Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has finally told Police Commissioner Michael Murphy to resign, stating he has “lost the confidence of the Government”, but it appears he has been placed on leave while his contract is terminated, according to an unusual Saturday night statement from her office.
“Today, I informed Commissioner Murphy he has lost the confidence of the Government,” Ms Finocchiaro said in the statement.
“I gave Commissioner Murphy the opportunity to resign. The Police Commissioner was asked to go on leave effectively immediately.
“I have now begun the process to terminate the appointment of the Police Commissioner.”
Ms Finocchiaro has faced increasing political pressure for the last week to take action on Mr Murphy, following an ICAC investigation that found he mismanaged a conflict of interest in hiring a mate for a senior executive role with the NT Police, which amounted to “negligence and incompetence” on his part.
Instead of taking any action upon first becoming aware of Mr Murphy’s improper conduct on February 27, Ms Finocchiaro said the misconduct was a “learning tool” and refused to answer questions about taking action. She deflected questions at a Tuesday press conference, where she repeatedly claimed the ICAC told her she could not name him publicly, but would not explain the lack of action against him.
She reiterated that position on Thursday – two hours before Mr Murphy outed himself as the unnamed “senior public officer” who was the subject of Operation Apollo – and made no comment after the NT Police Association called for Murphy to resign Thursday night.
Ms Finocchiaro issued the unusual Saturday night statement around 9pm, after facing criticism in the media Saturday morning for not restoring the public’s confidence in the position of police commissioner on Friday, the day after Mr Murphy was publicly revealed.
“This process requires natural justice to Michael Murphy, and involves Cabinet, Executive Council and advice to the Administrator on termination,” she said in the statement.
Ms Finocchiaro added the terms of his contract, that was signed in 2023, would require six months pay upon termination, but did not provide a figure or an explanation on why there would be any payout if found to have engaged in improper conduct.
“I make no apologies for working through this methodically in the interests of Territorians,” she said.
“Reducing crime is our top priority and today’s action provides certainty for our hard-working police and the community.”
Deputy Commissioner Martin Dole has been appointed Acting Police Commissioner.
8 days later the CM finally gets there, but typically defiant and unapologetic which suggests she may still not have grasped the full magnitude of this & thinks she can tough it out. With Parliament resuming on March 18 it wouldn’t surprise me if a no-confidence motion was moved against her, requiring the other CLP members to take a public position on her lack of leadership. An external review of all police executive appointments and promotions in the past couple of years might be in order, including those of the now-acting Commissioner who if I recall correctly the NT Independent established was in the room when the decision was made to charge Zach Rolfe.
‘Chief Minister has lost the confidence of the population’: Population – is the headline our household would like to see next.
We commented previously that he wouldn’t resign, no surprises, right at the end the continued arrogance is incredible:
“I gave Commissioner Murphy the opportunity to resign. The Police Commissioner was asked to go on leave effectively immediately.
“I have now begun the process to terminate the appointment of the Police Commissioner.”
Funny seeing Lia talking about natural justice, we would think his conduct (that we know of so far don’t forget) would be covered by ‘serious misconduct=instant dismissal’, let him take you to court using his own money for a change.
“I make no apologies for working through this methodically in the interests of Territorians,” she said…..*FALLS OFF CHAIR LAUGHING
The Keystone GovernmeNT.
Be wary of appointing any of the executive appointed by Murphy or Chalker. We cannot afford more nepotism, poor performance or poor behaviour by the executive ranks.
Ms Finocchiaro does not understand the requirements of a democratic system of government. That may be an important reason for her completely inadequate leadership.
And each and every one of you would be screaming different criticisms had Lia’s response been a knee jerk sacking immediately she recieved the ICAC advice.
Your calls for her blood would have been because she acted to hastily, without due process and had not applied the principles of natural justice.
It’s so very easy to level armchair criticisms after time is available to you to consider the events.
It is not so easy to not so easy to do the real job, in real time.
It doesn’t take a competent leader 8 days to start a natural justice process
@Lissa Herrmann
NO! The current Chief Minister making a quick decision would have shown moral fibre and her ability to make important decisions.
Instead, in Cover Everything Up Territory we got this mess.
A quote from a feral looking Journo in East Arm:
“Covering up the mess is worse than the mess.”
Should have done this when briefed by the ICAC months ago.
10 years has seen 3 out of 4 corrupt or incompetent or negligent Police Commissioners sacked – This indicates the NT Goverrnment has significant integrity issues. Watch the ECO’s run for cover now.
$35 million and finally the ICAC has delivered – now is a good time to clear the decks and promote integrity. That means Lia needs to step down as soon as possible.
I miss Commissioner McRoberts, he was very good, like every cop i have met, just couldnt keep his pants on.
Did the NT Chief Minister leave out the implied word “minimum” in her media statement released on a Saturday evening 8 March 2025 r- “the terms and conditions of his appointment in 2023 requires payment of six months remuneration upon termination” ?
Did the NT Chief Minister leave out the word “gardening” in front of the word “leave” in the statement “The NT Police Commissioner was asked to go on leave effective immediately?
Does not section 7 of the Police Administration Act (NT) state – “The Northern Territory Administrator may, by commission, appoint a person to be an NT Commissioner of Police”?
Does not section 11 of the Police Administration Act (NT) state –
“(1) The NT Police Commissioner, a Deputy Commissioner or an Assistant Commissioner may resign his office by writing signed by him and delivered to the NT Administrator.
(2) A notice of resignation under subsection (1) shall not have effect until it is accepted by the NT Administrator.” ?
Did the CM’s press conference amount to a constructive dismissal of the Police Commissioner?
Does the DCM/OCPE even have the ability to figure that out for themselves without hiring barristers from interstate?
NO CONFIDENCE VOTE
INABILITY TO PERFORM
Lia Finnochiaro has to go!
It’s not the Territory according to Lia.,
The time slot for dutiful, timely, strong leadership passed 8 days ago, reactive governance is a piss poor show!
This failure to act disrespects not only every police person, but also every public servants confidence in the functionality of the “ code of conduct for public officers. Best person for the job is sadly lacking in the NTPS, a fact Territorians sadly have been awakened too.
We are the corruption capital, we are unhappy, we are lied to, promised and stand disappointed. We must admit that this endemic poor culture has evolved and been given a blindside attitude by this and previous governance, to have gained such purchase to attain the saturation point we see today.
Again l mentioned where are our federal representatives calling out this putrid treatment of Territorians, it’s taken an Independant, the only voice of action, to best represent!
The upcoming federal election we must each honestly, impartially look at the playing field of NT governance, and ask-“What have l seen, what have l heard” ! The fact Labor have been quiet is alarming, a fact that supports the ALPCLP suggestion!
The CLP MLA’s have all been silent “ Is this conduct unbecoming, are they each best representing their electorates-It appears not- What are they fearful of for having a voice!
The CLP Administration are still in Opposition mode; their is no decision making; only what will save the fantastically photographed Chief Ministers arse today!
How Many Public appearances do these MLA’s and Ministers do?
When are they plotting the strategic course of the NT in between a daily 2 or 3 public appearances!
Is it true the fantastically photographed Chief Minister, with $11 Billion heading to $15 billion in Government Debt has found the budget to have HER OWN PERSONAL Photographer?
This definitely shows the priority of issues on the fifth floor of Parliament house !
It must be very cumbersome and annoying to:
-manage 28,000 totally busy, totally at work every day, totally behaving properly Public Servants.
-manage $11 Billion in debt heading to $15 billion Government Debt which equates to $584 Million (over HALF A BILLION) in annual interest payments! What is the CLP doing to mitigate that bankruptcy?
-Totally reward all the Political Donators who funded the election campaign with Government Tenders! (By the way, how much rent is the Government paying for those Government Department Buildings in the CBD,
its “Sydney-Harbor over looking the Sydney-Harbor-Bridge” rent levels right?).
-Manage A rapidly diminishing crime weary, corruption weary, whining voice weary population of ‘officially’ 254,000 Territorans of which 110,392(*2016 census) are the working population.
Its all Very annoying and gets in the way of the Public Photo Shoots that the NT Government News shows daily.
@Lissa – the principles of natural justice only apply when you’re under investigation or are being formally disciplined. Murphy already had natural justice and by default due process from ICAC’s investigation, after which they published their findings based on the evidence and interviews they had in front of them. This means that Murphy’s ‘boss’ could then choose to act on those findings or not, as they were final, similar in the way she could have acted had she done the same investigation herself.
After ICAC’s findings you had enough to act with a disciplinary action, ie you’re sacked (due process) and no need for any more natural justice because at that stage it didn’t apply any more, the investigation was over. You could have chosen to send him a show cause letter with a few days to answer and then informed the public this is what you were doing and that was why it was taking so long but she didn’t do that either.
The ‘burying your head in the sand, chuck out some Newspeak a la George Orwell’s 1984 and hope it all goes away’ strategy shifts the focus onto your own mismanagement instead of keeping it on the integrity failures again at the top job in NT Police.
Political strategy 101. Clearly she’s missing that book in her and her father’s library.
A more important question for us is not why NT politicians tolerate such piss poor behaviour in Government workplaces all over the Territory, remember Finocchiaro supported Jamie Chalker when he was on the way out too, from the ABC:
‘Both the Police Minister, Kate Worden, and Opposition Leader, Lia Finocchiaro, voiced their support for Commissioner Chalker at the time.’
The question is this:
What is it about the workplace culture at NT Police that attracts top job applicants who seem unfit for the weight of expectations it brings? Instead of blaming the individuals, maybe look more closely at what’s attractive to those kinds of people and work on changing that first.
The same could be asked about NT Politics/politicians in general of course.
Well said ‘angel’.
In the Northern Territory, we have Australian Federal Police Officers who are based and work in the Northern Territory who are covered by the Fair Work Act (Cth) and their enterprise agreements are approved by and dealt with and are lodged in the Fair Work Commission.
In the Northern Territory, we have Northern Territory Police Officers who are based and work in the Northern Territory who are not covered by the Fair Work Act (Cth) and their Northern Territory Police Force (NTPF) Consent Agreement 2022 is not lodged in the Fair Work Commission but is lodged in the Northern Territory Police Arbitral Tribunal.
Is it not time to ensure that all Police officers in the Northern Territory, be they Australian Federal Police Officers and or Northern Territory Police Officers, are covered by the Fair Work Act (Cth) and that their enterprise agreements are approved by and dealt with and are lodged in the Fair Work Commission?
Is it not time that our Northern Territory Parliament abolishes the Northern Territory Police Arbitral Tribunal so that Northern Territory Police Officers employment matters can be dealt with by the Fair Work Commission?