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.
Police are investigating after an unmarked police vehicle collided with the rear of a motorcycle in Palmerston on Monday morning, sending the motorcyclist to hospital, while an officer was subjected to a breathalyser, NT Police said.
A government-backed initiative that aims to get vacant commercial buildings in the Darwin CBD repurposed for student accommodation or to serve as hostels, has been given a two-year timeframe by the CLP Government, but it remains unclear how popular the plan is with local developers and landowners.
The NT Opposition has called for the appointment of David Connolly as the next Administrator to be “put on hold and reviewed”, writing to the Governor-General over the weekend to seek “further advice” following revelations of his offensive social media comments, while Mr Connolly issued a statement on Monday claiming that he did not mean to “cause offence”, but stopped short of apologising to Indigenous Territorians for his repeated online ridicule.
