Category Archives: Northern Territory

‘Epidemic’ of violence against Aboriginal women in NT is getting worse, exasperated experts warn

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Despite having Australia’s highest rates of domestic violence, particularly against Indigenous women, the NT only receives about 1% of federal funding, senators hear

She was a domestic and family violence advocate; a leader in her community and the country. But in 2021 Kumarn Rubuntja was murdered by her partner, Malcolm Abbott.

“We lost one of our own,” the Tangentyere family violence prevention manager, Dr Chay Brown, told the murdered and missing First Nations women and children parliamentary inquiry.

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Charles Darwin University asked inquiry not to publish staff submissions critical of its support for harbour project

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In letter vice-chancellor requested committee not publish joint submission by two academics and redact parts of second submission ‘unfairly’ critical of CDU

Charles Darwin University asked a federal inquiry not to publish submissions by three of its staff after the academics criticised the university’s support for a gas and industrial development on Darwin Harbour.

It comes as the Northern Territory government is due to give evidence in Darwin on Thursday to the Middle Arm inquiry, which is examining the proposed precinct and a $1.5bn investment promised by the Albanese government.

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‘Time to be fearless’: NT attorney general urges Australian leaders to pursue treaty after voice defeat

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Chansey Paech says the Uluru statement is ‘not finished’ despite the result of the voice referendum

The Northern Territory’s attorney general is urging the nation’s leaders to put last year’s voice referendum result behind them and move to forge treaties with Indigenous people because “the time for sorry business is over”.

The attorney general and deputy chief minister, Chansey Paech, is urging the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and state and territory colleagues not to allow the referendum result to stall progress on the other elements of the Uluru statement from the heart.

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How do Australian police taskforces get strange names like Tromperie?

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In NSW, you can blame a computer which generates names at random, while in the Northern Territory ‘generic categories’ deliver operations named after rivers and battleships

New South Wales police last week arrested 15 people as part of Strikeforce Wessex – an investigation into alleged organised criminal networks operating “dial-a-dealer” schemes.

But what does Wessex, an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Great Britain, have to do with drug dealing and mobile phones across Sydney?

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Ex-Tropical Cyclone Megan: evacuations in NT ahead of ‘one-in-a-hundred-year flood’

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McArthur River at community of Borroloola predicted to peak at 18 metres, three metres higher than previous 2001 record

More than 100 people have been evacuated from the remote Northern Territory community of Borroloola as it faces dangerous record flooding just days after it was lashed by Tropical Cyclone Megan.

The McArthur River at the township was forecast to peak at 18 metres by Thursday afternoon, three metres higher than the previous 2001 flood record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

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Tropical Cyclone Megan intensifies to a category-three storm as it bears down on Northern Territory and Queensland

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Wind gusts of up to 220km/h expected to bring heavy rain and flooding to coastal communities

Top End communities are bracing for the crossing of severe Tropical Cyclone Megan, with destructive wind gusts of up to 220km/h expected to bring widespread damage, heavy rainfall and potential flooding to coastal communities into next week.

The cyclone formed over the Gulf of Carpentaria, east of Groote Eylandt, on Saturday afternoon and was moving south towards the Northern Territory and Queensland border as a category-two system on Sunday morning.

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Tropical Cyclone Megan: residents warned to prepare for strong winds and rain as system forms off NT

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Bureau of Meteorology expects the cyclone to strengthen to a category-two system overnight and into category three by Sunday evening

A tropical cyclone has formed over the Top End, with Territorians warned to prepare for destructive wind gusts, heavy rainfall and potential flooding over coming days.

Tropical Cyclone Megan formed over the Gulf of Carpentaria, east of Groote Eylandt, on Saturday afternoon and was expected to move south-east, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

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Indigenous leader accuses NT government of ‘clear conflict of interest’ with online gambling industry

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Exclusive: Yingiya Mark Guyula says companies are ‘making big money’ off some of the poorest in the community

An Indigenous leader and independent MP has accused the Northern Territory government of having “a clear conflict of interest” with the $50bn online gambling industry and of ignoring First Nations health and advocacy groups.

Yingiya Mark Guyula, a Liya-dhälinymirr Djambarrpuyngu man, said online gambling was an increasing problem in remote areas. He accused some companies of “making big money off some of the poorest people in our communities”.

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Only one harm reduction group and 28 betting companies consulted over contentious NT gambling bill

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Alliance for Gambling Reform criticises closed consultation process for draft bill regulating $50bn industry, accusing territory of being ‘out of its depth’

The Northern Territory government – which regulates Australia’s $50bn online wagering industry – consulted just one harm reduction group before introducing laws welcomed by the gambling giants whose advice was sought during their drafting.

The Racing and Wagering Act 2024, which was tabled last month and could be voted on in coming weeks, would allow the chief minister to direct the NT gambling regulator and its director in “the exercise of their powers and the performance of their functions”.

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Kumanjayi Walker’s family’s complaint about The Australian’s coverage not investigated by media watchdog

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Revelation comes after inquest into 19-year-old’s death shown texts between journalist from newspaper and Zachary Rolfe

The family of Kumanjayi Walker complained to the media standards watchdog in 2022 about The Australian’s coverage of the Warlpiri man’s death, questioning why the journalist responsible had not disclosed her personal relationship with Zachary Rolfe in her articles.

But the Australian Press Council decided not to investigate the 2022 complaint, saying it considered it was “unlikely that a breach of [its] standards of practice has occurred”.

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NT supreme court shown footage of Don Dale tear gassing and hosing down of teens

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The recording forms part of the territory’s appeal of over $1m in compensation awarded to four teenage inmates

Disturbing footage of teenagers being handcuffed and hosed down after being teargassed at the notorious Don Dale Detention Centre has been seen as evidence in an Northern Territory supreme court case.

The vision, which will not be released to media, is part of the NT government’s appeal over nearly $1m compensation awarded last year to four teenagers who were unlawfully teargassed at Don Dale detention centre in 2014.

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Kumanjayi Walker inquest told of ‘clearly racist’ NT police awards that appear to contradict senior officers’ testimony

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Zachary Rolfe evidence calls into question the testimony of several senior officers to the court earlier this week

Award certificates allegedly given out to members of an elite Northern Territory police unit were “clearly racist”, calling into question the evidence of several senior officers, a court has heard.

Zachary Rolfe told an inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker earlier this week that he believed a racist mock award had been bestowed by the Tactical Response Group to the member who behaved most like an Aboriginal person.

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Senior NT police deny Zachary Rolfe’s claim unit held racist mock award, inquest hears

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Lawyer tells Kumanjayi Walker inquest current and former officers in tactical response group rejected claims and said they were hurtful

Senior police from the Northern Territory’s heavily armed tactical response unit have strongly denied claims by Zachary Rolfe that the unit bestowed a racist mock award on colleagues who displayed Aboriginal-like behaviour, a court has heard.

Rolfe made the claims earlier this week in Alice Springs during the inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker.

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Former News Corp journalist offered to write article defending Zachary Rolfe two days after he shot Kumanjayi Walker dead, court hears

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Kristin Shorten from The Australian told former police officer to ‘ignore the leftist reporting’, inquest into Indigenous man’s death hears

A journalist at The Australian told Zachary Rolfe only two days after he shot and killed Kumanjayi Walker that she could “write an article in your defence” because “I know what you did was totally warranted”, a court has heard.

Journalist Kristin Shorten, who Rolfe said was a friend because her partner was a fellow police officer, texted Rolfe in November 2019 asking if he was OK after the incident and telling him to “ignore the leftist reporting”, the inquest into Walker’s death heard on Wednesday.

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Ben Roberts-Smith agreed to help Zachary Rolfe find a job outside police force, Kumanjayi Walker inquest told

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Inquest hears Rolfe told former soldier he wanted to leave police force to find ‘wild work’

Ben Roberts-Smith agreed to provide overseas private security contacts to Zachary Rolfe after the then Northern Territory police officer said he wanted to leave the force to find “wild work” and “dangerous shit”, a court has heard.

Rolfe shot Warlpiri man Kumanjayi Walker three times while trying to arrest him on 9 November 2019 in the remote community of Yuendumu, about 300km from Alice Springs. Walker, 19, stabbed Rolfe with a pair of scissors shortly before he was shot by the then constable three times. Rolfe was found not guilty in March 2022 of charges of murder and manslaughter relating to Walker’s death.

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Outback Wrangler star Matt Wright faces fresh charges over fatal Northern Territory helicopter crash

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NT WorkSafe has charged the celebrity croc-wrangler and his aviation company Helibrook with ‘reckless conduct for operating unsafe aircraft’

Outback Wrangler star Matt Wright and his aviation company have been hit with a slew of new charges over a fatal chopper crash that killed his co-star.

Chris Wilson plunged to his death in a remote area of the Northern Territory in February 2022 while attached to a helicopter owned by Wright and being flown by pilot Sebastian Robinson.

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Storms and wet weather forecast for northern Australia with Cyclone Kirrily expected to develop off Queensland

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Heavy rainfall that could lead to flash flooding forecast across Kimberley, Northern Territory and much of Cape York peninsula

Northern Australia is battening down the hatches as the Bureau of Meteorology warns intensifying activity in the Coral Sea is likely to result in the formation of Cyclone Kirrily.

While the low-pressure system won’t be officially named until it is properly formed, the bureau expects the cyclone to develop off the Queensland coast by Monday.

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Flood warnings prompt evacuations in NT as Queensland braces for incoming cyclone

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Bom says it’s still ‘too early to say’ how strong a potential cyclone may be and when it could reach land

Far north Queensland is bracing for a second natural disaster in about a month while flooding has forced people to flee their homes in the Northern Territory.

Meanwhile, a swathe of Western Australia is enduring temperatures approaching 50C.

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BoM forecasts category three storm – as it happened

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Victoria police recover over $600,000 worth of drugs in raids

A man has had to let go of his prized Lego collection yesterday after police seized more than $600,000 worth of 1,4-Butanediol – a chemical that mirrors the drug GHB when ingested.

34kg of iodine – a precursor to methylamphetamine.

32kg of hypophosphorus acid – a precursor to methylamphetamine.

Illegal steroids.

Methylamphetamine.

A handgun.

An extendable baton.

Ammunition.

Three digital devices.

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Threat of another cyclone looms for Queensland as heavy rain continues across Australia’s north

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Damaging weather and heavy rain pummels Darwin as BoM forecasts another cyclone could cross Queensland’s east coast from Tuesday

Queensland residents face the threat of another cyclone reaching their shores within days as intense rain continues across Australia’s north.

A tropical low building in the Coral Sea is expected to turn towards the coast from Sunday, with the system most likely becoming a tropical cyclone by Monday.

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