The Finocchiaro Government has announced annual funding of $16 million to support ongoing operations of the new mental health unit currently under construction at Royal Darwin Hospital, as part of next week’s Budget.

Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby has publicly announced she directly appointed Catherine Voumard as the new director of Legal Aid NT despite an independent selection panel not interviewing her for the role and recommending someone with management experience, while a high-level source in the organisation said the unilateral decision has upset the board and showed a lack of knowledge on the part of the Minister.

The Finocchiaro Government has announced $455 million in operational spending for the Corrections Department in next week’s Budget, plus $117 million in spending on infrastructure, but it remains unclear where new funds are coming from, with the United Workers Union welcoming the extra money, but questioning how it would be spent.

Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby appointed a person who was not interviewed to be the new director of the beleaguered Legal Aid NT, rejecting the candidate who was recommended by an independent selection panel who had significant managerial experience inside the organisation, an internal report shows, but the Minister has refused to explain her intervention.

The Northern Territory Police Association has called the Finocchiaro Government’s law and order budget preview an insult to officers who “continue to feel abandoned and undervalued” by a government with “warped priorities”, and which did not provide a figure for how much it will spend on police next year as part of its crime reduction plan.

The sole director of a company the Health Department is negotiating with to run the hyperbaric chamber unit at Royal Darwin Hospital lived at the same address and shares the same last name as the sole director of the company that lost the contract to run the unit after it was forced into administration 18 months ago, ASIC records show.