EXCLUSIVE: Chief Minister Natasha Fyles’ most senior political adviser’s consultancy firm is the registered lobbyist for a national gas company that the NT Government approved to frack the Beetaloo Basin and develop a massive Middle Arm LNG project, federal records show, raising further serious conflict of interest concerns involving the NT Government’s gas policies, the NT Independent can reveal.
A Territory refrigeration worker suffered burn injuries and was nearly electrocuted while cleaning a newly installed chiller’s electrical cubicle with still-live cables, according to a preliminary NT WorkSafe investigation.
Today’s national news includes RBA seen to hold rates steady until February, Australia participates in Japan’s Exercise Yama Sakura, Australia’s Woodside Energy signs 20-year LNG deal with Mexico Pacific, and Director-General of National Intelligence Andrew Shearer reveals the development of a “top secret” intelligence cloud network.
Australia’s first airport resort hotel will open to the public today, following the massive $30 million integration and expansion of the Novotel and Mercure hotels at the Darwin Airport.
A 12-year-old boy allegedly rammed a car occupied by two security guards with a stolen 4WD in Alice Springs, attempted to ram a police car, then hit another police car, before being stopped with tyre spikes, NT Police said.
A 15-year-old boy has died and two others were injured in a single-vehicle crash along a stretch of Stuart Highway near Coolalinga at 12:15 am on Sunday, NT Police said.
EDITORIAL: The Opposition CLP has failed to do its job this week in Parliament, which won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s been observing NT politics for any amount of time, but their latest failure raises troubling questions about our democratic institutions and who is actually protecting and defending them.
Today’s national news includes Shareholders ending the Origin takeover bid, the Neo-Nazi movement could threaten national security, Food retailers facing inquiry into price gouging allegations, and Australia and France signed a military access agreement.
Low-cost carrier Bonza Airlines has suddenly cancelled its Gold Coast to Darwin route for a month following delays in obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals for a replacement aircraft borrowed from Canadian partner Flair, with Territorians expressing their frustrations.
The Fyles Labor Government attacked their own Speaker on Wednesday afternoon after he threw Treasurer Eva Lawler out of the chamber for belligerence, in an unusual scene from the floor of Parliament that followed comments about drinking high-priced Veuve Clicquot champagne and “being out of touch” with Territorians.
There are three less police officers in Alice Springs now than in late January when the Prime Minister announced there would be 30 more police, NT Police Association president Nathan Finn said, accusing the government of misleading the public and saying there are not enough police to fill regular shifts, let alone provide the 50 “extra” officers daily that were promised recently.
The Fyles Government failed to properly hire an ICAC Inspector before the last inspector’s term ended in September, so instead used an undisclosed amount of taxpayer money to strike a high-level hiring panel to recruit for the job, placed ads around the country for more than a month, and then decided to hire the same guy whose contract they let expire, the Chief Minister has revealed in Parliament.
