ICAC co-ordinating ‘response’ into Mulka vote count stuff up, Ken Fleming QC confirms

THE Northern Territory’s peak corruption watchdog has revealed it is co-ordinating a ‘response’ into the voting stuff up that occurred in the marginal seat of Mulka.

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THE Northern Territory’s peak corruption watchdog has revealed it is co-ordinating a 'response' into the voting stuff up that occurred in the marginal seat of Mulka.

The NT News can also reveal the Independent Commissioner against Corruption received a total of 21 reports of alleged improper conduct relating to last month’s Territory election.

ICAC commissioner Ken Fleming QC said those reports ranged from “trivial” to “matters that are serious”.

One of the 21 reports was in relation to “errors made during the initial vote count” in the Nhlunbuy-based seat of Mulka, which has more than likely been retained by Independent MLA Yingiya Guyula.

This is the first time the ICAC has confirmed it is looking into the stuff up that happened in that seat after the NT Electoral Commission last week revealed it had undertaken a recheck of votes in Mulka after two vote recording errors were discovered.

According to the NTEC the vote figures at Nhulunbuy voting centre on Saturday had been attributed to the wrong candidates, so the count attributed to Mr Guyula was meant for Labor’s Lynne Walker and vice versa.

“The recording errors were discovered part-way through yesterday afternoon’s recheck of the division after the ballots had been transferred to the Darwin Scrutiny Centre,” the NTEC said in a statement.

“There were no scrutineers from either party at the Darwin Scrutiny Centre at the time, therefore the recheck was suspended.”

Since that time, the issue has been escalated to the ICAC.

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Mr Fleming QC, under his ICAC powers, is able to co-ordinate a 'response' if multiple bodies, like the NTEC or Court of Disputed Returns, has jurisdiction over the matter.

“The Electoral Commissioner is aware of these errors and is addressing them. The Electoral Commissioner has responsibility for the statutory process dealing with election returns, and I will not interfere in the statutory process,” he said.

“I note that that the Court of Disputed Returns has jurisdiction over disputes regarding the validity of the election of any person.

“Pursuant to my obligation to co-ordinate a response to allegations of improper conduct where multiple entities are involved, I have co-ordinated a response in relation to the Mulka count and will keep interested parties informed.”

Mr Fleming QC also confirmed he had closed a number of matters regarding improper conduct while others had been forwarded on to the NTEC commissioner Iain Loganathan as the “appropriate entity to deal with those matters”.

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“I continue to carefully assess allegations of suspected improper conduct to determine if they are within my jurisdiction and can be substantiated. In order to give the public confidence in the integrity of the 2020 Territory Election, I will prioritise serious matters which may impact on the outcome in any Division,” he said.

“In order to carefully assess all allegations of improper conduct, I require those with knowledge of suspected improper conduct to provide material that relates to their allegation. Such communication, and the persons who provide it, are protected by the ICAC Act, unless the person taking the action knows or believes the information is misleading.”

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