EDITORIAL: The CLP Government’s decision to ignore serious instances of improper conduct at the taxpayer-funded Darwin Waterfront Corporation when faced with documented evidence has sent a message to the entire NT Public Service: Go ahead and do your worst, this CLP Government will cover it up. It also shows why our latest government-in-crisis cannot perform its basic function of keeping the public safe and maintaining the public’s trust in its institutions.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has ordered Parliament be recalled next week so she can introduce legislation aimed at strengthening the Bail Act following the stabbing death of a Nightcliff supermarket owner, which comes seven months after she was warned her government’s so-called ‘Declan’s Law’ would not keep the community safe.
UPDATED: An 18-year-old who allegedly stabbed a Nightcliff supermarket owner to death on Wednesday after a dispute over stolen goods has been charged with murder, NT Police said. The teen was on bail at the time of the stabbing and had been ordered to remain in a remote community.
Coroner Elisabeth Armitage has announced she will hand down the findings of her more than two-years-long inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker in Yuendumu on June 10.
The 18-year-old who allegedly killed a Darwin supermarket owner on Wednesday afternoon was on bail for multiple violent offences at the time of the stabbing, including sexual intercourse with a child under 16, depriving a person of their liberty, assaulting police and spitting on emergency workers, The Australian has reported. He was charged with murder on Thursday night.
Santos is expected to commence production at its Barossa offshore gas field off the NT coast later this year, following final federal approval being granted this week.
Tourism Minister and Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby has rejected calls for a public inquiry into the possible misuse of public resources at the Darwin Waterfront Corporation involving the Chief Minister’s husband and other senior public servants, stating she “is the Minister” and has received a secret internal “briefing” that exonerated everyone of any wrongdoing. However, the briefing was completed before revelations the Chief Minister’s husband benefitted from questionable hiring practices.
The Coalition has pledged to lower airfare prices in the NT by lifting cabotage restrictions that prevent foreign airlines from carrying passengers on domestic flights in Darwin, but has not confirmed any airline willing to do that and may find it difficult to attract any, an aviation expert said.
A series of high-visibility operations during the long Easter weekend by NT Police to enhance road safety across the region uncovered more than 60 people testing positive to either alcohol or drugs in their system while driving, with hundreds of others caught speeding and not wearing seat belts.
NT Health has issued a warning to Territorians about the use of nitazenes, a dangerous synthetic opioid recently found in the Territory, which is potentially up to 10 times more potent than fentanyl.
EDITORIAL: Revelations this week that the Chief Minister’s family personally benefitted from the systemic maladministration and apparent misuse of public funds at the Darwin Waterfront Corporation is further proof the Territory is completely broken and must be the catalyst we need to finally stamp out corruption at the highest levels of our public institutions that has been allowed to run unchecked for years.
The Labor Opposition has acknowledged some of the potential misconduct exposed by an NT Independent investigation into the Darwin Waterfront Corporation occurred while Labor was in government, but has joined growing calls for an independent inquiry to get to the bottom of the potential malfeasance and misuse of public resources at the taxpayer-funded corporation.
