Northern Territory July to December 2022

This period featured a by-election for a new Member for Fannie Bay, and the Northern Territory Government's continued intransigence in respect of the award-winning NT Independent. Former Chief Minister Shane Stone was “sacked” as the head of the National Resilience and Recovery Agency, which was absorbed into the Department of Home Affairs (NT News, 3 July 2022). The Albanese Government's decision to “axe” the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia resulted in Coalition members claiming the Government had “abandoned the North” (NT News, 28 July 2022). Former Chief Minister Michael Gunner announced his retirement as the Member for Fannie Bay (ABC News, NT Independent, 27 July; NT News, 28 July 2022). A by-election on 20 August resulted in the ALP's Brent Potter, an Army veteran, retaining the seat over the CLP's Ben Hosking, a former police officer, with 52.2 per cent on a two-party preferred basis (ABC News, NT Independent, 20 August; NT News, 21 August 2022). Recruited by Fortescue Future Industries, Gunner became head of a Northern Australia renewable energy team (NT News, ABC News, 9, 16 October; NT Independent, 10 October; ABC News, 21 November 2022). ALP membership was at odds with elected members over fracking and the environment. At its annual conference, several motions against both federal and Northern Territory Government policies were adopted by the NT branch without dissent (The Guardian, 7 September; ABC News, 8 September 2022). Former ALP Secretary and ministerial advisor Kent Rowe was found guilty on all six counts of sexual intercourse without consent. The victim was a female relative who was a child at the time of the offending (NT Independent, 7 September; NT News, 8 September; ABC News, 9 September 2022). Chief Justice Michael Grant sentenced Rowe to five years' imprisonment to be suspended after two-and-a-half years (NT Independent, ABC News, 9 November; NT News, 10 November; NT Independent, 17 December 2022). Rowe resigned from his ministerial position amid the ‘cocaine sex scandal’ in February last year. Following the retirement of interim president Fiona Darcy, former ministerial advisor Lawson Broad was elected CLP President with “overwhelming party support” at the party's annual conference. An anticipated challenge by former Deputy Chief Minister Dave Tollner did not eventuate (NT News, NT Independent, 19 September 2022). Chief Minister Natasha Fyles scrapped a four-year pay freeze for public servants imposed by her predecessor, opening the door to EBA negotiations with unions (NT Independent, 5 October; NT News, 6 October 2022). The NT became Australia's first jurisdiction to raise the age of criminal responsibility from ten to twelve years when the Assembly passed amendments to the Criminal Code (NT News, 13 October; NT Independent, 14 October; ABC News, NT News, NT Independent, 30 November 2022). The Sentencing Act was amended to remove mandatory sentencing provisions that are over twenty years old (ABC News, 25 November 2022). Territory Alliance, a party formed by former CLP Chief Minister Terry Mills in 2019, cancelled its registration as a political party with the NT Electoral Commission (NT News, 15 November 2022). Senator Jacinta Price was described as being in a “tragic redneck celebrity vortex” and “punching down on Blackfellas” by Noel Pearson after the National Party announced it would oppose an Indigenous Voice to Parliament (ABC News, The Guardian, 29 November 2022). Lawrence Costa, the ALP Member for Arafura, died suddenly aged 52. Elected in 2016, he defeated incumbent CLP Member Francis Kurrupuwu and was comfortably re-elected in 2020 (NT Independent, ABC News, 18 December; NT News, 19 December 2022). Rolfe was reinstated by the NT Police on 18 July (NT Independent, 9 July; NT News, 10 July 2022). Documents tabled following Estimates revealed that up to 31 March, the investigation and trial had cost $4 million, excluding any order for costs (NT Independent, 8 August; NT News, 9 August 2022). A Police Association survey revealed that the Rolfe-Yuendumu incident was one of the main reasons for almost 80 per cent of respondents having no confidence in Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker (NT Independent, ABC News, 12 August; NT News, 13 August; NT Independent, 19 August 2022). The Commissioner said he would not resign (ABC News, 18 August; NT News, 20 August 2022). The inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker began in Alice Springs in September and adjourned on 30 November until next year (ABC News, 1 December 2022). An MOU between Charles Darwin University, Western Sydney University and Menzies School of Health Research will result in the CDU Menzies School of Medicine, the first in the NT (NT Independent, 10 August; NT News, 12 August 2022). A fire at a medical warehouse in Darwin's industrial area caused an estimated $30 million in damage and left authorities scrambling for hospital backup supplies (NT Independent, ABC News, 21 August; NT News, ABC News, 22 August 2022). The NT Government walked back from its demand that the DTC repay a 2019 $12 million grant for its grandstand after an adverse ICAC finding in 2021. Instead, funding to the club has been cut by $6 million over ten years, and that will be channelled to regional racing clubs in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine and Adelaide River for infrastructure upgrades. An NT News editorial described the arrangement as “firm but fair” (NT Independent, NT News, 5 July 2022). Commissioner Michael Riches issued a statement saying he would not reinstate his predecessor's June 2021 report into the DTC grandstand to the ICAC website. As a result, former DTC Chairman Brett Dixon and his business partner Matthew Moss withdrew their Supreme Court challenges. DTC Chairman Richard O'Sullivan said the club was “vindicated” and that “justice has prevailed”. Dixon said that “questions remain” about the conduct of former Commissioner Ken Fleming QC. An NT News editorial said Riches' decision “draws a line under yet another sorry tale of poor administration in the Northern Territory” and that the report was a “permanent stain on Mr Fleming's legacy” (NT Independent, ABC News, 19 July; NT News, 20 July 2022). Kate Tayla Johnson, aged 23, the ICAC's Executive Assistant, appeared in the Darwin Local Court charged with disclosing confidential information and unauthorised disclosure of information obtained in the course of performing a function (NT Independent, ABC News, 19 July; NT News, 20 July 2022). After two adjournments, Johnson pleaded guilty and was fined $5,000 plus a $150 victim's levy with no conviction recorded (ABC News, NT Independent, 26 September; NT News, 27 September 2022). A General Report tabled in the Legislative Assembly revealed that ICAC dropped an investigation into a “serious allegation” because of Cabinet-in-confidence conventions, which Commissioner Riches sought to have removed from the ICAC Act (ABC News, NT Independent, 29 July; NT News, 30 July 2022). Chief Minister Natasha Fyles indicated that there would be no change (NT News, 13 August 2022). The ICAC and Ombudsman Peter Shoyer launched a joint investigation into numerous buildings owned or leased by the NT Government that are non-compliant with the Building Act, including Parliament House, Holtze prison, Royal Darwin Hospital, public schools and police stations (ABC News, NT Independent, 12 August; NT News, 13 August 2022). A former remote school principal unsuccessfully attempted to sue former Commissioner Ken Fleming for “acting in bad faith” while investigating her conduct at Milingimbi School (NT News, 27 September 2022). The ABC asked a number of media experts whether the NT Government's ban on the NT Independent was legitimate. Professor Peter Greste described the ban – which the Government denies is the subject of official “policy” – as “anti-democratic” (ABC News, 15 July 2022). An alleged police plan to raid the premises of the NT Independent with a warrant from the Australian Classification Board following publication of a story about sexual assault of a toddler was foiled when the board rejected the police application. A subsequent meeting of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) National Media Section committee passed a motion condemning the police and the NT Government for the plan, and for the Government's ongoing ban on Independent journalists attending ministerial press conferences (NT Independent, 25 September; ABC News, NT Independent, 27 September, 9 October 2022). An NT Independent FOI application in respect of travel costs for two officers over ten months was rejected on the grounds that it would be “an unreasonable interference with the operations” of the Department of the Chief Minister (NT Independent, 3 November 2022). Alcohol bans in Aboriginal communities imposed by the NT ‘Intervention’ in 2007 expired at midnight on 16 July (ABC News, NT News, 16 July 2022). Darwin lawyer and Jingili Mudburra man David Woodroffe was appointed an Acting Judge of the Local Court, the first Aboriginal person to be appointed to the NT bench (NT News, 4 July 2022). The NT Legal Aid Commission suspended its presence in ‘bush courts’ because of unresolved budgetary issues. In April, the NTLAC refused to grant legal aid to new clients outside the major centres. NTLAC Director Annmarie Lumsden said further cuts to services were being considered (ABC News, 18 July 2022). Coroner Greg Cavanagh retired in April after 24 years; Local Court Judge Elisabeth Armitage acted in his stead and in July was permanently appointed (NT News, 25 July 2022). Special Minister of State Don Farrell proposed doubling the NT's and ACT's senate representation to four, which was supported by ALP Senator Malarndirri McCarthy (NT News, 19 July 2022). Luke Gosling, the Member for Solomon, co-sponsored the Restoring Territory Rights Bill with the Member for Canberra, Alicia Payne, in the Australian Parliament on 1 August. The Bill sought to rescind the Euthanasia Laws Act and allow the territories to again make laws in respect of voluntary euthanasia (NT News, 2 August 2022) and was passed in the second last sitting of the year (ABC News, 1, 2 December; NT Independent, 2 December; NT News, 3 December 2022). Former Chief Health Officer Dr Hugh Heggie will be the next Administrator of the Northern Territory and will take up his three-year appointment from 31 January 2023 (NT Independent, 30 November; NT News, 1 December 2022). “Thousands of tonnes of rubbish” – principally plastic waste from Indonesia – are washing up on hitherto pristine stretches of the Arnhem Land coast, including culturally significant and hunting sites. Indigenous rangers have removed roughly six semi-trailer loads of marine debris from beaches and inshore waters since early 2021 (ABC News, 23 July 2022). Notwithstanding a surge in cases and a “significant rise” in hospital waiting times, the NT Government refused to mandate masks (ABC News, 27 July 2022). There have been 84 deaths and 103,002 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic (NT Health, 30 December 2022). Indian sandalwood company Quintis put Stylo Station on the market without harvesting a single tree. The former cattle station was acquired by Quintis in 2015 for $5.5 million from CLP candidate Tina MacFarlane and included a 5,800-megalitre per year water licence (ABC News, 18 August, 12 September 2022). The federal government fast-tracked $10.7 million in funding for DFV services in the NT. The announcement came a matter of weeks after a double murder-suicide in central Australia. It means the NT will receive an additional $15.5 million in DFV funding over two years (ABC News, 18 August; NT News, 19 August 2022). While welcome, advocates said the funding fell dramatically short of what was required (ABC News, 19 August 2022). Timor-Leste President José Ramos-Horta warned that his country would approach Chinese investors if Australia and Woodside Energy would not support a pipeline between the Sunrise gas field and southern Timor over a pipeline to Darwin (The Guardian, 19 August, 7 September; ABC News, 7 September 2022). The Federal Court sat on the Tiwi Islands for a day to hear evidence from Munupi traditional owners who challenged Santos' Barossa gas project, claiming they had not been consulted. The Court continued its hearing in Darwin (ABC News, 23 August; NT News, 25 August 2022). Santos withdrew its applications for government approval to “rework and resubmit” them arising from fears that they might not withstand a legal challenge (The Guardian, 3 September 2022). Justice Mordecai Bromberg ruled that the project's approval was invalid and that work must cease (ABC News, NT Independent, 21 September; The Guardian, 22 September; NT News, 23 September 2022). The Full Federal Court rejected Santos' expedited appeal and upheld the Bromberg decision (ABC News, 2, 4 December; NT Independent, 2 December; NT News, 4 December 2022). Origin Energy will abandon fracking in the Beetaloo Basin and sell its exploration interests to Tamboran Resources for $60 million subject to NT Government approval (ABC News, NT Independent, 19 September; NT News, 20 September 2022). The Supreme Court found the Australian Government immune from liability in a matter brought by the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (AAPA) over construction of a walkway at Gunlom Falls in Kakadu by Parks Australia (ABC News, The Guardian, 30 September; NT News, 2 October 2022). AAPA sought leave to appeal to the High Court (ABC News, 28 October 2022). There was internal division in Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) when minority shareholders pushed for development of the Jabiluka mine, contrary to majority shareholder Rio Tinto's desire to rehabilitate Ranger and not develop Jabiluka without full consent of the Traditional Owners, the Mirarr, who are opposed to any further mining in the region (The Guardian, 2 October 2022). Rio Tinto called for resignations from non-affiliated ERA executives and directors to resolve the deadlock (ABC News, The Guardian, 3 October 2022). The Gumatj clan is suing the Commonwealth in the Federal Court for compensation and failing to act on just terms when it authorised Nabalco to mine bauxite on the Gove Peninsula in 1968 (NT News, 25 October 2022). The Department of Defence refused an ABC FOI application for its findings in relation to the security of Darwin Port, which has been leased to Chinese company Landbridge, and instead released “talking points” issued to the former federal government (ABC News, 22 August 2022). Member for Solomon, Luke Gosling MP, told commercial radio that the leasing arrangements would be subject to a federal government “review” (ABC News, 23 August; NT Independent, 24 August 2022). Documents obtained by the ABC show the 2020 business case for a “sustainable” development precinct at Middle Arm in Darwin Harbour described it as a “new gas demand centre”, prompting critics to question the environmental merits of a project that has received $1.5 billion in federal funding (ABC News, 29 December 2022). An unexploded WWII bomb was discovered in Darwin Harbour by survey divers for the new ship lift facility. An exclusion zone was declared while an Australian Defence Force dive team searched for the device (NT News, NT Independent, ABC News, 21 September 2022), which was ultimately located and detonated (ABC News, 27 September; NT News, 28 September 2022). Another bomb was found at Manton Dam by a Berry Springs man who took it home, forcing police to detonate it on a nearby vacant block (NT Independent, 11 October; NT News, 12, 15 October 2022). Following “widespread community backlash”, Gaming Minister Chansey Paech suspended applications for sixty extra poker machines at Alice Springs venues recently acquired by Iris Capital until June 2023. Since purchasing the casino in Alice Springs last year, Iris added at least “115 machines...bringing it to a total of almost 300 machines” at the casino alone (ABC News, 19 September; NT News, NT Independent, 20 September 2022). Three reports on the social impact of gambling – all completed in September last year – were released by the Government only after the ABC requested them. They indicate the annual cost of gambling to be more than $190 million (ABC News, 28 September 2022). Jape Kong Su, a giant of the NT business community and Hakka Association, died aged 97 in Darwin. He founded the Jape Group of Companies after fleeing Timor in 1976 (NT News, 28 September, 3 October 2022). Following a battle with lymphoma, Ian McNeill PSM, the fourth Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, died in Darwin on 22 December aged 76. After eight years as Deputy Clerk and twenty years as Clerk, he had retired in 2013 (NT Independent, 24 December 2022). An unnamed Stolen Generations man successfully sued the federal government and Australian Indigenous Ministries – formerly Aborigines Inland Mission – for repeated sexual abuse suffered as a child in Darwin's Retta Dixon Home. He was awarded an undisclosed sum (ABC News, 29 September 2022). Dr Frank Daly was named Chief Executive of the Department of Chief Minister and Cabinet, replacing Jodie Ryan who resigned soon after Chief Minister Gunner in May. Dr Daly was formerly Chief Executive of the Department of Health (NT Independent, 29 September; NT News, 20 September 2022). The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission charged ARM Architecture with engaging in cartel conduct over its unsuccessful procurement bid for CDU's $250 million CBD campus project (NT Independent, 29 September; ABC News, 30 September 2022). Benjamin Glenn Hoffman, 48, who killed four people and injured another in a drug-fuelled shooting rampage across Darwin in June 2019, was sentenced to life without parole by Justice John Burns (ABC News, NT Independent, 13 October; NT News, 14 October 2022). One of the NT Government's joint venture ship lift partners, Clough Group, entered voluntary administration, throwing the $515 million ship lift project into doubt (NT Independent, 6 December; NT News, ABC News, 7 December; NT News, 8 December 2022). The period ended with the expectation of a writ to be issued for a by-election in the division of Arafura and the swearing in of a new Administrator

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