UPDATED: The government body that investigates complaints against the Territory’s judges dismissed 15 of 16 complaints it received last financial year, according to its annual report, with only one active complaint into substantiated allegations of “judicial bullying” currently being dealt with.
An 18-year-old female passenger on a motorcycle was killed when two motorcycles collided with feral pigs 19km east of the Stuart Highway intersection on Arnhem Highway Monday night, NT Police said.
Deputy Chief Minister Gerard Maley will lead a delegation of NT livestock representatives to Indonesia this week, which he said will strengthen international partnerships involving the NT’s livestock and agriculture, with the trip also timed to celebrate the opening of a new steakhouse in Seminyak featuring NT beef.
The NT jumped from eighth to fourth in overall economic standing, its best result since October 2016, the latest CommSec State of the States quarterly economic report shows, while Western Australia leads overall for the fifth consecutive quarter, topping four economic indicators.
EDITORIAL: There’s no sense arguing anymore if the previous Labor government was worse than the current Finocchiaro CLP Government – this government has simply picked up where Labor left off and every other self-serving, egomanic government we’ve had over the years, that puts its elected members’ interests and its mates above all Territorians.
A woman was killed Saturday night after being struck by a vehicle on the Stuart Highway in Pinelands, NT Police said.
Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby has moved to change Freedom of Information laws to block correspondence between ministers and their staff ever being made public, which will effectively end a legal challenge seeking a former Territory Labor minister’s correspondence, in a move Ms Boothby claims is somehow “strengthening integrity”, while a national integrity expert says it removes a “cornerstone of accountability”.
UPDATED: NT Greens Member for Nightcliff Kat McNamara was referred on urgency to Parliament’s disciplinary body last night by the CLP Government for hosting a “casual information session” in her electorate office, that the CLP allege was a misuse of her taxpayer-funded office and part of a plot to recruit new Greens members.
While multiple unresolved integrity scandals hang over her head, Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro introduced legislation to Parliament on Thursday to establish a new Ethics and Integrity Commission, which she said will “streamline integrity oversight”, but failed to seek any public input on the changes and chose not to refer the proposed bill to the Parliament’s scrutiny committee for bipartisan oversight.
Inpex reported an oil spill at its Ichthys facility on Darwin Harbour earlier this month, which was made public days after the Japanese gas giant admitted to under-reporting toxic emissions for years at the same facility, with calls for a public inquiry into the company’s failures.
Racing Minister Marie-Clare Boothby has defended the beleaguered Racing and Wagering Commission’s alleged conflicts of interest with the industry it regulates – that formed the focus of a recent Four Corners investigation – by suggesting it would be “amazing” if she could take two crossbench MLAs to the racetrack and lay a couple bets down with them to “see what happens”.
A drunk taxi driver carrying a passenger was one of four drivers caught with a medium-range blood-alcohol reading last weekend, as part of a targeted NT Police traffic operation that saw 165 drivers tested through two random breath testing stations in Darwin and Palmerston, police said.
