The Finocchiaro CLP Government has refused to comment on revelations Darwin Waterfront Corporation chief executive Alastair Shields is using the Kitchener Drive multi-storey carpark as a private garage for his vintage Mercedes collection at taxpayer expense, while tax compliance issues remain unanswered, with the Auditor-General recommending the corporation ensure it has met all tax reporting requirements.
EXCLUSIVE: Darwin Waterfront Corporation chief executive Alastair Shields has been using at least two valuable parking spaces on the top level of the Kitchener Drive multi-storey carpark as his own personal garage to keep two Mercedeses – including the red one that featured in a recent Four Corners episode – which the former chair of the corporation says he had no knowledge of, raising questions about undisclosed gifts and whether fringe benefit tax has been paid for Mr Shields’s free parking fancy.
Territorians have a right to know how $25 million of taxpayer dollars are being spent at the Darwin Waterfront Corporation every year, an independent MLA says, following a compromised parliamentary hearing that did not fully investigate unadvertised jobs, poor governance practices and an unusual overlap of board and executive roles, but the Finocchiaro CLP Government have refused to explain how it intends to deal with the matter now, while ruling out a proper investigation.
A new report by the government’s Public Accounts Committee into the Darwin Waterfront Corporation has raised fresh concerns about ongoing “governance failures” and a culture of cover-up at the troubled corporation – that received more than $25 million of taxpayer money last year – with one committee member stating the brief public inquiry held in June was “fundamentally inadequate” and permitted the corporation to avoid accountability by withholding key documents.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro’s failure to disclose her husband’s directorship in a company linked to the Darwin Waterfront Corporation for two years, while at the same time publicly demanding other politicians follow the rules, is the type of double standard that destroys the public’s trust in its elected officials, an independent MLA says.
EXCLUSIVE: Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro breached the Disclosure of Interests Act by not divulging for two years that her husband Sam Burke was a director of a company that received annual payments from the Darwin Waterfront Corporation and which held a conference at the Waterfront earlier this year with the assistance of an undisclosed amount of taxpayer funds, the NT Independent can reveal.
A CLP-run parliamentary committee that ended a public hearing 45 minutes early and did not request documented evidence from Darwin Waterfront Corporation officials to back up its claims has cleared the organisation of wrongdoing, with the chair of the corporation claiming he was getting too “worked up” to continue discussing the issues involving the use of public funds for extended higher duties allowances and executive contracts awarded to the Chief Minister’s husband.
EXCLUSIVE: Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro’s husband Sam Burke was given a made-up, part-time government job while general manager of the Darwin Waterfront Corporation, internal government documents show, that boosted his already substantial salary by $60,000 a year through a ‘higher duties allowance’ that continued for years after he left the department role, the NT Independent can reveal.
Tourism Minister Marie-Clare Boothby has refused to comment on whether she recently approved a new contract for Darwin Waterfront Corporation chief executive Alastair Shields, including when she approved it and how much the new contract is costing taxpayers for his part-time, two-day-a-week gig that last cost $116,000 a year, while the Minister is still waiting for a “briefing” from government officials about concerns of misconduct at the corporation.
EXCLUSIVE: Darwin Waterfront Corporation chief executive Alastair Shields advocated for his mate Andrew Kirkman’s sister Jodie Ryan to be given more than $44,000 of taxpayer money to continue sitting on the waterfront board after she resigned as the NT’s head public servant, a new secret memo has revealed, raising further questions about undisclosed conflicts of interest at the DWC and the possible misuse of public resources.
EXCLUSIVE: Senior government executive Andrew Kirkman advocated for a pay rise for Darwin Waterfront Corporation CEO Alastair Shields, despite various conflicts of interest and while he was acting head public servant, six months before the DWC hired Mr Kirkman’s wife for an unadvertised role on a hefty pay packet, a secret government memo obtained by the NT Independent has revealed.
EXCLUSIVE: Senior NT Police officers who lied to the Coroner in sworn statements accessed internal police records stored on computer drives ahead of the ICAC’s investigation into their conduct, with at least one of them allegedly attempting to delete evidence of the racist TRG awards, the NT Independent can reveal.
