Today’s national news includes Australian may give ‘Voice’ to Indigenous communities, Prime Minister Albanese visits Manila, strikes begin at Chevron Australia LNG projects, tuberculosis outbreak reported in remote SA communities, and Australia backs the Philippines over claims in South China Sea.
It was a case of deja vu all over again on Friday as the Fyles Government announced that the Clough-BMD joint venture has been awarded the contract to build the long-delayed Darwin ship lift facility at East Arm – the same announcement it made 14 months ago.
The NT Electoral Commission has admitted it bungled its electoral boundary redistribution process, claiming an “administrative oversight” will result in starting the process all over again at an unknown cost to taxpayers.
Tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes’ private investment company Grok Ventures has finalised its purchase of the Sun Cable project, and has reaffirmed plans to build Australia’s largest solar farm near Tennant Creek to supply of electricity to Singapore via an undersea cable from Darwin.
NT Police have announced the sudden retirement of Assistant Commissioner Bruce Porter, which sources say relates to a disagreement with Police Commissioner Michael Murphy over how police are dealing with allegations a senior detective perverted the course of justice in connection to the Zach Rolfe murder investigation.
Today’s national news includes ASIC suing PayPal unit over biased terms in small business contracts, Australia launching SEA economic strategy, Australia’s gross domestic product up, and offensive strip searches a factor in Qatar Airways rejection.
UPDATED: The Supreme Court has ordered the NT Government to pay $1 million in damages to four former Don Dale detainees who were illegally teargassed during a disturbance at the youth detention centre in 2014, but the government says it considering “its legal options”.
Two NT Police officers were allegedly assaulted by an angry mob in an Alice Springs town camp while attempting to arrest a man who allegedly shot at people at a funeral last week and was on the run, in a dangerous incident the NT Police media unit did not report to the public.
Throb Nightclub has been shut down by the government after the building it’s located in was found not fit for occupancy and presenting a “threat to life”, due to concerns about the structural safety of the premises, according to an emergency order issued by the NT’s director of building control.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles’s office has released an extraordinary statement identifying who she has met with while in the US, following intense public outrage over the $93,000 taxpayer-funded trip, also revealing she will now spend time in Los Angeles and San Diego.
The Health Department’s deputy chief executive has been appointed as the acting Commissioner for Public Employment, sources have said.
A research team made up of scientists from the United States, Indonesia and Charles Darwin University are searching for the elusive Clown Wedgefish, one of the world’s most endangered fish, in Indonesia’s Riau Islands.
