He lied about a fatal 2009 crash that killed a woman, he kept his recent speeding tickets and licence suspension from the public, he is claiming a questionable tax-free $450-a-day in travel allowance to be in Darwin and he permitted two children aged 12 and 14 to operate his car in possible contravention of the law, but Labor MLA Manuel Brown said Monday he is “sorry” and intends to serve out his full term as the Labor Member for Arafura.

Mr Brown fronted media for the first time Monday afternoon since the NT Independent revealed his three-month licence suspension for speeding tickets that was covered-up by the party, another speeding ticket after his licence was returned that he hid from Labor Leader Selena Uibo and that he permitted at least one underage child to drive his car.

Mr Brown revealed at the press conference that his 12-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter have both driven his car, which are possible criminal offences, while also raising questions about his $450-a-day travel allowance claims after admitting he has charged taxpayers that much while spending the majority of his time in the Greater Darwin region outside of his Arafura electorate that saw a former chief minister resign for claiming the same travel allowance while living in Darwin.

The nearly 20-minute press conference was the latest attempt by Territory Labor to put the growing scandal to bed after weeks of internal turmoil, but it instead opened up more questions involving Mr Brown’s actions with various contradictory statements made and other unusual remarks, including his claims that other MLAs have been claiming travel allowance while not living at their stated addresses, that he was willing to “assist police” if they investigate him for letting kids drive a car, but refusing to submit his allowance claims for scrutiny.

Mr Brown said he was currently enrolled in a driver education program after accumulating eight speeding violations over three years while in office as the Member for Arafura, that he said would teach him “defensive driving techniques”.

Asked if he should have taken that course after killing a woman with his vehicle when he sped through a stop sign in Katherine in 2009, Mr Brown said, “now come to think of it, yeah”.

But he said he did not take the course then “because it wasn’t required by the courts”.

He was first charged with dangerous driving causing death, but later pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of driving without due care and served no jail time.

Despite admitting he needed to learn the proper road rules himself, he then admitted to posting video of his 12-year-old son driving a car to Facebook because he was “trying to celebrate his successes on changing gears” while teaching his children how to drive “before they go and do their courses”.

He added he was “devastated and angry” that others had seen the videos and pictures and that he was “looking at clearing my social media until I finish my politics”.

“It absolutely wasn’t appropriate [to post that] and I’m sorry to my constituents and to my caucus,” Mr Brown said.

He added the 12-year-old had only driven the car “once”, while his 14-year-old daughter had driven the car “twice”, which he first said occurred in a “remote community” but changed that to claim those instances occurred on “outstations”. He denied they had driven on sealed roads.

Asked why he would be teaching a 12-year-old to drive, Mr Brown said “out in remote communities, there’s no other option”.

However, when he and Labor were first asked about a child driving his car the week before last, Mr Brown responded through Ms Uibo’s office to claim: “At no stage has my child ever driven my taxpayer-funded vehicle”.

He said he was not up front right away because he was in a remote area at the time and that there was no “signal” and then said “we have to clear that up”.

“I’m clearing it up now,” he said, while also agreeing it was “too late” to clear it up now.

“Absolutely, you know, I’ve….there’s lots of times when I should be up front in front of Territorians. That, in hindsight, should have happened. I’m here now, I’m going forward, I need to lift my game and do better.”

He said he would assist police if they investigated him over allowing his unlicensed children to drive.

“I’m happy if the police come with the queries,” he said. “I’m happy to assist them any way they want.”

Police did not respond to questions about that matter by deadline Monday.

On Friday, Mr Brown told the ABC he was considering resigning from his shadow portfolio responsibilities, but said again on Monday that was up to Labor’s five-member caucus who he said would meet the week of July 20 to discuss his future responsibilities.

Asked why he didn’t resign of his own volition, he said he needed to “talk to the team because there’s only a few of us and there’s a lot of portfolios”.

He then said he would not be resigning outright as an MLA.

“Not yet,” he said. “My constituents, I go back to them with advice and see where there’s still a lot of discussions that we had.

“I’m going to go through to the end of the term.”

Brown claiming tax-free $450 per day in travel allowance for Palmerston home he spends more time in than his electorate

Mr Brown said at the press conference that he spends half or more-than-half of every month at a home he owns in Palmerston instead of in his Arafura electorate.

According to his register of members’ interests, he and his wife own a home in Moulden, which he said he stays in when in Darwin on official parliamentary business.

While he claims to live in Jabiru, he does not own a home there.

Politicians from remote electorates are entitled to claim the $450 tax-free travel allowance per day while in Darwin for official business and away from their electorate, however, Mr Brown conceded he spends more time in Darwin.

He said he would not submit to that allowance being reviewed by the Speaker.

“No. Look, it’s not illegal and it’s not against the law,” he said.

Former CLP chief minister Ian Tuxworth resigned in the mid-80s for claiming travel allowance from his electorate despite having relocated to Darwin.

When Mr Brown was told this, he accused other MLAs of not living at their stated addresses, but would not provide names, other than to first claim Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro lived at a different address that the one listed in government records.

But Ms Finocchiaro is not entitled to the $450 travel allowance because her electorate is in the Darwin region.

Asked to disclose who else was claiming the allowance while not living in their electorate, Mr Brown said it was a “bit of a mix up there”.

“People are not living in the electorate, there are a couple of them,” he said.

Mr Brown later said he was being “up front” about his issues, but then agreed with journalists that doing it now was insufficient.

He was then asked about his father-in-law’s claims that the woman he killed in 2009 did not die from the injuries suffered in the crash.

He said those were “inappropriate comments” but when asked if he accepted that she died from injuries he inflicted with his car, he said “I haven’t looked into that”.

“Well, the courts made a decision and I’ve decided it’s culturally inappropriate for me to have a…you know…I need to look at the report.”

Both Labor and Mr Brown did not disclose the 2009 crash when he was pre-selected at a 2023 by-election. After the NT Independent revealed it, Mr Brown issued a statement claiming he rendered first aid on the woman that was later disproven by court records and the victim’s son.

The woman was stuck in the car and needed to be extricated by the Jaws of Life after being struck by Mr Brown’s car. She later died from injuries related to the crash.

Mr Brown confirmed on Monday that he could not have performed first aid and that “the only thing I could do was comfort her and hang around that day and the next day”. He then claimed he had a “blood sample taken” and was breathalysed, but the court records do not reflect that. Records show he was allowed to provide a statement to police 10 days after the crash.

“I couldn’t move her because…I need to get more information and then assist you with whatever you want to know,” he said.

Mr Brown’s issues have become a serious problem for Labor, which was thrown into turmoil when Mr Brown broke allegiance with the left faction of the party to knife former deputy leader Dheran Young and install newly elected Member for Nightcliff Ed Smelt as Deputy Leader along with Ms Uibo.

Ms Uibo has refused to take action against Mr Brown and said caucus would decide on a possible punishment. However, because of the numbers, she needs to keep Mr Brown in caucus for his support.

Despite initially stating she would release a review into Labor’s disastrous 2024 election campaign, she told the NT Independent last week that it would not be released.

Mr Brown contradicted his leader Monday to say he thought the review should be released, but had not read it himself.