Natasha Fyles, Kate Worden to meet Jamie Chalker in court in legal stoush over top cop’s future

A dispute over the NT Police Commissioner’s future is headed for trial in the Supreme Court where his lawyers say they intend to cross examine cabinet ministers Natasha Fyles and Kate Worden.

Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker is seeking an order compelling Chief Minister Natasha Fyles to provide particulars of ‘four allegations’ made in a letter. Picture: Pema Tamang

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles could be forced to defend her decision to sack Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker under oath, as a legal stoush between the pair heads for trial early next month.

Mr Chalker has launched legal action against Ms Fyles and Police Minister Kate Worden to restrain them from recommending Administrator Hugh Heggie remove him from his post.

The lawsuit also seeks an order compelling Ms Fyles to provide particulars of “four allegations” made in a letter received by Mr Chalker on March 31, which the Supreme Court heard included a claim he had “asked the Australian Defence Force to go into Alice Springs”.

His barrister Arthur Moses SC told the court it was now conceded the allegation was wrong and may have “meant to refer to the federal police”, although that was also in dispute.

Mr Moses said talks between the two legal teams had so far failed to resolve the issues and the trial should be brought on as soon as possible, during which “there will be some cross examination of the first and second defendants”.

He said he had arranged for former West Australian Chief Justice Wayne Martin KC to mediate the dispute, but that that had been “resisted” by the government.

“I’m sure the defendants don’t like the spectacle of a public hearing in respect of these matters if the matter can be resolved between themselves, in both their interest, and the public interest,” he said.

In response, Solicitor-General Nikolai Christrup SC said the ministers’ representatives were prepared to engage in a settlement conference but the “sticking point” on mediation was a series of common law claims, including defamation.

“We received some correspondence … that those other four claims had to be dealt with as part of the mediation,” he said.

“They remain unarticulated, they are simply just assertions that they exist.”

In resisting a temporary injunction over any decision on Mr Chalker’s future, Mr Christrup said if the Commissioner was allowed to return to work when his leave is due to end on Wednesday “that’ll cause problems”.

“That, we say, is going to cause serious problems and potential detriment to the public interest, just because there needs to be trust and confidence between the minister and the Commissioner of Police,” he said.

But ultimately the parties agreed to a timetable that would see the substantive hearing commence in early May, until which time Mr Christrup said the ministers would not take any action to progress the sacking.

Justice John Reeves said he would not force the parties into mediation in the meantime “because of the public interest nature of at least one of the main, or central, issues in the proceeding”.

It is understood Mr Chalker will remain on leave until the hearing which was later set down in chambers for three days before Justice Judith Kelly on June 7.