The NT's ICAC has handed down its report into Michael Gunner's travel expenses during the 2020 election. The former chief minister controversially charged taxpayers for three trips to remote communities during the campaign on days when mobile polling stations were visiting those regions.
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00:00 2020. Bloody hell. A jubilant Michael Gunner celebrating a second term in power. But as
00:08 the next election challenge approaches, the former Chief Minister is back in the spotlight,
00:14 with the NT's corruption watchdog re-airing allegations of misusing public funds.
00:20 That was in the past. What we now have is an ICAC report that provides suggestions to
00:25 us around what we should do. I'll take on board those. Commissioner Michael Riches making
00:29 seven recommendations as part of Operation Jupiter, calling for tighter rules governing
00:35 travel expenses during election campaigns. The report details three trips Mr Gunner took
00:42 during the 2020 election campaign to remote communities, which cost the taxpayer over
00:48 $14,000. The trips were entered into Mr Gunner's diary as visits to polling booths, but the
00:55 ICAC report says his offers tacked on extra duties and so technically counted as ministerial
01:01 travel. That money is being paid by taxes to govern the Northern Territory, not to spend
01:06 on political campaigns using resources such as Michael Gunner did. We've waited two and
01:11 a half years for him to make a determination, which is clearly not a determination at all,
01:17 which makes me question the value of ICAC. In a statement, Michael Gunner noted the ICAC
01:22 made no adverse findings against him and welcomed greater clarity around the rules. There was
01:29 ambiguity and I believe people want to do the right thing. It took the anti-corruption
01:33 watchdog three years to hand down its report into Michael Gunner's travel. Many are asking
01:39 why. But there's more to come, with the anti-corruption commissioner also foreshadowing he'll be handing
01:45 down a second report by the middle of this year into allegations Mr Gunner used his office
01:51 for campaign activities during the 2020 contest.
01:54 [BLANK_AUDIO]