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.
Slow population growth and the lack of skilled labor are key factors contributing to toned-down property market growth, despite the Darwin property market posting the strongest performance among all capitals for April, new data shows.
A 51-year-old man was arrested and is facing several charges after he allegedly pointed a rifle at people in a camping area at Gunn Point and threatened to kill them, NT Police said, which led to a raid of his home and eight other firearms being seized.
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.
A 20-year-old Katherine woman is facing charges for aggravated assault on an infant, NT Police said, while the baby is currently at Royal Darwin Hospital receiving medical treatment for injuries.
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.
A man has been charged after allegedly swinging an axe at a man’s head in Alice Springs before slicing through his forearm, and another man has been arrested for his alleged involvement in the stabbing of a service station worker in the town NT Police said, while the agency is also looking for witnesses to the assault and robbery of an elderly woman on the streets of Katherine.
EXCLUSIVE: Animal welfare officers seized four dogs registered to Territory Coordinator Stuart Knowles from his rural Darwin property in late 2015 after they were discovered suffering from severe tick infestations and other health problems, a government animal abuse investigation report obtained by the NT Independent shows.
Aboriginal Investment NT has appointed asset consultancy company JANA to manage its two royalty-fed investment funds worth a combined $655 million, with the organisation having previously announced the majority of the initial $180 million it received was to be rolled into one of those investment funds, rather than distributed to small Indigenous business owners.
The Finocchiaro CLP Government has passed new laws through Parliament on Wednesday aimed at requiring the courts to prioritise community safety ahead of other factors when determining bail, which the government said are the “strongest bail laws in the country” but which many believed had already been implemented with the passing of Declan’s Law last year.
The NT Police force is urging Territorians to voluntarily submit their DNA to specific consumer genealogy databases, which police say could help provide answers for families and assist in identifying long-term missing individuals and solving cold cases, but failed to explain what limitations would be placed on the DNA’s usage.
