“Special” corrections officers whose training requirements have not been publicly defined will be able to work in Northern Territory prisons following the Finocchiaro Government passing “urgent” legislative changes through Parliament this week, but the United Workers Union has warned the move has opened up the prison system to private labour hire, with a petition being circulated calling for a vote of no confidence in the Corrections Commissioner.
Charles Darwin University has cut departmental budgets and will see up to 20 staff positions terminated, in accordance with a pre-Christmas prophecy from vice-chancellor Scott Bowman, who told staff in late November the university’s “finances lie in ruins” and a “bloodbath” of staff cuts was on the cards before skipping town for early and extended leave.
UPDATED: Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro appeared on Thursday to walk back from her $3 million election pledge to give long-serving NT Police officers a bonus to keep experienced cops on the beat, after being questioned about it in Parliament, but later said she was still “committed” to a bonus although it is unclear how it will work, how much it will cost and how much police officers will receive.
The CLP Government will table a new bill to provide NT Police with “express powers” to access private property without a search warrant for offenders who breach parole or domestic violence orders.
A woman who yesterday allegedly stabbed a woman in back of the head at an Alice Springs licensed premises, and then stabbed a man in the arm and upper body, is still on the run, NT Police said.
The Finocchiaro CLP Government misled the public with taxpayer-funded radio ads promoting its Territory Coordinator position, the Auditor-General has found, which were carried out to promote “party political” ends and included misleading statements in breach of legislation.
A man has been charged with murder over the death of a woman in Alice Springs on Sunday, NT Police said.
The CLP Government’s new lobbyist register will not require ministers to publicly disclose who they meet with and will exempt major lobbyists, including gas companies fracking the Beetaloo Basin and other corporate firms that donate to political parties, from needing to be on the register, which a national public integrity body says is “just not right”.
A 14-year-old boy has been charged for stealing a vehicle in Alice Springs after handing himself into the police station, NT Police said.
The Finocchiaro Government will cut a total of $200,000 in funding per year to the Environment Centre NT and the Arid Lands Environment Centre over the group’s legal challenges to government decisions on fracking and water allocations, with the Top End group calling the government a “puppet for big business” that is “running scared from scrutiny and accountability”.
Third party merit reviews will be removed from legislation covering petroleum, planning and water by the Finocchiaro Government, which has been praised by NT Farmers but criticised by the Environment Centre NT as government bowing to big business, adding the reviews are a key part of establishing transparency and accountability in government decision-making.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has declared 2025 the “Year of Action”, laying out her government’s vision for the next 11 months, including its plans for economic growth, cutting crime and repairing the budget, suggesting that while her government was still investigating what measures from the Langoulant review into government spending it would adopt, the millions spent on consultancy companies was “unacceptable”.
