Chief Minister Eva Lawler has told Parliament the public can wait 30 years to see if beleaguered Minister Chansey Paech disclosed his shares in a liquor wholesale company to Cabinet before discussing remote community grog bans, as calls for Mr Paech’s resignation continued Wednesday.
Deputy Chief Minister Chansey Paech did not inform Cabinet of his shares in a liquor wholesale company while minister of Aboriginal Affairs when the lifting of grog bans in remote communities was discussed, the Chief Minister says, while federal and Territory political leaders have called for Mr Paech’s resignation for his “sickening” conduct.
EXCLUSIVE: Deputy Chief Minister Chansey Paech personally invested in a liquor wholesale company that supplies alcohol to Alice Springs bottle shops two months before his Labor Government controversially permitted Intervention-era grog bans on remote communities to lapse in 2022, the NT Independent can reveal.
The Lawler Labor Government’s pick for Speaker of the NT Parliament has caused outrage amongst Opposition and independent MLAs, who have argued that Member for Daly Dheran Young is unsuitable for the job due to his past conduct, that includes threatening a sitting MLA and charging taxpayers for his personal holidays.
The Country Liberal Party has a long track record of failing to publicly disclose how much money it collects from donors while avoiding prosecution, with a 2021 independent audit recommending that the party be “pursued” for deliberately breaking disclosure laws, as excuses from the party’s president and treasurer mount over the latest breach.
The Country Liberal Party broke electoral laws by failing to publicly report how much it raised in financial gifts over the last six months of the year and who gave it the money, which could see the party fined $176,000 for keeping its finances secret.
Territory Labor received tens of thousands of dollars in financial gifts from major gas companies, local developers and mining companies ahead of the 2024 NT general election, new disclosures released by the NT Electoral Commission show, while the CLP did not report any gifts.
Former small business minister Paul Kirby is the latest Labor MLA to announce his retirement from politics, issuing a statement on Thursday morning that he will not recontest his Port Darwin seat at the next election.
Former speaker Mark Monaghan should pay back taxpayers the thousands he secretly approved for two of his Labor colleagues to take holidays at taxpayer expense after an independent statutory body ruled that his decision to permit the use of government cars and fuel cards for personal interstate travel was inappropriate, an independent MLA says.
EXCLUSIVE: Deputy Chief Minister Chansey Paech and acting Speaker Dheran Young have refused to reimburse taxpayers for their personal interstate holidays, despite the independent body that determines politicians’ entitlements ruling that Government vehicles cannot be used by politicians for interstate personal travel.
Four weeks after putting her hand up to be the Territory’s next chief minister, Nicole Manison has announced she will retire from politics at the August election to spend more time with her family, telling ABC Radio on Monday that she has not had discussions about future jobs to date, but left the door open.
Chief Minister Eva Lawler appears to have lifted the NT Government’s ban on the NT Independent, inviting this publication to her first press conference on Thursday afternoon and taking questions.
