Forty Mongols motorcycle gang members and associates have been arrested – including the national president, Darwin president, vice president and sergeant-at-arms – as part of a massive undercover operation spanning the last 18 months, with further arrests expected, NT Police said.
Today’s national news includes Aukus spending triggering calls to increase aid budget, US property giant Sentinel Real Estate Corporation expands its Australian build-to-rent portfolio in Adelaide, Australian federal government mulls cracking down on video games with simulated gambling, and Aussie porn star Angela White clarifies on-set injury issue.
Alcohol-related presentations at Alice Springs Hospital have plummeted in the eight weeks since liquor bans were reinstated in the region, according to new data – a troubling fact that an independent MLA says shows the Fyles Government made a “terrible mistake” by letting the bans lapse that caused “untold harm” to Aboriginal women and children.
NT Police have been forced to provide custody facilities at the Peter McAulay Centre and multiple watch houses to NT Corrections to help house the record number of prisoners in the NT’s justice system, after prisons in both Darwin and Alice Springs surpassed capacity this week, a situation the police said was a “short term solution” but that corrections says will not end soon.
Five Puma service stations at Howard Springs, Humpty Doo, Palmerston, Nightcliff and Whishart Road will close at 6pm Thursday as OTR (formerly On The Run) prepares to take over the outlets’ operation, which will start on April 1.
The NT Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team arrested a 68-year-old man yesterday after executing a search warrant at the man’s residence in an undisclosed community within the Katherine Region, NT Police said.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles has refused to say if she hid from protesters behind locked doors during the anti-crime rally at Parliament House on Saturday, after an internal parliamentary email showed the government feared the public would attack electorate offices, with politicians told to lock their doors and not hesitate to use “duress buttons” while the rally was held.
The Fyles Government has announced a voluntary buy-back of grocery store liquor licences across the NT, which it said will reduce the number of takeaway alcohol outlets and alcohol-related harm.
Today’s national news includes the Australian government raising concerns with the Israeli government over a minister’s “inflammatory” remarks about the Palestinian people and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation taking over issuing high-level security clearances. Also in the news is Australia’s February inflation slowing down to an 8-month low, Airports to aid in fighting the fall in numbers of travellers, and South Australia passing landmark legislation giving the Indigenous population a first ‘voice to Parliament’.
The NT Government has finally announced a schedule for undergrounding power lines in the northern suburbs after first announcing the plan five years ago. Find out which suburbs are first.
The Opposition CLP have called on the Fyles Government to expand the list of weapons included in its urgent bail reforms, saying crimes committed with rocks, glass bottles, scissors, star pickets and other makeshift weapons would not result in a presumption against bail for offenders, despite the government’s pledge to make the community safer.
Today’s national news includes Australia’s residential property market posting strong gains next year, the construction market expected to record more than 5 per cent CAGR in the next several years, the country’s retail sales growth weakening to 0.2 per cent, and Philippine Airlines completing its inaugural flight to Perth, Australia.
