Chief Minister Natasha Fyles has refused to answer questions about the secret taxpayer-funded payout to former police commissioner Jamie Chalker, including if her letter to Mr Chalker, in which she made factual mistakes, resulted in a larger payout than if the sacking followed proper processes.
The latest questions follow testimony at last week’s Estimates hearings where Treasurer Eva Lawler revealed the payout came from the NT Police’s operational budget and Police Minister Kate Worden revealed she had nothing to do with the move to get rid of Mr Chalker in late March.
It was previously reported that Ms Fyles sent Mr Chalker a letter on March 31, in which she made four allegations against the former commissioner, calling for him to resign. Instead, he sued the government and settled for what is estimated to be a seven-figure payout to announce his “retirement” shortly before he was required to file a brief of evidence with the court that would have contained communications between Ms Fyles and Ms Worden.
Mr Chalker’s lawyers indicated in April that the letter Ms Fyles had signed contained strange errors, including that Ms Fyles had accused Mr Chalker of wanting to send the Australian Defence Force into Alice Springs to combat the crime crisis – an issue Mr Chalker refuted as untrue.
Member for Araluen Robyn Lambley asked Ms Fyles about the letter during Estimates Monday morning.
“Did your mistakes in that letter that you apparently wrote to Mr Chalker result in a larger payout than he would have been entitled to if you terminated his contract through the proper process?” she said.
“I can’t comment on these questions as they’re confidential,” Ms Fyles responded.
Opposition CLP Leader Lia Finocchiaro then asked Ms Fyles about a public statement she made the day after announcing Mr Chalker’s secret settlement and why she had been forced to publicly apologise to Mr Chalker after it appeared she had suggested he received only his basic entitlements.
“As I’ve said, any questions that relate to Mr Jamie Chalker, I cannot provide a response,” Ms Fyles said. “It’s a confidential court settlement.”
“In what way did you mislead the community the day before [the public apology]?” Ms Finocchiaro followed up.
“I cannot provide further commentary,” Ms Fyles said.
“But it is public, I’ve got your press release right here,” Ms Finocchiaro said.
Ms Fyles again refused to answer.
Ms Finocchiaro then went back to questioning Ms Fyles about the ongoing crime crisis, which Ms Fyles also batted away, repeatedly telling Ms Finocchiaro that her department doesn’t keep crime records.
Outside Estimates, Ms Finocchiaro said Ms Fyles “does not think [crime] is her responsibility”.
“Today my questions were the questions that Territorians wanted answers to, and Natasha Fyles showed she is out of touch,” she said.
“Any Territorian watching today should be outraged as Natasha Fyles refused to answer my questions on community safety.
“Despite issuing a press release on the 28th of March claiming she would ‘stamp out knife crime’, she batted away questions on why knife crime has increased.”
Ms Fyles repeated in Estimates that her government has “remained agile” and implemented many different programs and strategies to combat crime.
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