Chief Minister Natasha Fyles will reportedly travel to the United States on a nine-day junket to meet with US defence officials and promote the NT’s critical minerals in early September, according to information provided to what appears to be the state media outlet.

Ms Fyles’ office did not release an official announcement about the taxpayer-funded trip as is customary, choosing instead to release info about the voyage through the apparent state media organ NT News on Friday morning.

The NT News reported that Ms Fyles’ trip was “vital” and would see the Chief Minister meet with “key US federal government decision makers to advance the Territory’s role in supporting US defence training initiatives under the Australian-United States Alliance in the Northern Territory”.

It was unclear what authority Ms Fyles has on matters of national defence that is typically handled by the Commonwealth Government.

It was also not reported which “key US decision makers” Ms Fyles would be meeting with on the trip or how much it was expected to cost taxpayers.

“Critical minerals will also be on the agenda as will the NT’s emergency response capacity as the United States and Canada recover after fires and tropical storms battered the country in the past few weeks,” the outlet reported.

“This visit is an opportunity to develop US Defence’s planned infrastructure investments in the Territory and will be centred around Washington.”

The NT Independent understands other destinations may include Hawaii, which was recently devastated by wildfires, and Las Vegas. Ms Fyles’ office refused to confirm all of the locations on the itinerary.

The article, written by a journalist with the title “FutureNT Reporter”, included mention of former President Barrack Obama’s visit to the Territory in 2011 to announce a US Marine rotation, which presumably was included to give the appearance that Ms Fyles’ visit to the US is connected to that.

Ms Fyles was quoted as saying that “Defence is a significant part of our economy, and we will see it grow as the Defence Strategic Review is implemented”.

The Defence Strategic Review is a federal report.

“Reinforcing our commitment to the Australia-United States Alliance is important across defence and other joint initiatives in the Indo-Pacific,” Ms Fyles reportedly said about the US trip.

The NT News did not report if its “FutureNT Reporter” or any of its other employees would accompany Ms Fyles and her staff on the taxpayer-funded trip.

The FutureNT conference appears to be a joint initiative of the NT Government and the NT News, which will see onshore gas executives spruik the benefits of the controversial Middle Arm gas development precinct at a conference next month as part of the Fyles Government’s goal to reach a $40 billion economy by 2030.

It has not been disclosed if the FutureNT partnership involves public money being paid to the NT News and if so, how much.

Ms Fyles’ office did not respond to questions about the US junket, including who exactly Ms Fyles is meeting with in Washington, who is travelling with her, why the trip is necessary, how much the trip is expected to cost Territorians and why details have not been made public through a proper government press release with costings.

UPDATED: The government released a statement on Saturday morning about the trip, using similar phrases to those reported in the NT News. Costs, who is travelling and who the Chief Minister is meeting with were not released.