Today’s national news includes interest rates remaining stable despite recorded declines in other countries, PM Albanese choosing ‘friendship’ with Ardern over ‘Australians’ security, developing ties with the Solomon Islands remains a top priority for Australia, bird imports from Australia banned following confirmed cases of bird flu, and Australia’s passport is set to become the most expensive in the world.
Chief Minister Eva Lawler has drawn the ire of environmental groups and traditional owners after the NT Government granted environmental approvals for Tamboran Resources to start fracking the Beetaloo Sub-basin, with critics calling on the Federal Government to enact water trigger laws to stop the project from proceeding.
The Lawler Government has awarded the $154 million contract to build the Alice Spring’s national Aboriginal art gallery to Sitzler, at the same cost it first announced two years ago, which is at the low end of a 2019 cost range estimate, but the government will not say much Darwin’s Civic and State Square development will cost to complete, despite earlier pledging to reveal the cost.
The ICAC Inspector’s investigation into the conduct of anti-corruption commissioner Michael Riches and his failure to disclose domestic violence allegations needs to be done “quickly”, Chief Minister Eva Lawler says, but would not commit to a full independent investigation into his conduct and would not say when the Inspector’s report would be made public.
Two Alice Springs paramedics feared for their lives, and the life of their patient, when they were threatened by a bystander with a knife, the union representing paramedics said.
The NT Police Association has backed Commissioner Michael Murphy after he failed to investigate racist material last year and lied to the public about it, with the union’s boss saying Mr Murphy has done “everything to rectify the situation”, but was unable to point to one instance in which the NTPA has publicly criticised the Commissioner specifically for any issue.
The postponement of Voluntary Assisted Dying legislation until after the next election by the Lawler Labor Government has left the NT as the only jurisdiction in Australia without VAD laws, after the ACT passed its bill on Wednesday.
A small outback community in the Barkly region now has Australia’s first fully First Nations-owned 100 kW grid-connected solar microgrid, provided by technology partner 5B, with 136 kWh battery storage, which proponents say could be a model for other remote communities across the Territory.
Calls are mounting for ICAC Michael Riches to resign or be sacked by the Chief Minister, after revelations he paid his estranged wife $20,000 to ensure a domestic violence order never made it to court and failed to disclose the allegation, while a leading national integrity expert says the only way to restore the public’s confidence in the Office of the ICAC is to “put a broom through it”.
Several Australian Ford dealers still have a video of self-confessed dog rapist and killer Dr Adam Britton promoting the company’s Ranger ute on their Facebook pages, while Ford Malaysia have today removed the video from its Facebook page.
There is insufficient evidence to charge anyone with the 2017 disappearance of Paddy Moriarty, the NT Director of Public Prosecutions has concluded, more than two years after being referred the matter by the NT Coroner.
The Lawler Government has given a special reserve status to the Jabiluka area in Kakadu National Park which would disallow uranium mining but it will likely not come into effect as Energy Resources Australia has said it had applied to renew its Jabiluka mineral lease which would void the protection.
