‘Not a shred of evidence’ of cocaine sex scandal, Gunner tells fiery first question time of parliamentary year
IN a fiery first question time of the parliamentary year, Chief Minister Michael Gunner has said there is ‘not a shred of evidence’ to back up claims by the CLP of an alleged cocaine sex scandal within Labor’s ranks
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CHIEF Minister Michael Gunner says there is “not a shred of evidence” to back up claims by the CLP that members of his parliamentary team and staff had been implicated in an alleged cocaine sex scandal within Labor’s ranks.
In a fiery first question time of the parliamentary year, Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro asked Mr Gunner to deny if “the people involved in the Labor cocaine sex scandal” were “members of your parliamentary team and staff”.
Mr Gunner, for a third straight day, has refused to acknowledge the allegations, calling it “internet gossip”.
“The (CLP has) elevated internet gossip to debate, and they have done it without any shred of evidence,” he said.
“If (the CLP) have evidence of the allegation, they should put it on the record ... whatever evidence you have, take it to the police and I will support you in doing that”.
The NT News sent specific questions to NT Police about the matter and asked whether the Special References Unit was looking into the allegations.
The NT News asked if an investigation was now open and “that the concern is about those involved ... being vulnerable to acts of blackmail or otherwise?”
NT Police media director Rob Cross responded: “NT Police won’t be commenting.”
Mr Gunner also described the Opposition’s line of questioning as Ms Finocchiaro’s “Godwin Grech moment”, in reference to the 2009 Utegate email forgery scandal that ultimately resulted in Mr Grech’s resignation from the Commonwealth public service.
News of the alleged scandal within NT Labor’s ranks was first reported in the Bushranger column in the Sunday Territorian.
The NT News can confirm it has seen text messages sent between the people involved in the alleged scandal and confirmed the veracity of the incident with multiple sources.
It is understood the incident occurred on NT election night last year and that one of the people involved sent pictures of certain body parts to another.
Ms Finocchiaro, during question time, slammed Mr Gunner for failing to address the allegations or investigate them, arguing he had an obligation not to mislead Territorians and that Mr Gunner had once said “open government is not only the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do”.
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