NAAJA deputy chair Colleen Rosas defends Aboriginal legal service amid financial audits, instability

NAAJA has experienced ongoing instability in recent years. (ABC News: Ian Redfearn)

The deputy chair of one of Australia's major Aboriginal legal services has defended its ability to deliver services amid multiple audits, executive resignations, the domestic violence history of its chair, and an impending federal court decision.

The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) has experienced a period of instability in recent years and is currently the subject of two separate NT government audits into its handling of federal government funding.

Earlier this month, the NT Department of Attorney-General and Justice said it was undertaking an audit of NAAJA's 2022-23 finances in a bid to recoup $2.69 million in unspent funds, a figure which NAAJA disputes.

The group manager of the federal National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA), Bridgette Bellenger, also revealed in Senate estimates this week that a broader audit of NAAJA's finances was underway, led by the Northern Territory government.

Ms Bellenger said the broader audit was expected to be completed in the second half of this year.

"We do have some concerns around how they keep their money and look after it," Ms Bellenger told estimates.

Former NAAJA chairperson and current deputy chair Colleen Rosas said NAAJA was working to address the issues raised by the NIAA.

But Ms Rosas said the board had rejected requests from NIAA and the NT government to directly observe NAAJA's board meetings.

"We welcome [NIAA] to come and present to the board, we don't feel it's up to them to come and sit in our board meetings," she said.

"We're Aboriginal people, we've been educated, we've got qualifications, we don't need public servants telling us what to do."

NAAJA is to receive almost $16 million of federal funding in 2024-25, a spokesperson from the NT Department of Attorney-General and Justice said.

Eligibility of board members under question

During Senate estimates this week, Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle said it was unclear on regulator ASIC's website who NAAJA's board directors currently are.

"We don't know who the current directors are, and therefore we don't even know their eligibility under the legislation," she said.

In response, Ms Bellenger said NIAA didn't have the power to remove the board.

"We have written to the parties that can take that action to work through the validity of board members," Ms Bellenger said.

According to Ms Rosas, a NAAJA annual general meeting — where board members are elected — was postponed from December last year to this July because the 19 members that attended the December meeting fell short of the 20 required to meet quorum.

Senator Malarndirri McCarthy told Senate estimates there could be attempts made by the NT and federal government to sack NAAJA's board.

"The attorney-general at the Commonwealth level and the Indigenous Australians minister have met with the Northern Territory attorney-general to express our deep concern and frustration with what's happening at NAAJA," she said.

"I understand there will be decisions made around many of these issues that are being raised here, but in particular the question around the board."

Ms Rosas said the board had informed ASIC about the postponement of its AGM and was confident in the board's ability to meet the requirements of NAAJA's constitution.

Agency unable to recruit permanent chief executive

Ms Rosas said NAAJA's long running unfair dismissal case, brought by former chief executive Priscilla Atkins, had also left the agency unable to recruit a long-term chief executive.

The federal court is expected to rule on the matter on Thursday.

"It's out of our control because we're in the middle of a Federal Court case, and there was an injunction against us, so we haven't been able to advertise that position," Ms Rosas said.

Former deputy chief executive Leeanne Caton is the latest of four executives to depart the agency since the dispute reached the courts, announcing her resignation to the board last week.

The NAAJA board's appointment this year of Hugh Woodbury as chair has also been criticised by both levels of government, after it was revealed that he was convicted of violently assaulting his partner in 2020.

The agency has also seen a mass exodus of legal and administrative staff across its Darwin and Alice Springs offices in the past year, leading to a suspension of frontline legal services in Alice Springs between November and February.