This is the second instalment of a series by Dr Don Fuller examining the failures in the Northern Territory: the moral and integrity failures of politicians and government, the politicisation of, and the instability in the public service and the police, and the unfair and unjust treatment of lower level employees in the public service in favour of the more powerful members.

READ: Opinion: The Failed State Part I – The NT ruled like a town council and the missing $800 million

The Gunner Labor Government took power in the Northern Territory after the August 2016 election.

Following wide community concerns regarding questions of accountability, transparency and budget decision-making under the CLP Giles Government, there was substantial community support for a document tabled in the NT Parliament in November 2016 by the incoming government titled, Restoring Integrity to Government – Trust and Integrity Reform Discussion Paper.

It starts with the statement: “Territorians want and deserve a government they can trust. An open, accountable and transparent government is essential for this trust to exist”.

And it later states: “Territorians have the right to access government information – it belongs to all of us.

“Open, transparent and accountable government is also the best way to maximise the health and prosperity of the whole community … a future Territory Labor Government will be guided by the principle of restoring integrity to government through leadership at the highest level of government through actions, not just words.”

Such statements, as the Gunner Government came to the end of its two terms last August, now beg the question as to whether, and when, this actually occurred during the Gunner Government, as this period was characterised by a trashing of all these important objectives.

In Westminster–style governments in Australia, such as in the Territory, individual ministerial responsibility is a constitutional convention requiring that a Cabinet minister bears the ultimate responsibility for their own actions, and that of their ministry or department.

While such conventions are not established by legislation, in properly governed jurisdictions they are regarded as essential to the ethical functioning of government and are keenly observed.

Ministerial responsibility is essential to the parliamentary system, because it ensures the accountability of leadership to the parliament, and through elected members to the wider population. It is therefore the central means by which a democratic government is held accountable to the people.

If serious ethical misdeeds are found to have occurred by a minister, the minister is expected to resign or be dismissed by the leader.

In the NT there have been glaring failures of ministerial responsibility that serve to highlight the alarm and apprehensiveness many feel concerning governance arrangements.

In January 2022, then-chief minister Michael Gunner refused to answer written questions from independent MLA Robyn Lambley about when he became aware his brother-in-law, who was also his former deputy chief of staff, approved the use of taxpayer money for Labor’s 2020 election campaign travel, in contravention of rules meant to protect against the misuse of public funds.

Ms Lambley filed four questions to Mr Gunner through a parliamentary process, seeking information about the total costs to taxpayers for travel undertaken by all Labor ministers, MLAs, and staff during the election caretaker period – including when Mr Gunner first became aware that public money was being used on his election campaign – but the questions went unanswered.

As a result, it was referred to the Office of the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption.

However, in a complete failure of his responsibilities the then-Commissioner, Michael Riches, was unable to come to a decision, even though the evidence was overwhelming that the chief minister had attended polling booths and was present in a Labor-badged tent with other politicians.

There have been no consequences for Mr Gunner using public funds in that way.

While in mid-February of last year, the NT Independent revealed the deputy chief minister Chansey Paech in what was then the Lawler Labor Government, had invested in a national liquor wholesale company that supplies alcohol to Alice Springs bottle shops, just months before advocating the lifting of alcohol bans in the region.

This presented as a clear and unacceptable conflict of interest by a government minister, which placed him in contravention of the NT Cabinet code of conduct which forbids ministers from holding shares in any company “that may create a conflict of interest as a result of their portfolio responsibilities”.

Despite this, he claimed he was complying with the ministerial code of conduct.

In late-February last year, the NT Independent also revealed the then-police minister Brent Potter also breached parliamentary rules around shareholding disclosures, this time in the NT government-backed Project Sea Dragon.

Mr Potter purchased more than 8,000 Seafarms shares in June 2021, while he was a ministerial advisor to former deputy chief minister Nicole Manison, who then held the portfolios of agribusiness and aquaculture.

The NT government called the project a game-changing booster for the NT’s ailing economy.

Mr Potter was central to another case of ministers not being held to account.

One week after NT Police launched a review into the extent of racism within its ranks, Mr Potter, as the police minister, faced major accusations of hypocrisy and dishonesty after the NT Independent revealed he shared posts on Facebook from 2013 to 2019, featuring racist, homophobic and misogynistic language.

Mr Potter’s cases surely fitted into the category of a minister’s behaviour contravening established standards of morality and where resignation or dismissal was the appropriate action.

But in what was a worrying example of the demonstration of a lack of ethical governance in the Territory, chief minister Eva Lawler refused to act on Mr Potter and Mr Paech’s serious transgressions, with no action taken against either of them and Ms Lawler defending them both.

“There are very few people I think in this Parliament or elsewhere in the Northern Territory who can honestly say that they have never said anything racist, that they’ve never said anything that they regret …” Ms Lawler said in Question Time about Mr Potter.

Another important case of ministerial transgression came in the week before Christmas 2023, when Natasha Fyles was forced to resign as chief minister for ethical breaches over her shareholdings.

She had come under intense pressure to resign following revelations published by the NT Independent on November 13, that she breached the ministerial code of conduct by not immediately divesting her personal shares in Woodside Energy, a gas giant which had an interest in Darwin’s proposed Middle Arm industrial precinct.

The saga dragged on for 36 days with her Cabinet colleagues taking no public action against her.

In a specific example of her conflict of interest with the Woodside shares, in August of 2023, Ms Fyles had used taxpayer money to fly to Canberra to give a televised National Press Club address where she spruiked the Middle Arm precinct and accused “Teals and trolls” of “spreading nonsense” about the controversial project.

At the same time she was acting against the important democratic convention of freedom of the press by maintaining a black ban on the NT Independent with the paper banned from press conferences and asking questions of ministers.

During her National Press Club speech she abused the concept of natural justice by claiming without evidence, that the NT Independent reported “misinformation” and was “not a professional organisation”.

Those allegations were strongly refuted by editor Chris Walsh.

For his reporting on Ms Fyles’ shares scandal, Walsh was named as a finalist for a Walkley Award, which is presented in Australia to recognise and reward excellence in journalism.

The ban of the NT Independent as an important governance breach of freedom of the press, and freedom of information will be discussed later in the series.

Before the resignation of Ms Fyles, leading national integrity expert Geoffrey Watson, a director of the Centre for Public Integrity, and former counsel assisting the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption, had told the NT Independent Ms Fyles was in “clear breach” of the ministerial code of conduct for not divesting her shares and called on parliament and Cabinet to review the matter.

It seems astonishing that the head of government in the Territory can be ignorant of such ethical requirements.

It is also of concern that the NT Parliament has never shown interest or the competence to hold such behaviour to account.

More recently, CLP Education Minister Jo Hersey was forced to disclose the gift of a free luxury jet flight to a boozy brunch paid for by a wealthy Katherine businesswoman, after breaching the Disclosures Act by failing to report the gift, with the Opposition calling for the minister to be reprimanded for flouting NT disclosure laws on multiple occasions.

Her leader, current Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro never responded to a question from the NT Independent about whether the Minister would be reprimanded for the breaches of the Disclosures Act.

“There are clear expectations on all elected members and I have reminded my colleagues of these obligations,” Ms Finocchiaro had said.

Unethical public service and police behaviour not acted upon by Chief Minister

There has been additional evidence of a continuing disregard for the need for a high level of ethical behaviour in government by the leadership of the incoming CLP Government.

On the last day of February, the ICAC office released its Operation Apollo report that found a very senior public officer, who headed a major government agency, engaged in improper conduct, amounting to “negligence and incompetence”, with his actions resulting in a “substantial detriment to the public interest and was also an inappropriate use of public resources”.

It said he sat on a hiring panel for another senior position early last year while being a referee for his preferred candidate, who was a close friend, and that he provided that friend with a copy of his successful job application without informing others.

ICAC delegate Patricia Kelly did not name him, stating recent changes to the ICAC Act prohibited her from publishing evidence obtained under compulsion, so it would be unfair to name a person when she could not explain the evidence that supported her conclusion.

In a disappointing continuance of disregard for ethical responses from government, Chief Minister Finnocchiaro initially refused to take action against this person, and by failing to do that failed the public in one of her first real tests as leader, as she attempted to cover up the conduct.

She had said the case would be used as an “educational tool” for public servants and seemed intent on taking no further action.

“Following the release of the ICAC’s public statement as Chief Minister, I wrote to the chief executive of the Department of Chief Minister and Cabinet asking that they work with the Commissioner for Public Employment to advise what action is being taken to ensure public sector agencies are fully aware of their obligations to ensure appropriate conflict management and recruitment practices are occurring throughout government,” she said.

About a week after the ICAC report was released, the now former-police commissioner Michael Murphy issued a public statement identifying himself, which came days after independent MLA Justine Davis said she would name him in Parliament. The day after his self identification the NT Independent revealed Peter Kennon was the mate who Mr Murphy had promoted into the role of Assistant Police Commissioner. It was also revealed Mr Murphy had been Mr Kennon’s best man.

Nine days after she was first informed by acting-ICAC Greg Shanahan that Mr Murphy was the subject of the report, two days after the NT Police Association called for Mr Murphy to resign, and in the middle of a full-blown political crisis for Ms Finocchiaro, she issued a statement late on a Saturday night indicating that Mr Murphy had been “given the opportunity to resign” and that he was placed on leave while the process of termination occurred.

It was another four days before Ms Finocchiaro announced an independent investigation into senior promotions under Mr Murphy, which came two days after she said in a radio interview she was not concerned about cronyism at the highest levels of the NT Police executive.

Mr Murphy has since been terminated from the role, but it would not have happened had the media not continued to publicise the issue.

In another example of not acting on unethical behaviour, Ms Finocchiaro also committed to taking no action against five senior police officers who lied to the coronial inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker about their involvement in racist Territory Response Group awards, despite evidence the joint investigation by the ICAC and the NT Police executive failed to properly review the officers’ potentially criminal conduct.

Mr Murphy himself admitted under oath in late May last year at the inquest run by Coroner Elisabeth Armitage that he was made aware in August 2023 of the racist awards distributed by the NT Police’s elite tactical unit but took no action, later misleading the public when he said at a press conference in February last year that he had no knowledge of them.

He was also forced to explain why he personally overturned disciplinary action against an acting senior sergeant in September 2023 who had shared a topless photo of an Aboriginal woman, who was a victim of domestic violence in a chat group in 2022 with other officers that included racist and misogynistic comments.

At the Walker inquiry, an allegation was made by former constable Zach Rolfe that Mr Murphy was forced to leave a Chinese restaurant in Alice Springs years ago for making racist comments. Coincidently, sources had told the NT Independent Mr Murphy was attending Mr Kennon’s buck’s night at that restaurant.

In a letter to the coroner, ICAC Riches – who himself has just resigned from his job after being suspended since late June while being investigated for misconduct – said Mr Murphy had been too drunk in that restaurant to recall if he racially abused staff, and so Mr Riches determined it was not in the public interest to pursue the complaint.

In addition Mr Murphy was reported as having misled the Walker inquest as well as a coronial inquest into domestic violence, about the disciplinary action against the officer.

There were no consequences for Mr Murphy over this issue, with neither chief minister Lawler or police minister Potter having taken any action.

He had also faced no consequences under Ms Finocchiaro for those issues, and in her first days as Chief Minister she also abandoned a call she made seven times as Opposition leader for a parliamentary inquiry into the NT Police.

Post-employment of chief ministers and ministers

While administering departments on behalf of the government, chief ministers and ministers often gain confidential and valuable information while doing so. The experience and expertise they acquire may then be sought by companies and groups seeking to benefit.

Oversight of post-separation employment is required to ensure that former ministers and senior staff cannot receive inappropriate benefits; including employment relating to the operation of the portfolio they administered.

A number of prior chief ministers and ministers have taken almost immediate employment within their portfolio areas on leaving office.

In the NT the ministerial code of conduct only prohibits former ministers from taking up work that relates to any of their former ministerial portfolios for six months.

Adam Giles, the former CLP Chief Minister who lost his seat in the election of August 2016, took up a job as general manager for external affairs (pastoral) at Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting around six months after losing.

When he came to power, Mr Gunner, who replaced Mr Giles as the NT leader, said he was considering reviewing the ministerial code of conduct because of Mr Giles’s appointment with Ms Rinehart, who is one of Australia’s richest people.

“This is one of the reasons politicians have a bad reputation,” Mr Gunner was quoted as saying.

Mr Gunner said both Mr Giles and former CLP minister Bess Price had found work with companies “who have benefited from decisions they made when they were in government”.

After criticising Mr Giles and Ms Price, and arguing that such behaviour was a “bad look”, Mr Gunner seemed to transgress the NT ministerial code of conduct himself, accepting a job with Fortescue Future Industries only five months after stepping down as chief minister. The role of chief minister essentially has a veto power over all other ministries.

In September 2021, Mr Gunner announced the gas-fuelled Middle Arm industrial precinct would be developed by his government, and in June 2023 the government announced FFI was among five companies that would be the recipients of free land in exchange for development there.

Mr Gunner quit as chief minister on May 9, 2022, ultimately quit parliament on July 26, and announced his new job at FFI on October 9.

The ABC reported that despite announcing the new job on October 9, Mr Gunner was not going to start work until November due to the NT’s ministerial code of conduct six month restriction.

His move raised a series of questions around politicians becoming lobbyists.

There has been a call for a longer “cooling-off period” for former ministers and chief ministers who shift into private sector positions.

In an article by the ABC a week after he announced his new job, Kate Griffiths from the Grattan Institute called the six month time frame “troublingly short”.

“That’s not long enough for those risks around the revolving door to properly cool,” Ms Griffith said.

“Those relationships are still really strong and you’ve also got that information that may be current that public officials bring with them into their new role for a private interest.”

However, there has been no attempt by successive governments to address this very important governance issue.

Nicole Manison did not contest the August 2024 election, having announced her move to the backbench and her intention to leave politics late in the previous December after her colleagues failed to choose her as chief minister for the second time.

In mid-November last year, she announced on social media that she had taken a job as vice-president of government relations and public affairs with US-owned gas company Tamboran Resources.

She had served as the Mining and Industry Minister from after the August 2020 election up to December 2023, a time in which she would have worked closely with Tamboran Resources as it positioned itself as a major player to frack the Beetaloo Sub-basin.

Tamboran Resources were also announced as recipients of free land at Middle Arm in June 2023 during Ms Manison’s time in the mines and industry portfolio while serving as deputy chief minister as well.

At the time of her announcement of her new job, the Centre for Public Integrity’s Mr Watson called on Ms Manison to resign from her Tamboran Resource role, and for the Finocchiaro Government to review all decisions the previous government made concerning the gas company, which became a major public relations nightmare for the company

Ms Manison’s government had announced a nine-year gas supply deal with Tamboran Resources in April last year, exactly four months before the election. The deal did not go to tender. The government also refused to release costing information, in a case of a government citing ‘commercial in confidence’ as the reason for keeping its spending from the public.

The CLP opposition at the time called for the government to be transparent and to release the cost of the contract, but once in government the CLP stuck to the commercial in confidence excuse as the reason for keeping the cost a secret.

The deal, which will start next year, was estimated to be worth $1.8 billion, and possibly up to $3.6 billion, if the government options a six-year extension.

While she was still the mining minister in 2023, Ms Manison talked up Tamboran in the media, saying the company had the potential to create “more jobs and more opportunities for all Territorians”.

She just didn’t say one of those jobs would be hers.

Mr Watson told the ABC the appointment of Ms Manison raised questions about the integrity of the Labor government’s policy decisions.

“The position here is that the look is so wrong, so bad, that Ms Manison should either withdraw from that employment or Tamboran should recognise that this is inappropriate and terminate her.”

Mr Watson also labelled the NT’s six-month ministerial cooling-off period as “absurdly short” and “ridiculous”.

“If you’re in the Cabinet room when decisions are being made, you are necessarily made privy to important commercial in confidence material about these kinds of projects,” he told the ABC.

“There should be an embargo for at least two years and maybe it’s arguable that it should be three.”

The NT was also the only jurisdiction in the country without a lobbyist register, but both parties promised to introduce one if they won the 2024 election.

However, in February, the Finocchiaro Government announced the new lobbyist register would not require ministers to publicly disclose who they meet with, and will exempt major lobbyists, including gas companies fracking the Beetaloo Basin and other corporate firms that donate to political parties, from needing to be on the register.

Mr Watson again commenting on the failings on NT governance, said the CLP’s decision to not require most lobbyists to register on the lobbyist register was a “huge, gaping hole”.

“By excluding them from the lobbying regulations it just means they can make contact with Ministers and it will remain opaque to the public,” he said.

“There is no reason that you would do this and it makes a mockery out of concepts of transparency.”

Chief Minister Finocchiaro would not commit to investigating Ms Manison’s and Labor’s decisions on Tamboran to clear the air

“If Tamboran want to hire a failed Deputy Chief Minister from a failed government that Territorians booted out of office, then that’s a matter for them,” Ms Finocchiaro said in an email to the NT Independent.

This demonstrates a complete disinterest in the principles of ethical government within a Westminster democratic system.

“Our focus is on reducing crime, rebuilding the economy and restoring our lifestyle,” Ms Finocchiaro has said.

It is not clear how either of these important objectives can be addressed when the foundations of governance are either very brittle at best, or at worst, crumbling badly and exacerbating the social unrest.

Researchers have recently identified some disturbing corrupting effects of power, such as that wielded by the current Chief Minister and others before her.

Power has been found to be addictive. The problem with this is that the addictive effect promotes a strong need to engage in efforts to hold on to, and accumulate power. This results in practices such as nepotism and cronyism.

It has also been found to promote self-righteousness and hypocrisy. Such leaders typically moralise and lecture about the rule of law, ethics and democracy while hypocritically violating the same rules when it suits them.

High levels of power centred on one person such as a chief minister for example, have also been found to promote a sense of entitlement and reduce the desire to consider different perspectives and engage in cooperation to seek mutually beneficial outcomes.

Rather, it is associated with discounting advice, due to over-confidence and being less trusting.

Many would argue that these features are increasingly evident within the leadership of the NT government.

Such views are growing in the Territory, and leaders seem unable to address these crucial questions which are therefore likely to worsen.

Further reading by Don Fuller

READ: The vice-chancellor needs re-focus to make CDU a high quality university

READ: Rising social conflicts and escalating debt mean a bleak outlook for the Northern Territory

READ: Northern Territory – Failed governance, cultural clash and an uncertain future

READ: Opinion: ICAC also needs to be investigated for failing to properly investigate former chief minister

READ: How not to manage government finances – The case of the Northern Territory

READ: The Gunner Government: A collision between Budget misuse and democratic responsibilities

Dr Don Fuller holds a first class Honours degree and PhD in economics from the University of Adelaide and has worked as a senior public servant in the Territory and as Professor of Governance and Head of the Schools of Law and Business at Charles Darwin University. He grew up in Darwin and attended Darwin High School.

He was also involved with the establishment of the first NT medical school under the leadership of Flinders University vice-chancellor Professor Ian Chubb.

Dr Fuller was also an adviser to the former CLP MLA Maralampuwi Francis Xavier, was briefly the senior private secretary to Chief Minister Paul Everingham, and is a former member of the CLP and the ALP.