The CLP Government will invest $36 million annually to fund domestic, family, and sexual violence support services, the Minister has announced, adding the funding will go beyond the five-year election commitment to further support those affected across the Territory, as rates of domestic violence continue to soar.
The Finocchiaro Government will cut a total of $200,000 in funding per year to the Environment Centre NT and the Arid Lands Environment Centre over the group’s legal challenges to government decisions on fracking and water allocations, with the Top End group calling the government a “puppet for big business” that is “running scared from scrutiny and accountability”.
Independent candidate for Solomon Phil Scott launched his federal election campaign in Darwin on Monday night, flanked by more than 200 supporters, calling his nomination “an alternative for voters” who are sick of party politics as usual.
Third party merit reviews will be removed from legislation covering petroleum, planning and water by the Finocchiaro Government, which has been praised by NT Farmers but criticised by the Environment Centre NT as government bowing to big business, adding the reviews are a key part of establishing transparency and accountability in government decision-making.
The Finocchiaro Government has scrapped the proposed treaty with Indigenous Territorians saying it will focus on local government reform instead, with independent MLA and Yolŋu traditional owner Yiŋiya Guyula saying the move was “saddening” and “ignorant”, the ABC has reported.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has declared 2025 the “Year of Action”, laying out her government’s vision for the next 11 months, including its plans for economic growth, cutting crime and repairing the budget, suggesting that while her government was still investigating what measures from the Langoulant review into government spending it would adopt, the millions spent on consultancy companies was “unacceptable”.
A single-vehicle rollover that resulted in nine individuals being hospitalised with head injuries and fractures south of Tipperary Station on Saturday night is currently under investigation, NT Police said, with a five-year-old girl suffering a serious head injury.
CLP Education Minister Jo Hersey says she will now disclose the gift of a free luxury jet flight to a boozy brunch paid for by a wealthy Katherine businesswoman, after breaching the Disclosures Act by failing to report the gift, with the Opposition calling for the Minister to be reprimanded for flouting NT disclosure laws on multiple occasions.
A five-year-old boy from an unnamed remote community was allegedly raped by a 19-year-old male relative, with the teen scheduled to appear in Darwin Local Court today, NT Police said.
The federal and NT governments and the Aboriginal Peak Organisations have reached a new funding agreement all say will enhance service delivery in remote First Nations communities.
NT Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Andrew Warton has been given an unspecified amount of time over the fire season to take a ‘sabbatical’ to run Australia’s Casey Research Station in Antarctica, after only seven months in the top job, while the firefighter’s union has said the three most senior NT Fire roles have not been permanently filled 10 months after the new agency was started.
Today’s national news includes Australia enacting ‘disputed’ legislation on hate crimes, Australia making an initial $500 million AUKUS payment, Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and the US engaging in a multinational maritime cooperation exercise, and hot nights anticipated in southern Australian states.
