Deputy breaches rules
DEPUTY Chief Minister Nicole Manison has apologised after being pictured at a Parliament House ceremony without a mask, in an apparent breach of the chief health officer’s directions.
People who have had Covid-19 must wear a mask in public for seven days after leaving quarantine when they cannot physically distance from people outside.
But in pictures posted to Ms Manison’s Facebook page, she is shown smiling
within arm’s reach of other attendees for a commemoration to mark 50 years since the acknowledgment of the Larrakia Petition.
Earlier in the day, she was pictured wearing a mask at a school assembly.
On Friday March 11, Ms Manison took to Facebook to announce she had contracted Covid-19 along with her family.
“We are all doing well and managing it at home,” she said.
The Larrakia ceremony was one week later, on Friday, March 18.
In response to questions from the NT News, a spokeswoman for Ms Manison said she “removed her mask for a short period of time to deliver a speech and for a photo”.
“Minister Manison takes CHO directions seriously and offers her unreserved apology,” the spokeswoman said.
Presented with the pictures, Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro accused the Deputy Chief Minister of breaching her own government’s Covid rules.
“Not only was the Minister a no-show on radio so she could escape scrutiny over the
Rolfe trial – which is her direct responsibility as Police Minister – but she breached her own government’s Covid rules on her first day out of quarantine by not wearing a mask,” Ms Finocchiaro said.
The CLP leader was referring to no government ministers appearing on Katie Woolf’s radio segment The Week That Was last week.
Ms Woolf told listeners of her Friday program the only other time a minister had not been available for the segment was the week of the Turf Club ICAC report in 2021.
The government has gone to ground in recent days amid growing pressure to explain key questions around the Rolfe trial.
Constable Zach Rolfe was charged with murder over the shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker in 2019.
A Supreme Court verdict found Constable Rolfe not guilty last week.
The government has faced questions over whether there was any political interference over the decision to charge the police officer, an allegation the government has strenuously denied.