The NT Independent is providing an update of resource news from across the Northern Territory. Highlights this week include Core Lithium boosting Finniss’ MRE by 62 per cent, the NT Supreme Court dismissing Rallen Australia’s appeal regarding land access in the Beetaloo Basin and critical minerals company Tivan moving its company headquarters to Darwin.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles has finally admitted damage has been done to the Howard Springs workers’ camp after weeks of denials and public contradictions by her own ministers – which she was still denying last week – before seemingly accepting on Monday that damage has in fact been caused at the facility.
Today’s national news includes Labor looking to extend the duration of its $12 per gigajoule gas price cap beyond December of this year, Australia seeking more business deals with China, the majority of Australians feeling positive about switching to cleaner energy options, and more senior Australians are now accessing cheaper health care.
EXCLUSIVE: Territory Labor Member for Arafura Manuel Brown appears to have misled the public in a statement released just before the by-election last month in which he claimed he “rendered first aid” to a woman he killed with his car in 2009, according to court records obtained by the NT Independent. READ THE FACTS HERE.
The Fyles Government has announced $3 million from the upcoming 2023 Budget will be spent on the “streetscape revitalisation” of Smith Street, which the Opposition says shows the government is “out of touch” and should be spending that money on reducing crime if it wants more people in the CBD.
Deputy Chief Minister Nicole Manison is on an un-costed trade mission to Japan and South Korea, which she says will attract “new major investment” into the NT’s critical minerals and energy sectors, and plans use the trip to highlight “breath-taking” new tourism experiences in Central Australia to the “Japanese tourism industry”.
UPDATED: A man who allegedly sexually assaulted a disabled woman in Alice Springs in public on Saturday afternoon may have been apprehended after police said on Monday they have a 20-year-old man in custody in connection to the incident.
Today’s national news includes foreign spies looking for ‘disloyal’ insiders in government, ACCC blocking Qantas’ buyout of mining charter operator claiming competition issues, and Australia making citizenship for Kiwis easier. Also in the news is Fleet Space Technologies signing a $6.4 million contract with Australia’s Defense Space Command, and Australian performer bagging longed for Miss Saigon’s lead role.
Lingiari MP Marion Scrymgour has proposed an Aboriginal community-controlled Family Responsibility Commission that could quarantine payments for parents who don’t look after their children, writes Michelle Grattan.
The Fyles Government has extended alcohol restrictions in Alice Springs for another three months citing widespread success and community support for the rules to be extended, including limiting takeaway sales and further narrowing bottle shops’ business hours.
Deputy Chief Minister Nicole Manison has confirmed some flood evacuees have been responsible for “senseless destruction” at the Howard Springs’ workers camp, which directly contradicts Chief Minister Natasha Fyles’s repeated claims there has been no damage outside of regular “wear and tear” and has raised political speculation about internal disputes within Labor.
NT Police watch commanders in Alice Springs have been told by the brass not to post serious crimes on social media because it has negatively affected tourism in the region, which comes amid a critical shortage of officers in town, resulting in some crimes not being fully investigated, highly-placed sources have told the NT Independent.
