s? The place is going down the toilet, people are struggling, and the Pollies are having a great ol’ taxpayer-funded time.
I urge all CLP MLAs (the ones that dont have jobs and houses down south set up for the 2028 hotly contested Territory Election) to resign now and retain an ounce of dignity!
Free The Most Genuis Greek Philosopher from Prison now!
He is in jail? Surely not!
You answered your own question, this is a punch in her face by the CLP to tell her to tone down the questions in parliament!
Whos in prison? George?
I hear some CLP have houses purchased in South Australia and some are pursuing employment options in the education field.
The rest of them will have to tee up jobs with the Government tender winning companies before the decimation in 2028 like Gunner/Fyles/Manison did.
Wait a damn minute!!!!!!
Has a mistake been made?
I have been in several Labor Party Branch meetings and campaigns held in their electorate offices…..
I have been in a few CLP Party Branch meetings and campaigns held in their respective electorate offices…..
What am I missing? Should I refer these meetings to NT ICAC?
Don’t bother Stan. The Chief Minister has correctly described ICAC as dysfunctional.
Who would like to try to convince me Mr. Lucio Matarazzo that in the past 35 years in the Northern Territory that there has never been NT Labor Party Branch meetings and or NT CLP Party Branch meetings held in the tax payer funded electorate offices of NT Labor & or NT CLP Politicians?
Yep, all of the above. I live in Nightcliff, so Kat is our local member. I would have absolutely no problem going into her electoral office to learn about what the Greens are doing. We voted them in, for goodness sake. It’s just the logical place. This is blatant grandstanding by the CLP, who of course are just so squeaky clean.