Michael Riches has resigned as the Territory’s anti-corruption commissioner, nearly a year after he was suspended pending an Office of the Public Employment Commissioner investigation into allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards female staff members in his office.
Mr Riches, who denied any wrongdoing, has been collecting his $500,000 salary while on leave since last June, when the allegations first surfaced, following a separate investigation into his handling of domestic violence allegations made by his ex-wife Jennifer Riches.
It has never been explained why the workplace investigation took nearly a year to be completed by the OCPE.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro referred the investigation report last week to ICAC Inspector Bruce McClintock for further action and said on Tuesday night that Mr Riches has resigned, effective Thursday.
“The Inspector of the ICAC has subsequently written to me today, which I have tabled in Parliament, and informed that he has exercised his discretion under the [ICAC] Act to terminate [his] investigation as it is no longer in the public interest and is an unnecessary expenditure of Territory resources,” Ms Finocchiaro said in a statement.
But she added that she has requested Public Employment Commissioner Nicole Hurwood redact the OCPE investigation report and publish it on the OCPE’s website.
No timeframe was provided for when that might occur.
The OCPE investigation into the workplace allegations was carried out by an unnamed third party investigator and was expected to be completed by last September, but was inexplicably extended and not provided to Ms Finocchiaro until Wednesday, May 7.
The letter from Mr McClintock, to the Chief Minister, shows that the Riches investigation report, titled “confidential report”, was dated April 16, 2025, but not provided to Ms Finocchiaro until May 7, when she referred it to Mr McClintock. The delay was not explained.
Mr McClintock wrote that he had initially “determined to commence an investigation into the matters” raised in the report last week, and contacted Mr Riches to inform him.
“I have been informed today [May 13] that Mr Riches has tendered his resignation as Independent Commissioner Against Corruption, to the Administrator pursuant to section 119 of the Act,” Mr McClintock wrote.
He added he has now terminated his own investigation commenced last week into Mr Riches’s conduct, as it “would not be in the public interest, given the resignation, and would necessarily involve unnecessary expenditure of Territory resources”.
Mr McClintock last year cleared Mr Riches of âcorrupt conductâ in relation to the domestic violence allegations, including a $20,000 pay-off he made to his wife to drop a domestic violence order application made in May 2023, but he made no reference to the undisclosed domestic violence undertaking Mr Riches signed the same month and made no findings as to the truth of the domestic violence allegations.
It was later revealed in a secret email between the pair that Mr Riches had asked Mr McClintock if he should resign in May 2023 when domestic violence allegations were first raised against him, but remained in the role, with the allegations only being investigated in June of last year.
The email seeking advice was sent just days before Mr Riches proposed to buy-off his wifeâs domestic violence legal proceedings with $20,000 and a formal domestic violence undertaking not to stalk or contact her.
It remains unclear why both men did not disclose the broader domestic violence allegation to the chief minister at the time.
Ms Finocchiaro said on Tuesday night that acting commissioner Greg Shanahan “will remain in place to provide certainty”.
Mr Shanahan, a long-time NT public servant with various relationships with other senior public servants, was personally appointed by Ms Finocchiaro last December to be the acting Independent Commissioner Against Corruption.
May Territorians all rejoice….
Having lready bled the government of a years salary for doing nothing I don’t expect to see him walk away with another cent of taxpayer funds. The whole fiasco should have been sorted a long time ago. The OICAC has achieved nothing in his whole term of employment.
Sorry to correct you ‘Phil’: they achieved heaps of stuff:
keeping corrupt people’s names out of the public domain for longer,
protected lying racist Police officers,
decided that certain things which were clearly in the public interest were not investigated,
continued the illusion that the ICAC was Independent,
continued the illusion that the ICAC was really there to root out and expose corruption
and finally
enabled Greg and Racheal Shamahan to bump up their Super Fund to truly Super Duper levels in the last 12 months, levels that us mere mortals can only dream of.
You have omitted, ENDED careers of Whistleblowers who are now all relocated safely down south! ICAC are allowed under the Act to hand a complaint to the Department that is being complained about. I estimate 30 minutes before the legal team at ant Department figure out who it was and collude with the scum of HR to “move on” the complainant.
Not all of them, watch this space. đ
~Itâs really difficult to know where to start with this article.
âMichael Riches has resigned as the Territoryâs anti-corruption commissionerâ
~Michael Much More Riches, like Andrew Kirkman, jumped before he was pushed. Something comes to mind about ships, rats, jumping, sinkingâŠ..
âIt has never been explained why the workplace investigation took nearly a year to be completed by the OCPE.â
~Because they wanted it to, most likely to help one of their cronies involved in this pathetic charade. They move quickly when they want to; slowly when it suits them to assist and protect certain people.
ââThe Inspector of the ICAC has subsequently written to me today, which I have tabled in Parliament, and informed that he has exercised his discretion under the [ICAC] Act to terminate [his] investigation as it is no longer in the public interest and is an unnecessary expenditure of Territory resources,â Ms Finocchiaro said in a statement.â
~Please stop insulting and patronising us with comments such as âan unnecessary expenditure of Territory resourcesâ, this from the Government who announced a budget that increased the NT debt by $3 Billion in the next 3 years. Our family and friends say âGet f**kedâ to you, Mr McLintock. Youâre an unnecessary expenditure of Territory resources too in our opinion.
~It is still in the public interest to know what and how this all happened whether or not he wants to stick around and face the music. We believe Bruce is assisting in the cover up by doing this.
âBut she added that she has requested Public Employment Commissioner Nicole Hurwood redact the OCPE investigation report and publish it on the OCPEâs website.â
~So Little LiaR can move quickly when she wants to, nice to know. And she has suddenly remembered that she can direct heads of Government Depts to do things because, wait for it, sheâs the big boss.
âIt shows that the Riches investigation report, titled âconfidential reportâ, was dated April 16, 2025, but not provided to Ms Finocchiaro until May 7, when she referred it to Mr McClintock. The delay was not explained.â
~Obviously some high up public servants didnât want it to be given to her that quickly.. More tail wagging the dog.
âMs Finocchiaro said on Tuesday night that acting commissioner Greg Shanahan âwill remain in place to provide certaintyâ.
Mr Shanahan, a long-time NT public servant with various relationships with other senior public servants, was personally appointed by Ms Finocchiaro last December to be the acting Independent Commissioner Against Corruption.â
~This should be a huge worry to everyone. The only certainty being provided by keeping Greg Shamahan in this role (and Naomi Loudon by the way) is that corrupt people will be more protected than exposed, just the way Greg recommended it to be before he was personally appointed by LiaR Finocchiaro. And Greg keeps pulling his own $500,000 salary along with any other boards etc he sits on, not to mention the 6 or so that his wife Rachael is on. Must be close to $1 Million a year their household is on.
~Now where were we, ah yes: unnecessary expenditure of Territory resources.
~This whole place needs cleaned out from top to bottom. The stench of âold boys and girls clubâ is overwhelming. Families and friends run the whole Government machinery to enrich and protect themselves and their mates and keep them all in jobs, sucking the Territory dry in the process. Sometimes there is an illusion of âproper processâ but it is just that, an illusion.
~Oh and if you think the Attorney General of Nonsense actually took it upon herself to employ the temporary Head of Legal Aid – with the speed of high profile resignations there wonât be a Legal Aid organisation before the end of this month – without asking permission from other more senior people than her then you are living in the same LSD induced dreamworld that she resides in.
~Remember: as theyâre all doing these kinds of things over and over again, and we mean both the ALP and the CLP, sometimes in front of us, sometimes behind our backs, theyâre all laughing at us for putting up with it.
~This is another great example of why a few random, unaffiliated Independents (Robyn Lambley, remember her?) and a solitary Green seat holder, are completely impotent in situations like these.
~The sooner you listen to people who are trying to build common purpose through a new Party under a shared banner which you can join with freedom and enthusiasm and still keep your political independence, and which will be able to produce the numbers to finally unseat these kinds of 2 party duopoly muppets, the better for the Territory and the better for your own careers in the long run.
~Think Big Or You’ll Forever Remain Small.
Sheesh! Where were you when liebor were messing up the NT? 8 Years!!!! This lot have only been in for 9 months FFS!!!! – they’re likely STILL finding phuckups made by the NT Liebor Party – give ’em a chance to catch up…. why aren’t you in government?
In the end, cowards are those who follow the dark side.
Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future.
Patience you must have my young BJM.
Good morning,
Well itâs apparent my LiaR campaign is coming to fruition!
I cannot fathom this insidious mindset has the gall to continue, recklessly ignorant to the fact that they are educating the NT population of just how perverted NT governance of the CLPALP has evolved and prospers!
The smell, most pungent, lâm sure will lead us to the corpse of immoral conduct in many and not just a few!
Well done LiaR, you have exterminated the CLP as well as, in my opinion, the ALP- your mates in crime!
I personally never imagined l would read anything more deceitful and conniving exercised by not only public officers but moreso a leadership!
I think this is just the straw to break LiaR and the ALPCLP reign!
Keep great
Darren Nugent
So he resigns, $500.000 better off. I want a job that i can get out like that. One million over budget for the over pass, who was sacked for that little mistake and will the contractor receive more government jobs? What extras will be pulled to get the budget back to some resemblance of realism. The whole place needs a clean out and start again.
Sorry one hundred million overpass bungle.
Budget repair strategy: 1. Sell the Ship Lift to China to supplement its Darwin Port. 2. Abolish the dysfunctional and disreputable ICAC. 3. CM and Treasurer organise a lock up with Jim Chalmers with a bottle of Johnie Walker Blue and three glasses. No one leaves the room until a restructure of Territory debt with Commonwealth assistance is agreed to including caps on further borrowing unless approved by the feds.