The 2024 Northern Territory Brolga Tourism Awards celebrated 27 winners from local businesses, organisations, and individuals, at a ceremony in Alice Springs, with a record 94 nominations from across the Territory, the highest in five years, the government said, which comes amid troubling times for the industry.
Darwin Council should open the Cyclone Tracy 50th anniversary memorial sculpture unveiling to the general public and listen to the public’s criticism of the controversial design, Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has said, while the Prime Minister, federal Infrastructure Minister, and federal Member for Solomon will not comment on the exclusion of Cyclone Tracy survivors from the event, or the Mayor’s latest denial that it is not a memorial for one of Australia’s most destructive natural disasters.
A 36-year-old woman is facing perverting the course of justice charges for her alleged involvement in helping a 20-year-old offender who reportedly cut off his ankle monitoring device last week evade police, with The Australian reporting the woman is a NAAJA employee who was in a “relationship” with the offender.
The Finocchiaro Government has frozen car registration fees and will give Territorians a free driver’s licence for a year, as part of its plan to ease the cost-of-living crisis, but the costs to the Territory’s budget have not been disclosed.
Six youth detainees at the new Holtze Youth Detention Centre have allegedly caused $200,000 worth of damage at the facility, in what the government called a “deliberate act of vandalism”, that saw teens allegedly smash wash basins, tear metal intercom panels and light and power sockets from the walls, leaving the rooms unusable and live wires exposed in the first week the facility was opened.
Today’s national news includes AQBA to boost Australia, Qatar bilateral relationship, Army deploying a new fleet of 75 M1A2 SEP v3 Abrams main battle tanks, Only Fans creator Bonnie Blue banned from Australia, and Jamie Oliver pulls back book that upset First Nation Australians.
Darwin Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis has once again publicly denied the Cyclone Tracy 50th anniversary monument – which the Federal Government provided $600,000 to create – is actually a monument or a memorial for one of Australia’s worst natural disasters, adding that a secret VIP event the council organised to unveil it was not actually an “event”, after facing intense public outrage.
Former Northern Land Council chief executive officers Joe Martin-Jard and Marion Scrymgour have both said they have not been approached by the National Anti-Corruption Commission about an investigation it is conducting into the land council, after raids on its Darwin offices last month and amid questions on Friday at Senate Estimates hearings.
The interim chief executive officer of the Anindilyakwa Land Council has said it is his “understanding” that the former CEO Mark Hewitt is under investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
Three children have fell into septic tanks across the Northern Territory over the past two years, including one death, but more unsecured lids have been discovered in recent weeks despite previous warnings, NT WorkSafe says.
Two women have been killed and another taken to hospital after all three were struck by a car on Trower Road in Brinkin last night, NT Police said.
Two police officers attempting to enforce the CLP Government’s new nuisance public drinking laws were allegedly assaulted by members of a group drinking in a park, with one female officer punched in the face and another having a metal pole thrown at him, NT Police said.
