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.
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.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles refused to answer questions about the secret taxpayer-funded payout to former police commissioner Jamie Chalker, including if her letter to Mr Chalker, in which she made factual mistakes, resulted in a larger payout than if the sacking followed proper processes.
Police Minister Kate Worden hired a lawyer to threaten to sue Action for Alice Facebook page administrator Darren Clark over comments he published about his first meeting with her, the NT Independent understands, which Ms Worden told Estimates this morning she paid for herself.
Amid a stalled ICAC investigation into former chief minister Michael Gunner’s alleged travel rorts during the 2020 election, a former Labor president and senior adviser to three chief ministers has called on the Fyles Government to work with the Opposition and independent MLAs to end the misuse of public money for political purposes.
Territory Labor has attempted to expel MLA Mark Turner from the party for not following its rules, however in a cruel twist of irony for the party and its president, internal documents show Territory Labor has not followed its own rules in the dismissal.
EXCLUSIVE: The independent body that determines NT politicians’ salaries and benefits has refused to explain how two Labor MLAs were able to charge taxpayers for personal holidays on their government fuel cards through a benefit scheme that does not appear to exist.
CLP Leader Lia Finocchiaro has defeated a no confidence motion in her leadership brought forward by disgruntled branches of the party at the weekend’s central council, the party’s president has said.
A senior CLP pollie sent a hand-written birthday note to one of the Territory’s most notorious murderers with government resources, wishing him a “very special birthday” and a “happy 58th”. FIND OUT WHO HERE.
EXCLUSIVE: Labor Speaker Mark Monaghan has jetted off to the United Kingdom on a parliamentary junket amid a growing scandal involving the use of government fuel cards to pay for MLAs’ personal interstate holidays, the NT Independent can reveal.
EXCLUSIVE: Calls for two Labor MLAs – including a Minister – to repay thousands of dollars they charged taxpayers for personal holidays interstate have intensified, while the independent body that determines politicians’ benefits will meet to discuss the issue on Wednesday, the NT Independent can reveal.
EXCLUSIVE: The Labor Government’s Speaker secretly approved “clarifications” to MLAs’ taxpayer-funded entitlements to permit politicians to use government fuel cards for personal travel, with Attorney General Chansey Paech the first to take advantage, charging taxpayers for a personal holiday to Adelaide from Alice Springs earlier this year while the crime crisis was at its peak, the NT Independent can reveal.
