EXCLUSIVE: The Northern Territory’s director of building control Mark Meldrum failed in his duty to properly enforce the NT’s building laws, a new complaint obtained by the NT Independent has alleged, while never-before-seen documents appear to show Mr Meldrum ignored evidence of wrongdoing by the builder of a flawed Darwin CBD apartment complex and shut down an investigation he took two-and-a-half years to finalise before the facts could be reviewed by the regulatory body.

Claravale Station owners were allegedly told by Environment Department staff that the NT Environment Protection Agency did not want to see land clearing applications for assessment and were advised to avoid triggering a referral to the supposedly independent watchdog, according to documents obtained under freedom of information laws, but the department has denied its staff provided that advice and said they instead gave instructions about how to adhere to the legislation.

Japanese gas company Inpex has been charged by the NT Environmental Protection Authority over alleged under-reporting of emissions from its Ichthys LNG facility in Darwin, which an independent review found had been “systematically underestimated”.

Native title holders have had a victory in the High Court against the NT Government’s decision to grant Singleton Station a massive water licence that would allow 40,000 megalitres a year to be drawn for an intensive horticulture business, with the court ruling today that the water licence had not been lawfully granted.

The NT Environment Department reversed its initial assessment that land clearing at Claravale Station could significantly impact a threatened species, later finding the proposal was unlikely to have a significant impact because of newly proposed buffer zones, despite the property owner refusing to carry out surveys the department said were needed, documents released under FOI laws show.