Amid a stalled ICAC investigation into former chief minister Michael Gunner’s alleged travel rorts during the 2020 election, a former Labor president and senior adviser to three chief ministers has called on the Fyles Government to work with the Opposition and independent MLAs to end the misuse of public money for political purposes.
EXCLUSIVE: Darwin Mayor Kon Vatskalis’s “cooperation agreements” with Chinese government officials have been called into question after it was revealed in an internal CDU email that his wife is the current director of the Chinese Communist Party’s Confucius Institute, following years of public denials she had any connections to the organisation.
Fyles Government concept drawings for the so-called sustainable Middle Arm industrial area show four out of five export jetties could be used for shipping gas and petrochemicals, with the graphics given to the Federal Government around the same time the Chief Minister was denying there would be petrochemicals, material obtained under Freedom of Information laws show.
Today’s national news includes Australia’s $100 million donation to Vietnam’s climate change program criticized, Australia is now in a ‘retail recession’ as inflation and rate hikes hit consumer spending. Also in the news are Ukraine receiving fresh military supplies from Australia, the new CDU campus leaving its mark on Darwin’s skyline, and The Amazing Race Australia to air its Celebrity Edition.
Territory Labor has attempted to expel MLA Mark Turner from the party for not following its rules, however in a cruel twist of irony for the party and its president, internal documents show Territory Labor has not followed its own rules in the dismissal.
The Northern Territory’s existing building code restrictions will worsen the dismal state of student accommodation and will eventually hamper economic activity in the jurisdiction, the Property Council NT has warned.
The Chief Minister and other senior government officials secretly met with the Chinese Ambassador to Australia in Darwin to reportedly discuss a “willingness to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China in various fields”, the Chinese state media reported, while the Fyles Government did not publicly disclose the meeting to Territorians.
Members of a remote Aboriginal corporation have called on its chair to stand down following serious allegations made against her, while unrelated allegations of the theft of more than $1 million from the organisation appear to be the subject of a police investigation involving possible raids.
Today’s national news includes Australia’s trade minister Don Farrell warning the European Union he would not sign a trade deal unless the bloc opens its market to more Australian farm products, and Australia’s economy grew at the weakest pace in 1½ years. Also in the news are swastika and SS signs to be banned, Australia to phase out checks as a payment method by 2030, and Aussies shelled out a total of $4.21 billion on video games last year.
A $1 million feasibility study into a potential “clean hydrogen market” in Darwin will be funded by the Federal Government through a group comprised of INPEX, Santos, Xodus and Australia’s national science agency CSIRO, the NT Government said, but critics argue it’s “greenwashing” the larger gas projects at Middle Arm.
QantasLink will resume its Canberra to Darwin seasonal service five times weekly from June 9 until September 29 this year, after the service was cut in 2021.
NT Health has declared an outbreak of Murray Valley encephalitis following seven confirmed cases, including two deaths and one person currently in a critical condition at hospital, which marks the highest number of cases recorded in a single year.
