Mayors and councillors across the Territory will receive a four per cent pay increase later this year, including Darwin Mayor Kon Vatskalis who will see the biggest increase, with every local councillor seeing their allowances increased by several thousand dollars.
An NT prisons contract awarded to a private security company the Corrections Minister’s adviser previously worked for was handled independently of his office, the Minister has said, but he has refused to say how much it will cost taxpayers, while a privacy law expert said it was only in “extreme circumstances” that governments should hide the cost of contracts, with this contract not meeting the threshold.
Planning Minister Joshua Burgoyne has defunded volunteer community group the Planning Action Network, declaring the provisions of the planning legislation, which he recently weakened by removing third party reviews from, were robust and that there was already sufficient public consultation.
The Finocchiaro CLP Government will lobby the Federal Labor Government this week to secure a commitment on the Darwin Port amid solvency issues with Chinese-owned company Landbridge, but the Chief Minister would not say if leasing the nationally strategic asset to China in 2015 was a mistake made by her previous CLP government.
The Finocchiaro Government is extending the life of three gas turbine electricity generators that supply Darwin and Katherine, but the government has refused to say if it will still meet its 2030 renewable energy target, while the Utilities Commission has said it cannot tell if the government’s plan is the appropriate solution, it has been reported.
A new data tool introduced by CSIRO will give Darwin residents the ability to assess heat levels in their neighbourhoods with an aim to help mitigate heat stress and enhance the city’s liveability, sustainability, and resilience.
A 31-year-old woman has been charged with murder after allegedly stabbing her partner in Darwin on Friday night, NT Police said.
The Finocchiaro Government has signed a secret deal with private security company G4S to provide prison officers, with the cost of the contract and the process used to award it not made public.
Faced with massively declining student enrolment numbers, budget deficits, staff sackings, departmental funding cuts and a massive bill for a Darwin city campus it can’t afford, Charles Darwin University vice-chancellor Scott Bowman announced on Friday that CDU will “establish a London-based study centre” with the aim of “exploring transnational education” to save the beleaguered university.
Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby has declined to comment on whether she will take any action against Director of Public Prosecutions Lloyd Babb, after it was revealed his son and daughter-in-law were hired for jobs in his office that he created and did not publicly advertise, while the woman Mr Babb pursued in the Supreme Court for hiring a friend says the “blatant hypocrisy” is destroying the public’s trust in the office.
Darwin Private Hospital operator Healthscope will extend maternity services for an extra seven weeks, after initially ordering a mid-April shutdown, with 45 of 114 expectant families estimated to now give birth at the facility, the NT Government said.
The first lots of the Holtze land release will hit the market soon, offering first-home buyers property starting at $189,000.
