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.
The CLP Government will introduce amendments to domestic and family violence laws that will see mandatory sentencing reinstated on a “tiered framework” with some offenders jailed for breaches of “certain” domestic violence orders, however the government stopped short of reinstating mandatory minimum sentences for all DVO breaches.
A pub in Darwin and a pub in Humpty Doo were ram raided overnight with the offenders using a vehicle stolen from a home in Rosebery, NT Police said.
EXCLUSIVE: Director of Public Prosecutions Lloyd Babb was involved in more questionable hiring practices in his office that do not appear to have followed proper processes – outside of his own family members – the NT Independent can reveal, including hiring one lawyer to a non-advertised role last year who is now a senior adviser to the Attorney-General.
Disgraced former NT Police detective Wayne Newell has been sentenced after pleading guilty to one count of using a carriage service to harass as part of a strange case that the NT Police top brass attempted to keep out of the public spotlight.
CLP Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby released a secret ICAC report in Parliament Thursday that probed the NT Police’s and DPP’s pursuit of former children’s commissioner Colleen Gwynne for hiring a mate for a senior job, finding the previous Labor government entered into an undisclosed payout deal with Ms Gwynne after her trial was aborted, but before the DPP could appeal the judge’s decision.
The CLP Government announced it will move to recover $39 million in unpaid rent from public housing tenants and expediting evictions for those involved in antisocial behaviour, aiming to promote accountability among all tenants, but community groups remain concerned that evicting tenants will not significantly reduce crime at public housing complexes.
An alleged member of the Mongols was arrested for drug offences on Friday, in connection to a Gangs Task Force raid of a Palmerston residence last month that resulted in the seizure of more than $130,000 in cash and 60g of Ecstasy tablets, NT Police said.
