New acting Treaty Commissioner appointed after admin bungle delays appointment

Aboriginal barrister Tony McAvoy has been appointed acting Treaty Commissioner while an admin bungle means a permanent replacement won’t be appointed until next year, after former commissioner Mick Dodson resigned in June.

UPDATED WEDNESDAY 7.30PM:

ACTING Treaty Commissioner Tony McAvoy SC will not start work until January 1, more than six months after his predecessor resigned and just two months before the Commission’s final report is due.

Mr McAvoy, a prominent Aboriginal barrister, was quietly sworn in as the acting commissioner yesterday.

He did not attend the ceremony in person as he is yet to arrive in the Territory.

The Northern Territory has been without a Treaty Commissioner since June 11, when former Australian of the Year Mick Dodson resigned following allegations he had verbally abused Aboriginal women.

The Government is unable to appoint a permanent replacement for Professor Dodson due to an issue with how it drafted legislation for the Treaty Commission.

That legislation refers specifically to Professor Dodson holding the position until March 3, 2022, when the final report is due.

The blunder meant the Government had to appoint an acting commissioner.

But after failing to call for expressions of interest for more than four months after Professor Dodson’s resignation, it was then forced to rush Mr McAvoy’s appointment as the Act also states the office cannot be without a Commissioner for more than six months.

With that deadline due to expire on Saturday, the Government organised a virtual swearing-in with Mr McAvoy yesterday.

He attended the event with Adminstrator Vicki O’Halloran via video link at 8:30am yesterday. Media were not invited to attend.

Despite being sworn in yesterday, Mr McAvoy will not begin work until January 1.

Although he is starting the job more than six months after Professor Dodson resigned, a spokesman for Treaty Minister Selena Uibo said the Government had not breached the Act.

“The Acting Treaty Commissioner has been appointed within the required timeframe and his appointment commences from his swearing in today,” she said.

But the Government said Mr McAvoy would not begin being paid until he begins work on January 1. At first the Government said his six-month contract would run from December 8 until June 8 next year. But it later revised that information, saying he would be paid from January 1 until June 30, 2022.

The Government would not say how much Mr McAvoy is being paid.

Central Land Council chief executive Lesley Turner welcomed Mr McAvoy’s appointment.

“Mr McAvoy is an inspired choice to progress an NT treaty,” he said.

“His work as co-senior counsel with the Royal Commission into Youth Detention in the NT has given him an excellent insight into the barriers that are stacked against Aboriginal Territorians from a very young age.

“He understands the need for a fundamentally different approach to child protection as it relates to our children, who are still being imprisoned at record rates.

“A lifetime of working in the legal and government sectors as a Wirdi man have prepared him for settling the unfinished business between our peoples and the NT Government.”

WEDNESDAY UPDATE: ANadministrative bungle means the Northern Territory will not appoint a permanent Treaty Commissioner to replace Mick Dodson before the commission hands down its final report next year.

Professor Dodson resigned in June after it was revealed he had been accused of verbally abusing Aboriginal women at events in Darwin and Alice Springs.

Last month the government quietly sought expressions of interest for an “acting commissioner” to fill the position.

The NT News understands prominent Queensland Aboriginal barrister Tony McAvoy SC will be sworn in as the acting commissioner on Wednesday.

Mr McAvoy worked as counsel assisting on the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the NT.

The government has been unable to appoint a permanent replacement because the Treaty Commissioner Act was written specifically for Prof Dodson.

The Act states: “Michael James Dodson … is taken to be the Treaty Commissioner appointed under this Act on the commencement until 3 March 2022.”

Despite being without a commissioner since June 11, Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the treaty process was still on track. “It would be fair to say we might, if we had time, revisit those sorts of things. It is the Act, (and) we’re working to the Act,” Mr Gunner said.

“I did not foresee the situation that has happened, happening.

“I think there was a body of work that was meant to happen over essentially a couple of years and then a step change in how we handled Treaty, that got interrupted and we’ve got to complete the dots.”

The government faced a race against time to appoint an acting commissioner or risk being in breach of the Act.

The Act states the office of the Treaty Commissioner cannot be vacant for more than six months. It will be six months on Saturday since Professor Dodson resigned.

The appointment requires agreement from the Northern Territory’s four major land councils.

Deputy Commissioner Ursula Raymond cannot be the acting commissioner as the Act excludes anyone who has been affiliated with a political party in the past five years.

Ms Raymond is a former Labor government staffer who sought Senate preselection for the ALP in 2016.

Former Aboriginal Affairs minister Ken Vowles also expressed interest in the position after Professor Dodson’s resignation, but was told he was ineligible because of his previous affiliation with the ALP.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON: AN administrative bungle means the Northern Territory will not appoint a permanent Treaty Commissioner to replace Mick Dodson before the commission hands down its final report next year.

Professor Dodson resigned in June after it was revealed he had been accused of verbally abusing Aboriginal women at events in Darwin and Alice Springs.

Last month the government quietly sought expressions of interest for an “acting commissioner” to fill the position.

It has been unable to appoint a permanent replacement because the Treaty Commissioner Act was written specifically for Professor ­Dodson.

The Act states: “Michael James Dodson … is taken to be the Treaty Commissioner appointed under this Act on the commencement until 3 March 2022.”

Despite being without a commissioner since June 11, Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the treaty process was still on track.

“It would be fair to say we might, if we had time, revisit those sorts of things. It is the Act, (and) we’re working to the Act,” he said.

“I did not foresee the situation that has happened, happening.

“I think there was a body of work that was meant to happen over essentially a couple of years and then a step change in how we handled Treaty, that got interrupted and we’ve got to complete the dots.”

The government now faces a race against time to appoint an acting commissioner or risk being in breach of the Act.

The Act states the office of the Treaty Commissioner cannot be vacant for more than six months. It will be six months on Saturday since Professor Dodson resigned.

The government closed its expressions of interest for the position on November 5, but is yet to announce an acting commissioner.

The appointment requires agreement from the Territory’s four major land councils.

Deputy Commissioner Ursula Raymond cannot be the acting commissioner as the Act excludes anyone who has been affiliated with a political party in the past five years.

Ms Raymond is a former Labor government staffer who sought Senate preselection for the ALP in 2016.

Mr Gunner on Tuesday said Ms Raymond had not acted as the Treaty Commissioner over the past six months, but that she and the office had continued to work on the treaty process.

Former Aboriginal affairs minister Ken Vowles also expressed interest in the position after Professor Dodson’s resignation but was told he was ineligible because of his previous affiliation with the ALP.

Originally published as New acting Treaty Commissioner appointed after admin bungle delays appointment