The NT anti-corruption watchdog’s long-delayed report into Territory Labor’s taxpayer-funded 2020 election campaign has ended with “no concluded findings” of whether former chief minister Michael Gunner “did or did not engage in improper conduct”, but flagged a secret second report will be provided to current Chief Minister Eva Lawler next month concerning Labor staffers’ involvement.

The confusing report was tabled in Parliament late last night, which focused only on Mr Gunner’s conduct in relation to the misuse of public funds for party political purposes at the 2020 NT general election, including for flights to remote communities in marginal electorates on polling days, despite evidence that others were involved, including his brother-in-law, who was then his deputy chief of staff.

The ICAC’s report was released more than three years after complaints were first raised about Labor’s improper tactics on the 2020 campaign trail and only three months out from the next election.

“I have not made any findings in respect of Mr Gunner,” Mr Riches wrote. “That is, I have not made a finding that he did, or did not, engage in improper conduct.”

While there were no specific adverse findings against Mr Gunner – or any findings at all – the report suggested a second document that would not be made public would be handed over to current Chief Minister Eva Lawler by June 30, containing details of staffers’ involvement in using taxpayer funds for campaign purposes.

Mr Riches’s report also provided seven “recommendations” to clarify public expenditure during elections, but added they were “in terms of voluntary uptake”.

The public report released Wednesday night was heavy on Mr Riches’s introspections on the limitations of his role as the anti-corruption commissioner with respect to the ICAC Act and what evidence could be made public, and light on facts concerning how Labor used taxpayer funds to fly the then-chief minister to remote communities in marginal seats on polling days – including who authorised the trips and under whose authority.

The NT Independent revealed in November 2021, that Mr Gunner charged taxpayers more than $40,000 for Labor campaign flights with political advisers to remote communities in close electorates Labor was hoping to win during the 2020 caretaker period, against established rules, approved by his brother-in-law and then-deputy chief of staff Ryan Neve.

The trips were officially claimed as “ministerial travel”, despite no record of meetings taking place. Those flights included $20,000 of taxpayer-funded trips Mr Gunner, his family and his advisers took ahead of the election that appeared to also breach caretaker guidelines established to prevent the misuse of public funds on party-political campaigning.

Mr Riches stated that his investigation was focused on two allegations: 1) That staff members in the Chief Minister’s Office had engaged in political work during office hours to support Labor’s election campaign in the lead-up to the 2020 election; and 2) that Mr Gunner and other public officers misused public resources by undertaking taxpayer-funded travel for political purposes in the lead-up to the general election.

He stated that the first allegation was made in February 2021, and that upon commencing the role of ICAC in July 2021, he sent the allegation to Mr Gunner personally in November “for action”.

Mr Gunner responded three months later that there was “no evidence of improper conduct” in his office.

It was unclear why Mr Riches referred the allegation involving Mr Gunner’s staff – including his brother-in-law – to him directly to investigate and why it took Mr Gunner three moths to respond.

Riches says he forgot to review second allegation involving improper flights to remote communities on polling days

Mr Riches said in the report that he realised in December 2021 – around the time the NT Independent revealed further issues of taxpayer money being used for party campaign purposes by Mr Gunner and Labor – that he “had not considered and determined allegation #2”.

Three months after receiving Mr Gunner’s denial of wrongdoing, in May 2022 – the same month Mr Gunner resigned as chief minister – Mr Riches said he decided to expand his investigation and had already conducted “a number of examinations and received a good deal of evidence”.

Mr Gunner denied being informed of the investigation by the ICAC when he resigned on May 10, 2022, with his knowledge of the investigation later called into question.

Mr Riches said most of 2023 was spent gathering evidence, the “vast majority” of which he stated was in connection to the first allegation of staff engaging in political work while being paid by taxpayers. A “hiatus” followed, as lawyers “prepared comprehensive submissions” with the bulk of work finally completed in January of this year.

“My investigation has, for a number of reasons, progressed at a glacial pace and I regret that it has [taken] so long to bring the matter to an end,” Mr Riches wrote, adding the investigation was “quite complex”.

“That complexity, I suspect, has been amplified in this jurisdiction by rules that lack clarity and precision.”

Mr Riches said while his “attention was focused” on the first allegation of staff in the Chief Minister’s Office, he will “deal” with that allegation “in a separate report” that may never see the light of day once it is provided to Ms Lawler on June 30.

“I have no doubt that the Chief Minister will take appropriate steps to protect the confidentiality of the second report and, to the extent that it is in the public interest to do so, I will make a public statement about the second report…,” Mr Riches wrote.

Mr Riches poured over codes of conduct, travel policies, caretaker convention rules, electoral commission rules, and emails showing staffers had signed off on the questionable travel, but ultimately made no decision as to the appropriateness of politicians and their staff using taxpayer money to campaign.

“What constitutes a political purpose, as opposed to a public purpose, is not well defined and there remains, in my view, intolerable ambiguity,” he wrote. “That ambiguity is one of the reasons I have decided not to proceed to record findings in this report.”

He stated at one point that he “acknowledged” Mr Gunner’s claim that the trips to three remote communities were part of a minister’s responsibility to “engage with members of the community and that face-to-face engagement is, in many respects, the best approach”, while offering no comment as to why Mr Gunner would be meeting with community members just days before the election he was not certain to win.

Mr Riches also stated that “as a matter of fairness” there were 169 remote voting stations during the 2020 election and that his investigation related to only three trips by the then-chief minister to remote polling locations.

Those trips were to Nauiyu on August 14, 2020; Galiwinku on August 18; and Wadeye on August 19.

Mr Riches did not provide comment on the fact that those three trips were to electorates Labor was concerned about losing at the 2020 election, nor did he explain why three other taxpayer-funded trips were not part of the investigation, only to say he had determined there were “proper reasons” for those trips.

He also found that other ministers had charged taxpayers for trips during the caretaker period, but inexplicably chose not to pursue those ministers further.

Riches refuses to rule on credibility of conflicting evidence

Mr Riches stated that he could not include in his report any evidence from witnesses that “could be used for disciplinary proceedings” against government staffers, in accordance with the ICAC Act.

He added that a finding of “improper conduct” could only be made after a “consideration, and in some cases, a rejection, of some or all of the evidence given in the examinations” and that in finding so, he would have to assess the “reliability and credibility of witnesses … where witness evidence is conflicting”.

He concluded that he was “loathe” to assess who was lying and who wasn’t, “as a matter of fairness”.

“Notwithstanding that I have not made findings, I have determined that it is in the public interest to prepare this report,” he wrote, adding that it was the “appropriate vehicle to highlight improper conduct risks” ahead of this August’s election.

He later said that he could not disclose all the evidence collected because he wanted to remain “cautious” as to the inclusion of “compelled evidence in this report”.

He provided no verbal evidence provided by anyone other than Mr Gunner.

Mr Riches made seven voluntary recommendations, including slight amendments to the recently altered ministerial staff guidelines; that every MLA pledge not to use public resources on political activity (in writing); that MLAs keep a record of travel taken during the caretaker period and make that public through the Clerk’s office; and that staffers keep timesheets showing time spent on political activities and public duties with MLAs overseeing that they only engage in political activities “after ordinary business hours”.