More than $20 million was handed out in taxpayer-funded grants to small businesses ahead of the 2020 NT general election by the business department through a COVID-19 stimulus program called the Small Business Survival Fund, that raised concerns with the Auditor General. Do you recognise any of the businesses? SEE THE INTERACTIVE LIST HERE
The Federal Albanese Government will be spending $3.8 billion over the next four years to upgrade Defence bases across northern Australia, including two air bases, two naval bases, and the Robertson Barracks in the NT, following the release of the National Defence Strategic Review, although it was not disclosed how much of that is new money and how much is already committed.
Rioting in Peppimenarti has forced some workers to be evacuated from the remote community, with plans enacted for all non-Indigenous workers to also be evacuated, sources have told the NT Independent.
Outgoing police commissioner Jamie Chalker has delayed filing his evidence against Chief Minister Natasha Fyles, according to a Supreme Court order that granted him a deadline extension, indicating a settlement could be imminent that would keep the details of the case secret.
Federal Labor member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour has said she supports Yipirinya School principal Dr Gavin Morris’ proposal to open a boarding school in Alice Springs to get Indigenous children off the street and into the classroom through a free lodging scheme, and has also suggested there needs to be a similar boarding school in Katherine.
The NT Government has announced a $71 million power bill subsidy for Territorians for the next financial year ahead of the Budget, money that is typically funded every year, that the government said would help lower utility prices and boost the economy, but the Opposition and the peak body for the social and community sector say the money does not go far enough to address cost of living pressures.
A masked man who allegedly set a Katherine servo on fire was finally apprehended in the Darwin rural area after allegedly setting more fires. Find out how he was dramatically arrested.
The Fyles Government awarded a $30,000 contract to a construction company for “condition assessment inspections and related works at the flood evacuation accommodation at Howard Springs”, before some of Chief Minister Natasha Fyles’s most recent denials of damage there, denials she said were “based on advice I got”.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles has said there is evidence in the Northern Territory and around the world of more violent crime post the COVID-19 pandemic, when asked about a weekend of crime that included five ram raids on bottle shops, stolen cars, several homes broken into – including one where a resident was attacked with sticks – and a disabled woman being sexually assaulted in public during the afternoon.
The NT Police Association said it expects an independent review into NT Police promised by the Fyles Government will commence towards the end of the year and called for the findings and recommendations to be made public before next year’s general election.
Today’s national news includes Australia launching its biggest defence shakeup in decades to neutralize the threat of China’s militarization, Australia celebrating Anzac Day with dawn services and marches, the Finance Sector Union calling on banks to stop shuttering branches, and a new policy allowing Aussies to save up to $180 annually on prescription medicine.
NT Police are calling for the public’s help to identify a man in a balaclava who allegedly set fire to a Katherine service station on Tuesday afternoon and is still at large.
