Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has refused to condemn the domestic violence crimes of an Alice Springs traditional owner and director of two community groups she met with last week, after it was revealed by The Australian on Tuesday that Benedict Stevens pleaded guilty in June to aggravated assault for striking his partner in the face with a tool during an alcohol-fuelled domestic violence incident.
A government-ordered investigation into senior executive Andrew Kirkman’s inappropriate conduct against a female staffer, in which he was found in court to have verbally abused and threatened her costing taxpayers more than $1 million to defend, has been concluded with no action being taken, the Chief Minister said.
A series of CSIRO reports into the development of a multi-user carbon capture, use and storage facility at the proposed Middle Arm industrial precinct estimates the capital cost could be between $7.3 and $7.9 billion, but warned of ‘major uncertainty’ in understanding what additional costs could arise, while an energy peak body said using CCUS to deal with emissions was a “complete fantasy”.
Darwin Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis’s lawyer has told Cyclone Tracy survivor Antony Bullock they will use ratepayer funds to seek an injunction to prevent the publication of a mini-book he has written called The Ultimate Betrayal, which examines the process to select the controversial Cyclone Tracy 50th anniversary memorial sculpture, which follows a previous legal letter that initiated defamation action against him.
A 28-year-old man has been arrested and is facing charges in connection to suspicious behaviour last week in Malak, where a young boy was approached by an unknown man near a park who allegedly tried to get him in a vehicle, NT Police said.
Former Barkly Regional Council chief executive Emma Bradbury will not be prosecuted as recommended by a lawyer who investigated the council, the Local Government Minister Steve Edgington has said, adding he will also not order an investigation into other actions at the council that were covered up despite his expressed concern about unresolved allegations of bullying, sexual harassment and mismanagement.
Police cars were rammed by a stolen vehicle during a pursuit through the Darwin northern suburbs overnight, that saw stolen liquor bottles thrown at police during the chase and a 14-year-old having his face cut up by a 13-year-old during a night of terror that also involved ram raids on a Leanyer bar and a woman being carjacked and threatened with a knife by the group.
Directors who were at the Northern Aboriginal Australian Justice Agency when the organisation’s chief executive officer was unlawfully sacked have now left the board, with the size of the board cut in half and the constitution changed at its recent annual general meeting, following a threat by the NT Attorney-General to remove funding if the directors did not resign.
Police Commissioner Michael Murphy flew to Singapore on holidays Thursday afternoon, after spending just a few hours in crime-stricken Alice Springs, a police source has said, while NT Police confirmed he was on “scheduled leave”, which came ahead of the Chief Minister also leaving town early.
Two men are in Katherine Hospital after being stabbed during a Thursday night home invasion, with one of the men suffering “stab wounds to his chest”, NT Police said.
The Finocchiaro CLP Government has announced a “Circuit Breaker Program” for Alice Springs in the wake of a surge of violent crimes in the troubled town that it says will address the “root causes” of crime, but the program as described is exactly what Labor announced in April.
Close to 90 per cent of St John Ambulance paramedics and patient transport officers who responded to a United Workers Union survey said they do not have confidence in the organisation’s executive, while 83 per cent they still have concerns about clinical procedures and patient safety, following a damning government review.
