Health Minister Steve Edgington has refused to say whether the Finocchiaro Government will fund the second half of the controversial NT Health Acacia IT system which has cost $320 million so far, instead hand-balling the issue to bureaucrats who told a parliamentary committee it was being shelved pending new funding approvals, while the head of the responsible department reportedly told a parliamentary inquiry last week they had no estimates for how much it would cost to complete the system.
Scott Bowman’s role as vice-chancellor and president of Charles Darwin University has ended, the university has confirmed, amid the growing accreditation scandal that has affected hundreds of TAFE students, Territory businesses and others, with the full scope of the damage still being assessed.
WIN Network has moved to acquire Nine Entertainment’s Darwin television station, heralded by WIN as expanding its presence into the Northern Territory through the “vibrant” Darwin market, which comes just over a year after Nine suddenly axed its Darwin news bulletin and sacked staff.
Territory police officers want to know why the entire NT Police top brass is currently under investigation by the Australian Federal Police, the union representing the cops has said, while questions about perceived conflicts of interest in the investigation have been ignored by all involved.
Education and Training Minister Jo Hersey has called on the Australian Skills Quality Authority to explain how the national regulator re-registered Charles Darwin University’s TAFE program last September without picking up on the massive accreditation failures that has now led to hundreds of students needing to resit their qualifications, amid continued calls for Scott Bowman’s resignation.
Jake Danby, the step-nephew of Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby, who bragged to friends and family about killing an Aboriginal man in a hit-and-run, had his sentence increased on Friday to two years home detention following an appeal of the original sentence.
A federal inquiry into Charles Darwin University’s governance practices and general “competency” should be ordered immediately and vice-chancellor Scott Bowman’s “head must roll”, an independent MLA has said, in the wake of revelations nearly 400 CDU TAFE students and others were graduated without proper qualifications.
Seven girls and women have been arrested in Alice Springs for allegedly bashing a 16-year-old female last Friday which NT Police did not make public until today, while a video of the brutal attack shows the victim being being hit in the head with a scooter, bashed with a metal baseball bat, her head kicked and stomped on, and her assailants trying to smash her head into a bitumen road. Police have also alleged the group “forcibly removed her clothes” following the beating.
A 47-year-old Darwin man has been arrested by the AFP following a months-long investigation into allegations he exploited his position as a federal public servant to defraud the National Disability Insurance Scheme by directing vulnerable individuals to an NDIS provider he co-owns.
There is “no evidence to substantiate” Darwin Mayor Peter Styles’ claims that he returned his mayoral campaign donation list in person before the deadline for disclosures lapsed, the NT Electoral Commission has said, following an internal review.
A growing scandal at Charles Darwin University that saw it graduate an estimated 130 carpentry apprenticeship students without the proper qualifications is now estimated to affect “an additional 250 students” who may have to resit their qualifications in other areas, with the number expected to rise to potentially thousands of students, the NT Independent understands.
Bullying allegations against CLP MLA Tanzil Rahman made by two female parliamentary staffers have “been resolved” as part of a “sensitive HR matter”, Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has claimed, but questions remain over how the situation was handled and what the Chief Minister knew about the allegations.
