<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>339964</docID> <postdate>2025-03-09 06:57:39</postdate> <headline>Top cop given his marching orders</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-339965" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/20250106118760560213-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="610" /></p> <caption>NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro says Michael Murphy's position has become untenable. (A)manda Parkinson/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Andrea Hayward</strong></span></p> <p><strong>The Northern Territory's top cop has been given his marching orders after a jobs-for-mates scandal uncovered by a corruption watchdog. </strong></p> <p>NT Police Commissioner Michael Murphy outed himself as the subject of an ICAC investigation.</p> <p>It found improper and unsatisfactory conduct against an unnamed public official who had mismanaged a conflict of interest in the recruitment of a senior officer.</p> <p>The ICAC report revealed that in early 2024, Mr Murphy had sat on a panel that hired one of their friends.</p> <p>NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said Mr Murphy's position had become untenable.</p> <p>"Today, I informed Commissioner Murphy he has lost the confidence of the government," Ms Finocchiaro said in a statement on Saturday night.</p> <p>"I gave Commissioner Murphy the opportunity to resign.</p> <p>"The police commissioner was asked to go on leave effective immediately."</p> <p>Martin Dole has been appointed as the acting police commissioner.</p> <p>"I have now begun the process to terminate the appointment of the police commissioner," the chief minister said.</p> <p>Mr Murphy came under pressure to resign after ICAC labelled his conduct "negligent and incompetent".</p> <p>"I found that the conduct involved negligence and incompetence…  result(ing) in a substantial detriment to the public interest," Delegate for the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Patricia Kelly SC said in a public statement.</p> <p>The Northern Territory Police Association had called for Mr Murphy to resign, saying its members' trust has been destroyed and they will "not forget this betrayal".</p> <p>"Our members are fed up with the lack of integrity shown and question the commissioner's ability to remain in his position," NTPA president Nathan Finn said on Friday.</p> <p>On Thursday, Mr Murphy admitted that the findings related to a recruitment process he had chaired, and he accepted that he "should have dealt better with a conflict of interest, a friendship and a referee report in relation to an appointee".</p> <p>"On reflection, I should have managed the friendship and the conflict of interest to a higher standard and on at least one occasion should have recused myself from the appointment process in order to ensure community confidence," he said.</p> </body>