NT Police Commissioner Michael Murphy was made aware of racist awards handed out within the Territory Response Group at least six months before they were aired publicly, a coronial inquest has heard, contradicting Mr Murphy’s claims in February that he was “not aware of the TRG awards”.
NT Police have welcomed four new members to its elite Search and Rescue Squad after completing their training and evaluation, which follows the unit being plagued with a lack of personnel that meant it could not undertake some diving operations in late 2021.
Six people were arrested early Sunday morning in connection to an alleged vehicle theft ring, NT Police said, after “several” stolen vehicles were driven dangerously in the northern suburbs and Palmerston, while more stolen vehicles were located and recovered after tyre spikes were deployed near Adelaide River.
Today’s national news includes Ukrainian energy needs unlikely to be met by Australia’s coal shipment, International students important to the economy: Labor MP, 2023 Mazda CX-90 being recalled due to braking defect, and Australian Tourism Exchange 2025 to be held in Brisbane.
ANALYSIS: It was odd that the current Independent Commissioner Against Corruption, the man who has yet to make his mark on the role after three years, was calmly and methodically engaging in woodwork in his home garage, while the people he was hired to investigate savagely wrapped up their last week of sittings down the street with the most important investigation of his tenure hanging over them.
NT-based low-cost carrier Airnorth has put more than a dozen routes between the Top End, the West Coast, and the East Coast on sale, starting from just $216, one-way, until the end of this month.
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.
