An 18-year-old woman who arrived on a flight from Melbourne on an undisclosed date has tested positive for COVID-19, while one of her “close contacts” from the flight was somehow permitted to enter the community without quarantining.

EXCLUSIVE: A report that outlined credible allegations of ongoing fraud and misconduct at Batchelor Institute was given to Chief Minister Michael Gunner’s office in late 2019 – after it was requested by a senior ministerial advisor – but it appears the office took no further action, the NT Independent can reveal.

Senator Sam McMahon has called out NT Health Minister Natasha Fyles for not being aware that the Federal Government streamlined visa approval processes for overseas health care workers last year, after the Minister said fast-tracking visa approvals was part of her new plan to fix the NT’s health crisis. 

An NT Health executive representing the Royal Darwin and Palmerston hospitals has apologised to 100 junior doctors over a memo warning them that they would be blacklisted if they breach their contracts by leaving before their terms were up.

Two federal NT politicians support calls for the Gunner Government to recruit much-needed nurses and health professionals to the NT from overseas to help ease the growing health crisis at Territory hospitals, but have offered no practical assistance to make that happen.

The NT Independent’s three media award nominations are the first for the independent online publication that started just last year, and come in spite of a ban by the Gunner Government and a spurious police investigation for exposing the failures of the NT Police executive.

Royal Darwin Hospital is over-capacity yet again, forcing surgeries to be cancelled, with health authorities declaring another “code yellow” – the fourth since February and the second this month.

NASA scientists are in the Top End to kick off work for their first non-U.S. commercial rocket launch, which will soon blastoff from Arnhem Land’s Yolngu country.