Chief Minister Natasha Fyles has hired Michael Gunner’s former media adviser a year out from the 2024 NT general election through a secret contract with a newly created Victoria-based consultancy company with links to Federal Labor.
Fyles tells outright lies on national stage at press club address
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles defended her government’s continued illegal ban on the NT Independent during her National Press Club address on Tuesday by lying to the public, after appearing to be caught off-guard when asked by ABC’s Laura Tingle why her government does not allow this award-winning news outlet to attend press conferences.
National Aboriginal Art Gallery cost blowout revealed along with concept designs
The estimated cost of the proposed National Aboriginal Art Gallery in Alice Springs has increased three-fold since its 2017 announcement, new figures show, while the Territory’s acknowledged contribution has also increased by almost 40 per cent since last March.
Labor to strengthen sex offence laws, now outlaws what it did to protect child sex offender
The Fyles Labor Government will today “strengthen and modernise” its sexual offence laws, it said, including forbidding good character references for child sex offenders for reduced sentences, a practice Labor engaged in last year during sentencing of its former party secretary for repeatedly raping a child.
‘Errors have been made’: ICAC investigation into Labor corruption in limbo as allegations of political influence raised
Allegations of political influence in the ICAC’s investigation into Labor’s alleged misuse of public funds during the 2020 NT election have been raised by independent MLAs, following revelations a party member with undisclosed conflicts of interest was involved, while Commissioner Michael Riches has admitted “errors have been made”.
Fuel card rorts: Speaker’s ruling on fuel card usage secretly posted two days before Christmas
Speaker Mark Monaghan’s decision to permit two of his Labor colleagues to use their taxpayer-funded fuel cards for personal interstate holidays was issued secretly on December 23 to an internal government server with no notice – five days after one MLA had already embarked on his trip – and nine days before it came into effect, new documents show.
Major corruption probe into Labor’s misuse of public funds compromised
EXCLUSIVE: The major ICAC investigation into the Territory Labor Government’s misuse of public funds for political campaigning during the 2020 election has been compromised, the NT Independent can reveal, after an ICAC staffer involved in the investigation failed to disclose two potential conflicts of interest, including that he had previously discussed a career on the fifth floor with a key witness.
ICAC also hired Labor Party member
EXCLUSIVE: The Office of the ICAC hired a Labor Party member last year to undertake unspecified legal duties in the organisation, the NT Independent can reveal, which comes following revelations a CLP operative was hired last month as an investigator that Commissioner Michael Riches contends now was an “organisational failure”.
ICAC blames hiring CLP member as investigator on budget cuts in surprise letter to Chief Minister
EXCLUSIVE: Anti-corruption commissioner Michael Riches sent an extraordinary letter to the Chief Minister on Saturday, following public criticism of his office hiring a CLP operative as an investigator, in which he blamed the Fyles Labor Government’s funding cuts for the inability to attract suitable investigators and called for changes to the law to forbid politically-aligned people working in his office.
ICAC hires CLP operative as investigator
EXCLUSIVE: The NT’s anti-corruption commissioner has defended hiring a CLP executive member to oversee reports to his office, after Commissioner Michael Riches first indicated he was not aware of his new investigator’s political ties, the NT Independent can reveal.
Snouts in the trough: Monaghan on another taxpayer-funded overseas junket
EXCLUSIVE: Labor Speaker Mark Monaghan secretly charged taxpayers for a late-night flight on Territory Day to the Solomon Islands for an exclusive international parliamentary get-together that involved a ceremony with a giant pig and young men in loincloths, while posting images to social media this week that make it appear he is in Darwin, the NT Independent can reveal.
‘Quite weird by national standards’: NT ICAC Act reforms called into question
Proposed changes to the NT ICAC Act that would prevent the anti-corruption commissioner from naming politicians and public servants found to have engaged in misconduct in certain circumstances is “inappropriate” for an independent investigative body, a leading anti-corruption expert has said.