Chief Minister Eva Lawler says Labor will not reimburse taxpayers for the public money it used to fly former chief minister Michael Gunner to remote communities in marginal electorates on polling days in the lead up to the 2020 election because it was all too “ambiguous” and refused to condemn the conduct that was the focus of a three-year ICAC investigation.
Today’s national news includes Indonesian fishing boats set alight by Australian Border Force patrols, US military personnel arriving in QLD for Exercise Southern Jackaroo, New online scam laws to be put in place, and a Shadow Health Minister seeking financial compensation after social media posting. Also in the news are three people died in a WA shooting incident, and the climate treaty between Australia and Tuvalu finalised.
More racist awards and offensive images of Aboriginal people created and distributed by NT Police officers have been uncovered as part of the joint investigation into widespread racism in the TRG, with the new material labelled by the ICAC as “so offensive that I do not consider it in the public interest [to] be circulated”.
Anti-corruption commissioner Michael Riches “refuses to call out misconduct, mismanagement and corruption”, an independent MLA says, despite having evidence that Territory Labor and Michael Gunner used public funds for party political purposes at the 2020 election, calling for an inquiry into the Office of the ICAC’s conduct.
The Lawler Government has said a review into St John Ambulance will be made public and was not ordered because of any failings by the organisation, but the union representing paramedics said there are serious issues with the ambulance service that have been covered-up and ignored.
The NT anti-corruption watchdog’s long-delayed report into Territory Labor’s taxpayer-funded 2020 election campaign has ended with “no concluded findings” of whether former chief minister Michael Gunner “did or did not engage in improper conduct”, but flagged a secret second report will be provided to current Chief Minister Eva Lawler next month concerning Labor staffers’ involvement.
The full bench of the Fair Work Commission has thrown out an appeal by the Northern Territory Government contesting a decision that it had underpaid firefighters by removing overtime hours, with the full bench noting the government changed its argument from what was contained in its notice of appeal when it came to oral arguments in the hearing.
The Lawler Government will spend close to $1 million on Mararra Stadium including $280,000 for the construction of a nursery to curate drop-in cricket pitches, with the International Cricket Council schedule suggesting games against South Africa and Afghanistan could be played in northern Australia in 2025 and 2026.
The Lawler Government has announced a second review into the troubled St John Ambulance NT service at the same time giving it a 16.9 per cent funding increase, with the review examining either the government operating the service or awarding the contract to another operator, and comes while St John is already under investigation by the government for its treatment of patients.
The Lawler Government has declared war on single-use coffee cups, hiring a company to encourage Territory cafes and food outlets to trial reusable takeaway cups.
Chief Minister Eva Lawler says new legislation to legalise curfews needed to be rushed through Parliament before the August election because it cannot be left “to chance” with a possible new government coming in, while Attorney General Chansey Paech claims he was only ever opposed to permanent curfews, not temporary ones.
The Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education has appointed a new chief executive officer 16 months after the sudden and unexplained departure of the last, with Joe Martin-Jard taking over the role after his own sudden and unexplained departure as CEO of the Northern Land Council in March.
