Former NT Police constable Zach Rolfe has taken up the Chief Minister’s challenge to substantiate that five senior officers who misled a coronial inquest about racist awards in the NT Police’s TRG unit committed a crime, completing an 82-page investigation report that he distributed to the Chief Minister, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Acting Police Commissioner on Tuesday, highlighting the ICAC’s failure to properly investigate the officers’ conduct.
EXCLUSIVE: Tourism Minister and Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby’s chief of staff worked for Alastair Shields at the Darwin Waterfront Corporation for more than a decade before being seconded to Ms Boothby’s office last August, the NT Independent can reveal, raising questions about the Minister’s office’s ability to objectively review a “briefing” the Minister requested into concerns of improper conduct at the taxpayer-funded corporation.
NT WorkSafe executive director Peggy Cheong has resigned her role after nearly two-and-a-half years leading the workplace regulator.
The government and the NT Police executive need to take urgent action to protect police officers following a series of threatening incidents involving vehicles being used to ram police cars and driving directly at officers, the union representing NT Police officers said, adding they fear it is “only a matter of time before an officer is killed”.
Business and Asian Relations Minister Robyn Cahill has travelled to Singapore as part of a Territory trade delegation to “strengthen ties and promote investment opportunities”, but her office would not say who exactly she is meeting with in the Asian city-state.
TIO Stadium will kick off the ‘Summer of Cricket’ by hosting two T20 International Men’s Cricket matches on August 10 and 12, with Australia facing South Africa in Darwin’s first-ever T20 International match.
The Finocchiaro Government has abandoned the Northern Territory’s 2030 renewable electricity target, now criticising the plan as unrealistic and costly despite supporting it in opposition, while a specialist energy analyst who modelled the expense of meeting the target said the government is blatantly lying about the cost and inflating it tenfold.
The CLP Minister responsible for the Darwin Waterfront Corporation has balked at ordering an external investigation into possible misuse of public resources and unresolved conflicts of interest at the taxpayer-funded organisation, choosing instead to keep the matter internal, while questions have also been raised about conflicts of interest with the ICAC and the DWC’s chief executive.
A large “disturbance” in Wadeye over the weekend had police scrambling for backup as the incident continued after fighting families were first dispersed, NT Police said, with weapons seized.
A firefighter who was found guilty of assaulting his son in front of colleagues while on duty was to return to work to lead a team, including some officers who witnessed the assault, but was temporarily stood down again by the NT Fire service just days before resuming his role, sources have told the NT Independent.
Five teens with weapons who allegedly stole two cars overnight to carry out a crime spree were arrested after crashing one of the cars in the northern suburbs during a police pursuit, and attempting to hide from police dogs in various locations including in a tree and a puddle, NT Police said.
There may be a review currently ongoing that includes the Director of Public Prosecution’s questionable hiring practices, involving his son and daughter-in-law being hired for unadvertised jobs, Attorney-General Marie Clare Boothby says, and there may not be, but she stressed “nothing is off the table” when asked directly if she is reviewing the questionable appointments.
