The Queen’s representative in the Northern Territory may have violated the Constitution by ejecting the NT Independent’s reporters from covering the ministerial swearing-in ceremony at Government House today, a leading constitutional law expert says.
Head public servant Jodie Ryan has announced a shake-up of the NT Government’s departments, merging 15 departments into 11 mega departments, which the government claims will save $5 million a year without sacking anyone.
Deputy Chief Minister Nicole Manison has been stripped of the treasury portfolio with Chief Minister Michael Gunner announcing he will take over as Treasurer, as part of his new cabinet.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner needs to show leadership in Alice Springs amidst ongoing racial tensions that came to a head late last week when residents were advised to avoid the town centre over “social unrest”, Territory Alliance MLA Robyn Lambley says.
Another federal Labor MP has publicly contradicted Chief Minister Michael Gunner and called for a review of the Darwin Port lease as part of sweeping new federal laws that will see state and territory arrangements with foreign countries torn up if found not to be in the national interest.
Nearly four weeks after voting started, the longest and most drawn-out NT election in history finally concluded at a Winnellie warehouse late Friday night where votes had been counted and re-counted for what is expected to be the last time.
CLP candidate for Barkly Steve Edgington is looking likely to win the tight seat in a surprise result that had the mayor of the Barkly Regional Council trailing Labor electorate staffer Sid Vashist for the better part of two weeks.
NT Electoral Commissioner Iain Loganathan has said the 13-day window for postal votes to be returned after an election may be reviewed, while the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association has said some voters on stations struggled to return postal votes within the current time frame.
Vote counting for the four still undecided electoral seats will continue this morning, with hundreds of new votes added and potentially thousands more postal votes by the end of the week which will determine final outcomes.
Federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese says the lease of the Darwin Port to Chinese interests needs to be reviewed under proposed federal laws that aim to crack down on state and territory deals signed with China that fail to protect Australia’s national interests.
Territory Labor have filed a complaint with the NT Electoral Commission over postal votes allegedly being cast after the election night cutoff in a twist of election irony, after Labor itself was the subject of a complaint for setting up a taxpayer-funded email account to solicit postal votes.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s proposed new bill that would ban state and territory governments from entering into agreements with China without federal approval is not expected to affect the Darwin Port lease, but will provide greater scrutiny around Chief Minister Michael Gunner’s dealings with China, a Darwin-based Chinese policy expert says.
