UPDATED: Chief Minister Michael Gunner has breached the trust of Territorians in a “disgusting, appalling abuse of power”, after it was revealed his brother-in-law and then-deputy chief of staff authorised the use of public funds for campaign travel during last year’s election, an independent MLA says.
EXCLUSIVE: Chief Minister Michael Gunner’s office orchestrated taxpayer-funded election campaign trips to marginal electorates approved by the Chief Minister’s brother-in-law, in breach of rules that prevent the misappropriation of public funds, an NT Independent investigation has uncovered.
The NT Parliament’s disciplinary committee has dropped its investigation into Blain MLA Mark Turner for lying to Parliament, after the Office of the ICAC also quietly dropped its investigation into Labor’s so-called “cocaine sex scandal” without issuing a public statement.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner continued the public persecution of who he says are anti-mandatory vaccine sympathisers in Parliament Tuesday, incorrectly outing CLP health critic Bill Yan as attending the so-called “freedom” rally in Darwin on Saturday.
ANALYSIS: While the Gunner Government was establishing the NT’s Office of the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption in 2017, a Labor-run parliamentary committee failed to get up its modest proposal: that NT politicians be excluded from being investigated by the anti-corruption body. Now they’re reviewing the ICAC Act behind closed doors.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner continued his “anti-vaxxer” crusade in Parliament on Thursday, declaring anyone who opposes mandatory vaccinations an “anti-vaxxer”, after Labor Senator Malarndirri McCarthy criticised the government’s communications around its vaccine policy.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner has accused the Opposition Leader and all CLP Members of Parliament of being “anti-vaxxers” in a heated Question Time that saw the Speaker deem the claims “offensive” and stricken from the parliamentary record.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner has told Parliament he was forced to charge taxpayers for security upgrades at his home because he is the victim of a “stalking-type scenario”, not because of “a normal crime situation”.
The Gunner Labor Government has made history in the Northern Territory as the first sitting government to pick up a seat from an opposition party in the Daly by-election last night.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner is engaging in anti-democratic conduct by refusing to reinstate three days of parliamentary sittings that were cancelled during last month’s snap COVID-19 lockdown, the CLP Opposition and independent MLAs say, warning that Territorians are not getting their voices heard in their House.
NT Racing Minister Natahsa Fyles has refused to say if the Gunner Government will seek to recover the $12 million grandstand funding from the Darwin Turf Club despite the Chief Minister vowing to get the money back, while Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro said grants should not be ‘clawed back” from community organisations.
EXCLUSIVE: Labor’s candidate for the Daly by-election allegedly threatened an MLA outside Parliament House in February while working as a ministerial staffer in an incident that Attorney General Selena Uibo said at the time “in no way reflects the values of our Labor government”.
