The approval of a major development on the Kulaluk lease despite overwhelming public opposition raises serious doubts about the NT planning system, contradicting Josh Burgoyne’s claim it is “robust” and highlighting how key risks can be deferred by the Development Consent Authority, writes Planning Action Network convener Nick Kirlew.
EDITORIAL: There is no question our NT Police service is completely broken and untenable in its current state, but what is most alarming now is that nobody in a position to fix it has any interest in doing their job to provide stability and leadership for our hard-working officers, while restoring the public’s trust in this crucial institution.
EDITORIAL: The Tanzil Rahman affair is turning into one of the more bizarre political scandals in recent NT political memory, made all the more absurd by Rahman’s refusal to provide any substantive comment for weeks concerning allegations he bullied female parliamentary staffers, letting the Chief Minister do the talking, whose handling of the matter has once again raised questions about her judgement, leadership and overall credibility.
OPINION: Recent crocodile sightings in floodwaters in the Northern Territory have prompted widespread concern, which is why it’s useful to know more about the two crocodile species that call the Top End home, writes CDU croc researcher Brandon Michael Sideleau.
OPINION: The Charles Darwin University governing Council lacks the competency to govern and manage the institution, thereby undermining the NT’s higher education sector and the economy, writes Dr Don Fuller.
Correctional officers have worked tirelessly to maintain the safety, security, and good order of prisons, often at significant personal cost in the face of escalating assaults and unprecedented overcrowding, writes the Northern Territory Prison Officers’ Association president.
EDITORIAL: David Connolly made the whole affair worse on Friday morning in his first speech as Administrator with his condescending attitude while his supporters surely cringed when he attempted to speak in language and talked about his great and deep respect for Indigenous culture. We all knew it was a lie, which made it all the more grotesque.
As Charles Darwin University launches a duplicated medical program amid mounting losses and large debt, and in the wake of a widening training scandal involving the carpentry apprenticeship which saw the vice-chancellor resign leading to a possible class action, there are serious concerns that both the executive leadership and the university council have failed in their oversight of the institution, writes Dr Don Fuller.
The Attorney-General should reject the inclusion of a fixed prognostic timeframe in the Northern Territory’s proposed voluntary assisted dying laws former chief minister Marshall Perron writes, arguing it would unnecessarily exclude suffering patients and undermine a more compassionate, evidence-based approach.
The Northern Territory now has two medical schools, but with an existing, successful partnership already in place, Dr Don Fuller argues that the new Charles Darwin University-Menzies program is an expensive exercise in duplication and may create an unstated incentive to enrol more full-fee paying international students rather that training Territorians, particularly Indigenous Territorians.
OPINION: David Connolly’s response in 2023 to being called a ‘bigot’, a ‘racist’, a ‘chauvinist’, ‘intolerant’ and ‘small-minded’ was that “none of that worries me”, which is consistent with Mr Connolly and the CLP Government remaining unperturbed about his appointment as NT Administrator while the politics of division continue to damage our democracy, writes John Lawrence.
EDITORIAL: Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro’s defence of choosing David Connolly as Administrator this week has done nothing to calm rising tensions in the wider community and instead raised questions about what type of agenda she’s driving that was not fully disclosed to Territorians ahead of the last NT election.
