A $250 disaster payment for Territorians who have been without power for more than 72 hours due to Cyclone Fina will be available starting tomorrow, the NT Government has announced – which is the same amount offered to Cyclone Marcus victims more than seven years ago.
The Finocchiaro CLP Government has refused to explain how disgraced former NT Government senior executive Andrew Kirkman obtained a government-marked vehicle, which he was seen driving and which was parked outside his house last week, more than seven months after announcing his departure from the public service.
A 34-year-old man was arrested in a remote community overnight after reportedly arming himself with a shovel to gain entry to a local clinic where his female partner was sheltering, NT Police said, which followed reports the same man had caused damage at another location by taking an angle grinder to cars.
UPDATED: Thousands of homes and businesses remained without power on Monday following Tropical Cyclone Fina’s damaging hit on the Greater Darwin area on Saturday, which left trees uprooted, homes and properties damaged, roads temporarily blocked, traffic lights out and structural damage to a hallway outside the intensive care unit at Royal Darwin Hospital.
A doctor at the centre of rape allegations and concerns of a “cover-up” of his behaviour was charged this week with the rape of one woman and the indecent assault of another, following a lengthy criminal investigation.
St John Ambulance NT CEO Andrew Tombs has resigned amid turmoil in the Territory’s ambulance service provider, the chair of the organisation announced on Friday in an internal message to staff.
The Australian Federal Police have now charged Jessica Buckley for her alleged role in the fraud involving $71 million worth of Department of Defence contracts, which comes nearly a week after her husband and a woman she started another company with were charged.
The Bureau of Meteorology has extended a ‘cyclone watch’ to include Darwin, as Tropical Cyclone Fina has started tracking south and is expected to make landfall on the Cobourg Peninsula late on Friday, while now tracking to pass over waters north of Darwin and south of Melville Island by Saturday bringing high winds, heavy rain and possible flash flooding.
Two companies linked to Michael Buckley and his co-accused have had their government contractor accreditation pulled, which will prevent both businesses from receiving government works and may affect subcontractors, as Mr Buckley faces federal corruption charges relating to the alleged rorting of Department of Defence building contracts valued at $71 million.
Proven liar and NT Police Commander Shaun Gill told a local radio station a male teen was arrested after allegedly throwing a gas bottle at a person in Darwin overnight and threatening people with an “edged weapon”, but that did not align with facts presented in a police press release, which is not the first time Mr Gill has misled the public.
NT musicians of all genres and performing styles looking to join the stage at next year’s Bassinthegrass can apply now to win a slot at the popular music festival alongside national and international acts.
M+J Builders co-director Jessica Buckley’s claims that she is an Indigenous woman from the Bundaberg region in Queensland have recently been called into question, the NT Independent understands, which comes as the NT Indigenous Business Network suspended the company’s membership on Tuesday, but which it said was due only to the federal corruption charges against her husband and co-director Michael Buckley.
