The Northern Territory has had another controversial six months, and the NT Independent has been at the forefront uncovering it all, breaking the stories and scandals that every Territorian needs to know, that those in positions of power want kept from you.

We thank our supporters who donated and everyone who has contributed to bringing these critical stories to light, and we ask for your continued support in the new financial year, and hope you share us with friends so we can continue to bring you our nationally-recognised and award-winning reporting.

Our mission is clear: breaking the stories you need to know about and sharing exclusive reports with every Territorian to drive the positive change we need across the Northern Territory. Keeping independent journalism alive in the Territory is crucial and can be done in the form of a subscription or a donation.

If the NT Independent did not exist over the past six months, you would not have been aware of the questionable practices going on at the Darwin Waterfront Corporation; the police commissioner’s misconduct findings that the government attempted to hide; the latest legal goings-on involving disgraced former senior bureaucrat Andrew Kirkman; and the lengths to which five current police officers have gone to cover up their lies at a coronial inquest.

Then there was the Director of Public Prosecution’s questionable hiring practices; an animal abuse investigation into the Territory Coordinator dropped by a mate who currently runs a major department; the Legal Aid hiring scandal; management failings at St John Ambulance and a death currently under investigation; a CLP MLA’s undisclosed high-flying trip for high tea and other failures to disclose; and how the investigation into the largest known fraud ever perpetrated in the Territory was quietly closed with only three people held accountable, despite tens of millions of taxpayer money stolen.

There’s been so much more from the NT Independent team than even those massive stories, which we know have helped keep Territorians abreast of what is going on in their backyard and made the most powerful concerned.

Late last year, the NT Independent marked an impressive milestone by winning an NT Media Award—for the fourth consecutive year since its launch in 2020. This masthead was honoured with the Best News Coverage award (text), recognising editor Christopher Walsh for his insightful reporting on the “Shares Scandal: The Fall of Chief Minister Natasha Fyles.”

The NT Independent was also shortlisted for the prestigious 69th Walkley Awards for the same investigative reporting, reflecting our growing prominence in Australian journalism for two consecutive years.

In 2023, Walsh and journalist David Wood won the NT Media Award’s Best Crime/Court Reporting in the All Media category for their coverage of the police’s systemic failures in the shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker and the cover-up in the subsequent murder trial of former NT Police officer Zach Rolfe.

That series of investigative reports was also recognised as a finalist for a Walkley Award in 2023.

Territorians have supported independent journalism, underscoring its critical role in a landscape where uncovering the truth is increasingly complex due to political spin and exorbitant government advertising spends—it doesn’t matter which party is in power; they all do it.

The NT Independent has established itself as a truly independent, indispensable source of investigative and community-focused reporting, decisively presenting the Territory’s pressing issues and strengthening connections among its residents with insight into what is actually happening, not whatever government in power thinks you should know.

The NT Independent is also the Territory’s foremost outlet for whistleblowers—a role we take with the utmost care and concern to protect those who come forward with crucial public information, which has helped forge our path to the truth.

Important issues have been brought to the public because of access to documents other media do not have, whether through Freedom of Information applications or other means, with information from trusted sources also helping to put tremendous pressure on the agencies in question to start working for the public they represent.

We ask Territorians to continue to support the NT Independent so we can continue to expose the scandals and misconduct that affect our daily lives.

With your support, the NT Independent can continue to bring you the exclusive stories that matter, while advocating for the Territory’s future, free of corruption.

We will continue to expose what others either can’t or won’t report while providing you with the best independent columnists who bring decades of Territory experience and insight to our readers.

Here are some of the NT Independent’s most read and shared articles over the past six months:

Chief Minister and ‘senior public officer’ who ICAC found to be ‘incompetent’ refuse to address misconduct

EXCLUSIVE: Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has refused to take action against, or publicly identify, a “senior executive public officer” who was found in a new ICAC investigation to have engaged in improper conduct amounting to “negligence and incompetence” concerning the mismanagement of a conflict of interest, who the NT Independent can reveal at this time is the head of a major government agency.

Secret memo reveals Kirkman recommended Waterfront CEO’s pay rise before his wife was hired

EXCLUSIVE: Senior government executive Andrew Kirkman advocated for a pay rise for Darwin Waterfront Corporation CEO Alastair Shields, despite various conflicts of interest and while he was acting head public servant, six months before the DWC hired Mr Kirkman’s wife for an unadvertised role on a hefty pay packet, a secret government memo obtained by the NT Independent has revealed.

One of five officers who misled court involved in ‘most coon-like BBQ’ award, another had name on ‘Noogudah club’

EXCLUSIVE: Two senior NT Police officers who lied to the court about the existence of racist TRG awards in sworn statements were heavily involved in their making and awarding, the NT Independent can reveal, with one officer who denied the existence of a “coon of the year award” having been involved in awarding the “most coon-like BBQ” certificate in 2007, while another senior officer had his name engraved on the ‘Noogudah club’ – an improvised weapon seized from a remote community during riots that he told the court was “never linked to Indigenous people”.

Kirkman workplace abuse legal action suddenly settled before hearing

Territory taxpayers have bailed out former DIPL chief executive Andrew Kirkman once again, preventing him from testifying in a Federal Circuit Court legal action about a mental health injury he inflicted on a female staffer when he pounded his desk, screamed at her and told her in a 2021 meeting that her career would be “destroyed” if she challenged him.

Chief Minister’s husband received $400k in ongoing ‘higher duties allowance’ for years at Waterfront: Internal documents

EXCLUSIVE: Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro’s husband Sam Burke was given a made-up, part-time government job while general manager of the Darwin Waterfront Corporation, internal government documents show, that boosted his already substantial salary by $60,000 a year through a ‘higher duties allowance’ that continued for years after he left the department role, the NT Independent can reveal.

Acting ICAC refuses to publicly disclose conflicts of interest, CLP flags impending ‘changes’ to office

Acting ICAC Greg Shanahan told Estimates hearings on Tuesday that he has recused himself from involvement in an undisclosed number of matters due to conflicts of interest, but refused to publicly disclose his conflicts register, stating only that some of his disclosures related to people he “worked directly with for a long period”.

Animal abuse investigation into Territory Coordinator killed by Mining and Energy CEO

EXCLUSIVE: The animal abuse investigation into Territory Coordinator Stuart Knowles was suddenly terminated by current Mining and Energy CEO Alister Trier while he was CEO of Primary Industries, the NT Independent can reveal, raising concerns about the perceived favour and the potential for coercion of the most powerful public servant in the Northern Territory.

Territory Coordinator’s hidden work history revealed amid lack of public recruitment for role

EXCLUSIVE: Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has defended hiring former low-level bureaucrat and one-time gas lobbyist Stuart Knowles as the Territory Coordinator, claiming on radio that he was hand-selected for the role without going through a public recruitment process because of his “vast experience” in the government and private industry and for his record of delivering “major projects”, but his work background suggests neither claim is accurate, the NT Independent can reveal.

DPP’s son and daughter-in-law hired for office jobs he created

EXCLUSIVE: The NT’s Director of Public Prosecutions created new jobs in his office that were ultimately filled by his son and daughter-in-law, but Lloyd Babb says he was not involved in recruitment for the positions that weren’t publicly advertised and claims he declared a conflict of interest upon learning that his family members just happened to apply for the mysterious jobs.

More questionable DPP hiring practices revealed, including adviser to Attorney-General

EXCLUSIVE: Director of Public Prosecutions Lloyd Babb was involved in more questionable hiring practices in his office that do not appear to have followed proper processes – outside of his own family members – the NT Independent can reveal, including hiring one lawyer to a non-advertised role last year who is now a senior adviser to the Attorney-General.

Attorney-General rejects ‘meritorious’ candidate as Legal Aid boss, instead appoints person who was not interviewed

Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby appointed a person who was not interviewed to be the new director of the beleaguered Legal Aid NT, rejecting the candidate who was recommended by an independent selection panel who had significant managerial experience inside the organisation, an internal report shows, but the Minister has refused to explain her intervention.

CLP Minister’s luxury private jet trip to high tea at Hilton revealed

EXCLUSIVE: CLP Education Minister Jo Hersey took a luxury private jet between Katherine and Darwin to attend a boozy, “bottomless” high tea at the Hilton Garden Inn Darwin in early December, but she claims no taxpayer money was expended despite posting photos of the jaunt on her government-funded social media account, which comes as the Minister was also caught out misleading Territorians about her disclosable interests.

Alice Springs cop involved in fatal supermarket arrest of Aboriginal man identified

EXCLUSIVE: One of two ‘plain-clothes’ police officers who pinned a disabled Aboriginal man to the ground at an Alice Springs supermarket where he lost consciousness and subsequently died, has been identified as a police “liaison sergeant” who was not on frontline duties at the time of the fatal incident, the NT Independent can reveal, with the officer previously the subject of complaints over his use of force against Indigenous people.

Largest fraud ever perpetrated in the NT dropped with no further charges, department hiding total amounts

EXCLUSIVE: Investigations into the largest known fraud ever perpetrated in the Northern Territory have ended with only two small-time contractors convicted of defrauding the Indigenous Employment Provisional Sum scheme, that saw potentially tens of millions of taxpayer money rorted by dozens of NT construction companies.

REVEALED: Total cost of government’s fraudulent Indigenous Employment Sum scheme finally disclosed

EXCLUSIVE: The staggering amount of money believed stolen by NT construction companies through the government’s flawed Indigenous Employment Provisional Sum scheme has finally been released following the conclusion of multiple investigations into the troubled program that ended with only two small-time contractors going to jail, with the NT Government recovering less than 1.5 per cent of the total funds it suspected were rorted.

‘Intrusive and unhelpful’: St John Ambulance review shows management used lawyers to intimidate, silence staff

EXCLUSIVE: The damning review into St John Ambulance by the NT Health Department has uncovered a toxic culture in the organisation – in addition to failures leading to patient harm – in which management used lawyers to intimidate and silence staff from speaking out and purposely ignored genuine concerns raised about the organisation’s ongoing ability to function.

Major Crime Squad refers death of St John Ambulance patient to Coroner

EXCLUSIVE: The death of a man who was treated by St John Ambulance in 2021 has recently been investigated by the NT Police Major Crime Squad, including allegations the patient’s records were altered to cover up treatment failures, with the matter now referred back to the Coroner, the NT Independent can reveal.