Darwin Mayor Peter Styles has blamed the NT Electoral Commission for his late campaign donation returns, claiming they misplaced a hard-copy list he hand-delivered in an envelope containing the names of all three of his donors last October, which he said was necessary because he was “busy” and electronic formats “could be deleted”.
Three-time national champs the Darwin Salties wheelchair basketball team has been forced to withdraw from the National Wheelchair Basketball League following financial troubles at the Darwin Basketball Association, that led to the association being dissolved late last year amid alleged integrity failures by senior figures.
China’s ambassador to Australia has warned that China “has an obligation to protect” Chinese companies’ interests overseas, indicating trade between the two nations “and that part of Australia” particularly will be affected if the Darwin Port is reclaimed by Australia, a day after the Prime Minister said commercial negotiations were continuing to overturn the 2015 lease by the NT Government that he said was not in Australia’s national interest.
The Northern Territory will see “up to” $1 billion in additional federal health funding over the next five years, the Chief Minister has said, following the signing of a new funding agreement with the Prime Minister on Friday heralded by both sides as a “historic deal”, but that funding will “only keep the lights on” here, says the Australian Medical Association NT.
The Royal Australian Air Force has officially opened the new $355.7 million MQ-4C Triton facilities at RAAF Base Tindal that the government says will strengthen a Defence cooperation program with the US Navy and enhance Australia’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities across the north.
Queensland-based not-for-profit Ozcare will build and operate the new $60 million aged care facility in Palmerston, providing 120 to 150 residential beds to alleviate “bed block” in local hospitals, the Prime Minister announced yesterday in Darwin, but it could still be two to three years before the much-needed facility is operational.
The Finocchiaro CLP Government has mandated that all 152 NT public schools must play and sing the national anthem at assemblies and special events, which Education Minister Jo Hersey said was necessary to “restore national pride”.
Three senior NT Police officers, including two executives, were issued with serious discipline breach notices for alleged racist comments during a recent senior management meeting, with one of the accused identified as one of five officers who lied in a statutory declaration to the Kumanjayi Walker coronial inquest, sources have told the NT Independent.
Youths allegedly committed three different lots of property damage in Katherine, including damaging a service station, smashing a house window, and damaging two cars, with police investigating if they were committed by the same group.
Basketball Australia will not comment on the findings of its national integrity unit’s investigation into questionable proposed income streams at the now-defunct Darwin Basketball Association, while former DBA chair Gary Shipway has not responded to questions, with his employer, News Corp, stating his role overseeing the financially collapsed association is unrelated to his current role as deputy editor of the NT News.
Former NT Police and Australian Federal Police commissioner Reece Kershaw has been appointed the interim chief executive officer of the troubled St John Ambulance NT organisation until the recruitment process for the role is finished, the organisation said.
Papua New Guinea’s Auditor-General has more independence from the executive branch of government than the Northern Territory’s, according to a startling report, which has raised concerns about how effectively the NT Government is held to account for its exorbitant spending of taxpayer funds.
