Chief Minister Natasha Fyles has hit back at the Opposition after she was called out in Parliament for misleading the public in a series of Facebook posts about crime, raising veiled threats of exposing the Opposition for also breaching the Public Information Act, while suggesting she has not reported them for misconduct despite being aware of allegations.

As reported by the NT Independent, Auditor General Julie Crisp found Ms Fyles’s Facebook page ran two “misleading statements” in relation to the government’s bail amendment laws referencing “weapons” last March – in the middle of a spate of public stabbings – which did not accurately reflect which weapons her government had set the presumption of bail against and therefore breached the Public Information Act.

The Opposition CLP called on Ms Fyles in Parliament on Thursday to apologise to Territorians for her “deliberate misleading trickery”.

Ms Fyles said while she acknowledged “the error” in the Facebook posts, it was “not meant to be deliberate”.

“But I absolutely acknowledge the Auditor General’s findings and have accepted that and removed the graphic and certainly apologise, there was no intentional, ah, in that graphic and accept those findings,” she said.

Asked later about other mistruths she has given to the public, including that the damage at the Howard Springs facility by flood evacuees earlier this year was simply “wear and tear”, Ms Fyles went on the attack, referencing “letters on letterhead” sent by other MLAs she said also breached the Information Act.

She also told Parliament everyone should use “caution” when “getting in the gutter” about exposing who lied to the public.

“I probably should caution all members of the House around how they send letters out on letterhead, because I’ve had members of the public come up to me and question some people’s letters that are sent right across the Territory and where that information is accessed from and if it conforms to the Public Information Act, but you know what, I let people make that judgment for themselves…,” she said.

It was unclear why she would not report alleged breaches of law to the proper authorities.

As a Member of the Legislative Assembly, Ms Fyles is obligated to report misconduct to the ICAC when she becomes aware of it.

“So if you guys want to get down into the gutter and make these types of question after question, I’m sure there are things that could be investigated on your side of the house,” she said.

“I just urge caution. When we get into this space that everybody is watching what they’re doing and making sure it conforms within the rules because as I said, I prefer to focus on myself – and growing the Territory economy and having jobs for Territorians and delivering services for Territorians.”

She then inexplicably claimed the CLP “doesn’t value our public service” and think they are “carpet walkers that waste time”.