Palmerston business owner Donna Roos in restraining order bid against Blain MLA Mark Turner

A Palmerston business owner and her local MLA are set to face off in court after she applied for a personal violence restraining order against him.

NT Handrails owner Donna Roos declined to participate in ‘shuttle mediation’ with Member for Blain Mark Turner. Picture: Floss Adams.

An application by a Palmerston business owner for a restraining order against her local MLA is headed for a contested court hearing after she declined an offer of mediation.

Anti-crime campaigner and NT Handrails owner Donna Roos has applied for a personal violence restraining order against Blain MLA and former cop Mark Turner.

But after Ms Roos was unable to attend a hearing in the Darwin Local Court on Tuesday, judicial registrar Leanne Gordon set the dispute down for a contested hearing in June.

“We have two things, one, a report from the community justice centre indicating that Ms Roos declined mediation, and then we have a communication via email from Ms Roos that she’s having some health issues,” she said.

“She says that at the current time, her health is her priority, which is a matter for her, and that she does need to attend to these matters and won’t be able to attend court.”

Ms Gordon said as Ms Roos had declined to participate in mediation, it was open to the court to order a stay of proceedings but if no hearing date was set, that could further delay any resolution.

“It might be that a stay, with liberty to apply, if neither party brings the matter back on and a passage of time passes, then it might be that your client achieves what he’s seeking to achieve without the need for a hearing,” she told Mr Turner’s lawyer, Luke Officer.

“That’s a potential outcome, but of course that’s crystal ball gazing because we don’t know what Ms Roos will do, she might bring it back on in March and then here you are in March looking for (hearing) dates in September.”

Member for Blain Mark Turner’s lawyer says he agreed to participate in mediation with Donna Roos before she cancelled. Picture Glenn Campbell

After taking instructions from Mr Turner, Mr Officer said it was his client’s preference to set a hearing date for next year on Tuesday and that a further attempt at mediation was “not appropriate”.

“As I understand it, she invited my client to do what they call a ‘shuttle mediation’ where there’s no face-to-face interaction, he agreed and she cancelled, so whether or not there’s going to be any attempt at mediation in future, I’d query,” he said.

“I made some detailed submissions last time as to the weakness of the applicant’s application, there’s been no further material since.”

Ms Roos made headlines last month after organising an anti-crime meeting in Palmerston before social media comments emerged that were attributed to her and containing racist comments.

When asked about the Facebook comments directly, Ms Roos would not deny that she wrote them.

“This is a crime meeting, not a racism meeting,” she said repeatedly at the time.

The application will return to court for a case management hearing in May. No criminal charges have been laid.