The Northern Territory chief minister holds undisclosed shares in a company that owns a manganese mine in a remote community where locals have for years called for government testing on the mine’s health impact.
Key points:
- The chief minister has a small shareholding in South32
- The company owns Gemco, a remote manganese mine
- The NT opposition says the chief minister needs to answer questions over the issue
Chief Minister Natasha Fyles, who has also been the NT Health Minister since 2016, holds shares in the company South32, which owns the world’s largest manganese mine, GEMCO, on Groote Eylandt.
Ms Fyles has not disclosed her holding of 754 shares, worth under $2,500, on any of her published public disclosures.
The shares were listed in Ms Fyles’s name on May 24, 2015.
The shareholding, first revealed on Monday morning by the NT Independent, was confirmed by the ABC with South32’s share registry.
Ms Fyles did not respond to the ABC’s request for comment by deadline.
Northern Territory Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro said Ms Fyles should step down if she owned shares in the company.
“Natasha Fyles is clearly putting herself in a position where she does not hold the trust of the community,” she said.
“She’s made very serious decision not to investigate clear health issues in [Groote Eylandt] and yet at the same time has failed to disclose her financial interest in [South32].
“If today’s information is true around her shareholding that hasn’t been disclosed her position is very clearly untenable and she needs to step down.
“Natasha Fyles needs to come forward today and clear the air on this issue and be honest with Territorians.”
Clancy Moore, the chief executive of the Australian branch of Transparency International, a prominent public integrity body, said Ms Fyles’s shareholding presented issues relating to financial disclosure and the government’s official conflict-of-interest guidelines.
“As the health minister since 2016, there is a possible conflict of interest arising due to the affected community’s demands for action in relation to alleged health impacts related to the mine,” he said.
“The situation clearly also raises a red flag as to why the share ownership does not appear to be disclosed on the Northern Territory’s required disclosure records for elected members.”
The confirmation of the shareholding comes after Ms Fyles last month faced pressure over her ownership of about $5,400 in shares in gas company Woodside, which she later divested.
Last month the NT opposition claimed Ms Fyles had breached the NT ministerial code of conduct by owning the Woodside shares, which Ms Fyles denies.
Following the scrutiny, Ms Fyles made repeated assurances she had declared all her financial interests correctly and promptly as per the Northern Territory’s legislated disclosures of interests requirements.
“You have to declare everything … [and] you have to declare every single potential conflict,” Ms Fyles said last month.
“And so I ensure that I do that and keep the registry up to date … then the public can see and also we can manage those conflicts … they are well listed and have been on the parliamentary members register of interest since the moment I entered parliament.”
Residents’ concerns over mine dust
Locals in the Aboriginal community of Groote Eylandt have held serious concerns about, and called on the NT government to investigate, the health impacts of the mine’s manganese dust particles after studies found high levels of the heavy metal in hair and nail samples of residents.
Earlier this year Ms Fyles said the government would not investigate air pollution levels or health impacts following requests from the community and that there was adequate monitoring already in place.
“In terms of the mine on Groote Eylandt that has been in the community for a very long time, we make sure that there is the highest standards in terms of both environmental and public health,” she said at the time.
“What I can say across the Northern Territory there is strong regulation, there is strong monitoring … we do sometimes see naturally occurring issues.”
In March, former Groote Eylandt community member Angela Wurramara told the ABC she was highly concerned about the mine’s health impact, noting the asthma of children in her family seemed to flare on the island.
At the time she said she was disappointed the government would not be investigating the concerns.
“Government needs to step in, really. My people need reassessment on their health, and a lot of them are afraid to speak up as well,” she said.
Code of conduct, conflict of interest concerns
Mr Moore said Ms Fyles would potentially need to reconcile her shareholding with the Northern Territory Ministerial Code of Conduct that stated: “Ministers must divest themselves completely of all shareholdings … that may create a conflict of interest as a result of their portfolio responsibility”.
“The fact the chief minister has not divested the shares in the mining company while also being the health minister could be in breach of the code,” he said.
“Ideally, elected members and particularly cabinet members should also disclose all potential conflicts of interests in a proactive manner.”
The Northern Territory’s legislated Disclosures of Interests Act states that elected members must disclose all interests upon election or re-election to parliament.
The act states that an elected member is in contempt of the legislative assembly if they “knowingly give false of misleading information to the clerk in relation to registrable interests”.
Last week an independent Northern Territory MLA referred Ms Fyles to the Northern Territory’s Independent Commissioner Against Corruption over two matters he alleged relate to “potential conflicts of interest”.
Mr Turner’s referral raised concerns about a political advisor of Ms Fyles who is the co-owner of a lobbying firm that has gas company Tamboran Resources, which has a major stake in large-scale gas export projects in the Northern Territory, as a registered client.