Territory Story

Each weekend we invite, Chris Walsh, Editor of the NT Independent online newspaper, on the podcast to talk about some of the stories making news in the Territory. This week’s stories are:  1. Senior public servants’ liquor licence mysteriously altered after alleged breaches made public  2. ICAC ‘reviewing’ Batchelor Institute, whistleblower says watchdog already investigated  3. Roy...

Keith Gregory comes from farming stock. Born in Narramine in New South Wales, Keith learnt to drive a tractor at the age of 10. The family moved to Perth and Keith went on to complete Year 11 before taking up a job mustering on horseback in Shark Bay. At 18 years of age he was breaking in horses. However after a stint in New Zealand he realised there was no future in mustering and he returned to P...

1. No investigation into Smalpage’s social media gaffe, no disciplinary action: Chalker 2. Woman charged for helping Darwin arrivals falsify travel records to avoid COVID restrictions 3. Complaint lodged against Willing Distillery and Bar run by senior public servants 4. Gunner says taxpayer-funded home security upgrades due to ‘stalking scenario’, not ‘normal crime’ fears 5. NT Govt’s Anzac Oval...

Dr Ravi Sandhu and Leon go back a long way…1982 in fact; the year his family migrated to Australia from Malaysia. Leon met Ravi on his first day in high school and we’ve been friends ever since. They went to university together, Ravi studied dentistry, Leon did economics and then law. Leon was at Ravi’s wedding in 1995 and Ravi was at Leon’s the following year. Ravi has two children. His daughter...

Each weekend we invite, Chris Walsh, Editor of the NT Independent online newspaper, onto the podcast to talk about some of the stories making news in the Territory. This week’s stories are: 1. New NT COVID plan to see mandatory vaccine for most workers, ‘freedom pass’ touted 2. Gunner Government’s COVID-19 stimulus spending program raised concerns: Auditor General 3. NT Government’s Howard Springs...

Olia Kerle, an only child, was born in Kostroma, a picturesque small town a few hours drive from Moscow. At the age of twelve, Olia’s family moved to Moscow and she grew up there eventually earning a degree in English. She then started teaching English as a second language. She met her husband, Darwin born Matt Kerle, on the internet. Matt had been researching a seed bank in Russia and was looking...

Each weekend we invite, Chris Walsh, Editor of the NT Independent online newspaper, onto the podcast to talk about some of the stories making news in the Territory. With Chris unwell, we turned again to his colleague, David Wood, to discuss the stories. This week’s stories are: 1. High Court finds media outlets are responsible for Facebook comments in Dylan Voller defamation case. 2. ‘It is about...

Born in Karratha, Western Australia, Matthew Hull’s family moved around the Pilbara region before settling in Fremantle where he finished high school. Matthew went on to train as a cook, deciding to give it up the day he qualified. He took on a number of odd jobs before joining the Australian Army in 2009. After 18 months training as a radio operator he was posted to Tarinkowt in the Uruzgan provi...

1. NAPLAN preliminary results show Year 3 and 5 students make significant gains in reading, grammar and punctuation 2. Taxi driver forced into quarantine says NT Health did not tell him passenger had COVID-19 3. Police Superintendent stops COVID-19 fines at ‘freedom’ rally claiming non-existent permit: Source 4. Fyles says public expects Turf Club to pay back $12m, but would not commit to enforcin...

Rebecca Jennings is a 28 year old environmental economist with a strong family connection to the Daly Region having grown up in Berry Springs. She is running as an independent candidate in the upcoming by-election for the seat of Daly. Up against the power house parties of Labor and the CLP, Rebecca’s small team are working hard to give the voters of the Daly region an option outside the major par...

Each weekend we invite, Chris Walsh, Editor of the NT Independent online newspaper, onto the podcast to talk about some of the stories making news in the Territory. This week’s stories are: 1. ‘How dare you’: Gunner scolded for politicising pandemic to win votes again 2. Labor’s candidate for Daly does not ‘reflect the values of our Labor government’, Parliament told six months ago 3. Dixon turfed...

Born in Darwin and adopted when she was only six weeks old, Rebecca Campart was raised by her adopted parents in Ludmilla and Nightcliff. She remembers playing on the Nightcliff foreshore and living a typical carefree lifestyle that so many kids enjoy growing up in the Territory. After finishing high school and taking a couple of gap years off, Rebecca went off to Melbourne first to study law foll...

Each weekend we invite, Chris Walsh, Editor of the NT Independent online newspaper, onto the podcast to talk about some of the stories making news in the Territory. This week’s stories are: 1. American who sparked lockdown won’t say if he is vaccinated 2. NT Parliament shut down with no make-up dates planned 3. ‘We need help’: Alice Springs MLA pleads for real action as police lay charges over rec...

With the council elections coming up, we spoke with two mayoral candidates challenging the very popular incumbent, Mayor Athina Pascoe-Bell, for the position in Palmerston. Ryan Pettifer is an electrician from New Zealand. He has lived in Palmerston for the past five years. Raj Samson Rajwin is a perennial political punter. Since 2016 he’s thrown his hat in on almost every election, be it local, T...

Sam McCue was born St Kilda, Melbourne and her family moved to PNG when she was two. Her father was a civil engineer and worked in Port Moresby and Bougainville. The family moved back to Australia during Sam’s high school years. After finishing high school in Mackay, Sam got a position as a cadet journalist. Her career eventually brought her to Darwin and she’s lived here for over 30 years. Sam ha...

Each weekend we invite, Chris Walsh, Editor of the NT Independent online newspaper, onto the podcast to talk about some of the stories making news in the Territory. This week’s stories are: 1. Darwin alderman ‘bashed and robbed’ at Casuarina, says he was ‘targeted’ 2. CLP MLA’s shock resignation to trigger NT by-election 3. Anti-corruption watchdog to investigate ICAC ‘hatchet job’ 4. Fleming refe...

Athina Pascoe-Bell is Mayor of the City of Palmerston. One of the fastest growing cities in Australia. Council elections are happening this month and Athina is running for re-election. Athina has been the model Mayor. She goes about her business quietly and with no fanfare. She is not your average politician. On this episode of Territory Story, Athina, talks about the work that the Council does wo...

Each weekend we invite, Chris Walsh, Editor of the NT Independent online newspaper, onto the podcast to talk about some of the stories making news in the Territory. This week’s stories are: 1. ‘Code yellow’: Overcrowding issues at RDH force cancellation of surgeries, emergency management plans enacted 2. Health Department not investigating building after worker contracts Legionnaires’: property ma...

Each weekend we invite, Chris Walsh, Editor of the NT Independent online newspaper, onto the podcast to talk about some of the stories making news in the Territory. This week’s stories are: 1. The inconvenient truth 2. ‘Michael Gunner has lost the trust of the people’: Opposition says Chief Minister’s job ‘untenable’ following Dixon statement 3. Revealed: Here’s the full ‘spurious’ submission the...

Originally from Havre, a small town in France about the same size as Darwin, Maxime Campart came to Australia at the age of 24 as a backpacker. Starting in Sydney, with just a cursory command of English, he spent two months in the big smoke before buying the cheapest air ticket he could find. He landed in Cairns. With savings running low, Maxime was desperate to find a job. He took a position as a...

On this weekend edition of the podcast, Chris Walsh, Editor of the NT Independent online newspaper, talks about some of the stories making news in the Territory. This week’s stories are: 1. ‘They will play an exciting role in our comeback’: New economic ‘commissioners’ appointed 2. Gunner gives Drabsch free pass, says ‘deceptive’ conduct ‘happened two years ago’ 3. Horse rorts: Dixon and Thoroughb...

Karen Green started from humble beginnings. Born in Donnybrook in Western Australia to a farming family, her parents moved to the little town of Beacon (population 160) on the frontier of the wheatbelt, where they ran sheep and grew wheat. At the age of 12 she was shipped off to boarding school in Northam and then went on to study accounting at Curtin University. After a brief stint with an accoun...

On this weekend edition of the podcast, Chris Walsh, Editor of the NT Independent online newspaper, talks about some of the stories making news in the Territory. This week’s stories are: 1. ‘I was following instructions’: Chief Minister’s former chief of staff’s stunning claim to ICAC revealed 2. Minister confirms Gunner rushed grandstand grant through Cabinet, Drabsch now overseeing ICAC recommen...

Superintendent Sachin Sharma is currently Acting Commander - Incident Controller for the Northern Territory’s Covid-19 Response Emergency Operations Centre. Sachin was born in Dharamshala, a city in far north India close to the Pakistan border, near the disputed Kashmir region at the foothills of the Himalayas. He qualified as an accountant before coming to Brisbane, Australia in 1999 to further h...

On this weekend edition of the podcast, Chris Walsh, Editor of the NT Independent online newspaper, talks about some of the stories making news in the Territory. This week’s stories are: 1. Gunner cancels meeting with Federal Minister to defend government in growing grandstand scandal 2. Gosling attempts to distance himself from scandal-plagued Gunner Government ahead of federal election 3. Gunner...