Labor’s Justice Minister Chansey Paech has told Parliament during a no-confidence motion for failing to keep Territorians safe that the Fyles Government will win the next Territory election and continue to govern for years because the CLP’s disunity is the “best gift” for Labor – with the comments coming two days after a young bottle shop employee was stabbed to death while on the job.
Territory Labor has claimed victory in the Arafura by-election, after its candidate Manuel Brown secured 66 per cent of the primary vote within hours of counting commencing, marking the third straight by-election loss for the Opposition Country Liberal Party.
CLP president Lawson Broad has spectacularly quit the Country Liberal Party just days out from a crucial by-election over the rank-and-file’s decision last month to oppose the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, claiming the party’s position could be “interpreted as racist”.
A 12-month joint investigation by the NT Electoral Commission and the NT’s anti-corruption watchdog into allegations of undisclosed campaign donations to an unnamed candidate in the 2020 NT general election has been closed with no action being taken.
UPDATED: Chief Minister Natasha Fyles and Territory Labor claim they knew about Arafura candidate Manuel Brown’s conviction in relation to killing a woman in 2009 with his car – but chose not to let the public know – and that he will remain the party’s candidate for the March 18 by-election despite his “demons”.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles has lashed out at Labor Member for Blain Mark Turner, claiming the Labor caucus does not “trust him” – more than a year after she personally and officially cleared him of misleading Parliament.
Labor MLA Mark Turner has used parliamentary privilege to air explosive allegations that a senior NT Police officer inferred that Jamie Chalker had intimidated the ICAC with his “appendage” to make investigations go away and that a police inquiry into unsafe homes in Bellamack was not proceeding because the officer dismissed it as “cheap housing for poor people”.
Former NT Police officer and Labor MLA Mark Turner says he is referring the police’s handling of the Zach Rolfe criminal investigation to federal authorities following the NT Independent’s special investigation that revealed a previously redacted internal police report that he said shows “manipulation of evidence, failure to disclose relevant material and the appearance of a perversion of justice”.
CLP Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro is calling on Labor backbenchers and independent MLAs to back a no-confidence motion in the Fyles Government when Parliament resumes next week, for what she says is Labor’s ongoing failure to keep Territorians safe.
ANALYSIS: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was right when he said this week that governments needed to do better for the Northern Territory and the NT Government now led by Labor Chief Minister Natasha Fyles needs to have its come to jesus moment after years of misusing federal Indigenous disadvantage money that has led to the recent troubles.
A confidential Cabinet document photographed in Police Minister Kate Worden’s hands appears to show the Fyles Government intends to cut the police budget in the middle of a crime crisis by $16 million next financial year and a staggering $31 million over the subsequent three financial years, with “frontline staff reductions” expected, the NT Independent can reveal.
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles has set March 18 as the date for the Arafura by-election, following a state funeral that will be held on March 1 for the former member who died late last month.
