All potential conflicts of interest ‘sorted’, money repaid: NLC boss

NORTHERN Land Council interim CEO Jak Ah Kit says all potential conflict of interest issues have now been ‘sorted out’

Former Northern Land Council member Paul Henwood speaks with police after being kicked out of the Northern Land Council briefing on Thursday. Picture: Katrina Bridgeford

NORTHERN Land Council interim chief executive Jak Ah Kit says all potential conflict of interest issues within the organisation have now been “sorted out”.

Speaking outside a “briefing” of the full council before Friday’s official meeting, Mr Ah Kit said any money loaned to NLC directors had all been paid back.

“There are companies, there are boards that will provide from time to time, small loans to some of its members in an emergency — I’m not saying that’s happened in this case but probably,” he said.

“It’s not unique as long as the matter is sorted out and the money is repaid so I believe that’s all happened.”

Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion called the meeting following an internal audit which investigated alleged conflicts of interest involving NLC executive council members who were also directors of the Aboriginal Investment Group.

But Mr Ah Kit said that issue had also been “sorted out” and loans between the two organisation were “all above board”.

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“The AIG has had a clean bill of health with their audits and that's not a problem at this stage,” he said.

“Yes AIG received $4 million, I believe that was spent wisely and appropriately in supporting things that they do in terms of assisting Aboriginal organisations.”

Former full council member Paul Henwood was booted out of the meeting early with the help of police after being removed from his position on the Darwin Daly Wagait regional council last month.

“I allowed him to come in and present his case, which is fair, then I said ‘It still stands that you are no longer a member and you need to leave the meeting’ and he said ‘Well I’m not going’ so I got management to ring the police,” Mr Ah Kit said.

“You might have sour grapes about it but the fact of the matter is your not a member and therefore you’re not entitled to be in the room.”

No further action was taken against Mr Henwood, who has been a vocal critic of the NLC’s executive since the sacking of former CEO Joe Morrison in November.

Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, Darwin West representative James Sing said members “need to have some serious questions answered” and called for a “forensic audit of the organisation, its subsidiaries and associated entities”.

Mr Sing said if the NLC was unable to get its house in order its very existence would be under threat.

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“(The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission) was a statutory body that misappropriated funds and (had) bad governance and it was shut down — nothing stopping the government shutting down the NLC if we don’t demonstrate that we’re capable of monitoring and maintaining good governance,” he said.

“If they can use it as a mechanism to dismantle us, who says they won’t take advantage of it?”

Meanwhile, Mr Ah Kit said it was possible a member would call for a spill of the executive before the end of Friday’s meeting but it would be unlikely to succeed.

“If the chairman wants to authorise it and say ‘Well if you’ve got the support and you want to move a motion of no confidence in either myself or the deputy-chairman well you go for it because you won’t have the numbers’,” he said.

The executive council began interviewing for a permanent CEO to replace Mr Ah Kit this week, but on Thursday he confirmed a final decision had been deferred until later this month.