Cunningham: NAAJA apology should be to clients, not just Priscilla Atkins

As far as apologies go, they don’t come much more comprehensive than the one delivered this week by the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency to its chief executive officer Priscilla Atkins, writes Matt Cunningham.

Colleen Rosas. Photograph: Che Chorley

As far as apologies go, they don’t come much more comprehensive than the one delivered this week by the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency to its chief executive officer Priscilla Atkins.

The apology was published on NAAJA’s website, and despite running under the headline “media release”, was not sent out to the media.

That task was left to former staff still smarting at the demise of the organisation they were once proud to work for, that has been reduced to an embarrassing mess over the past two years.

The statement said NAAJA apologised “without reservation” to Ms Atkins, and that it unequivocally accepted the decision of the Federal Court, which in June found the organisation had unlawfully suspended and then sacked Ms Atkins as its CEO.

North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency chief executive Priscilla Atkins leaves the Federal Court where she is suing NAAJA over an employment dispute. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

The events that led to Ms Atkins unlawful sacking, as detailed in the judgement of Justice Natalie Charlesworth, are extraordinary.

In November 2022, according to the court, Ms Atkins had raised allegations of corruption against NAAJA’s chief financial officer, Madhur Evans, with NAAJA’s board.

NAAJA’s then chair, and current board member, Colleen Rosas, subsequently accused Ms Atkins of forging her signature on a document awarding her a salary increase, and of altering board minutes to have the same affect.

Ms Atkins was then suspended and later sacked.

But Justice Charlesworth, in deeming Ms Atkins’ dismissal unlawful, found Ms Rosas to be an unreliable witness and said her evidence was “dubious”, “implausible” and “startling and unconvincing in equal measure”.

It might have been wise at this point to back down.

That’s not what happened.

Instead, after the judgement was delivered in June, NAAJA issued a statement which said it “maintains a strong view that the board was justified in its decision to seek to terminate the employment of the former CEO and, as a result, we are surprised and disappointed by today’s decision”.

Ms Rosas subsequently launched defamation proceedings against Ms Atkins that have since been withdrawn.

And now, almost five months on, NAAJA has issued Ms Atkins an apology and conceded it “unequivocally accepts the findings made by the court”.

“NAAJA sincerely hopes to move forward from the events of the past two years in a professional and co-operative way with Ms Atkins for the benefit of Ms Atkins, NAAJA and the community that NAAJA proudly serves,” its statement said.

I’m sure it would like to move on.

NAAJA offices in January 2024.

But the apology has raised even more questions that nobody seems to want to answer. NAAJA’s acting CEO Anthony Beven – the sixth since Ms Atkins unlawful sacking – Ms Rosas and Federal Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, did not return calls or respond to requests for further comment this week.

But if NAAJA now accepts the court’s findings, it follows that it agrees Ms Rosas gave “dubious”, “implausible”, “startling” and “unconvincing” evidence while under oath.

Yet she remains on NAAJA’s board. How is this possible?

Darwin barrister John Lawrence SC, a former principal legal officer at NAAJA and head of the NT Criminal Lawyers Association, said heads needed to roll.

“They should all be sacked,” he said of the NAAJA board.

“Concomitant with such an announcement one would expect that they would resign en-masse, but of course they haven’t.”

The apology also said Ms Atkins remained NAAJA’s CEO. How does this work?

Can she just walk back into the office on Monday and resume business as usual?

According to LinkedIn, Madhur Evans, the subject of Ms Atkins’ initial allegations, remains NAAJA’s chief financial officer.

While this circus continues, the chaos at NAAJA continues to cause havoc with the NT’s justice system.

Mr Lawrence says: “They’re apologising and grovelling to Priscilla Atkins, they should be grovelling and apologising to the clients that they’ve abandoned and their families, including children detained in Don Dale.”