New acting Treaty Commissioner working on a fly-in fly-out basis

More information has been revealed about how the Territory’s new Acting Treaty Commissioner Tony McAvoy will complete the role.

THE Territory’s new acting Treaty Commissioner will be free to perform other work while he fills the role.

Sydney-based barrister Tony McAvoy SC will start in the role on January 1, more than six months after the resignation of Professor Mick Dodson and just two months before the Commission’s final report is due.

Mr McAvoy has been appointed acting Commissioner for six months but told the ABC last week he would be working on a fly-in, fly-out basis after he final report is delivered on March 3.

The NT Government was forced to appoint an acting commissioner as the Treaty Commission Act refers specifically to Prof Dodson filling the role.

The government has refused to reveal how much Mr McAvoy is being paid, saying his remuneration is “a private matter between the acting Treaty Commissioner and his employer”.

But Treaty Minister Selena Uibo has confirmed the terms of his contract allow him to perform other work while he is in the job.

“Mr McEvoy is an experienced professional and distinguished SC who is highly qualified to undertake the work of the Treaty Commissioner,” as spokesman for Ms Uibo said.

“The terms of his employment will allow him to do the work necessary to deliver the responsibilities of the Treaty Commissioner role.”

The Treaty Commission’s website has also been updated after the NT News revealed it still was still lavishing praise on Prof Dodson more than six months after he was forced to resign over allegations he had verbally abused and threatened Aboriginal women.

Youth Yindi Foundation chief executive and Garma Institute director Denise Bowden this week gave the NT News permission to reveal she was the woman who made the first complaint over allegations Prof Dodson had called her a “slut” and threatened to “knock your f***ing lights out” at a football game in Darwin in January.

Prof Dodson apologised and resigned as Treaty Commissioner on June 11. The Commission’s website was updated at the time to confirm he had left the role, but made no mention of why on a page that still described him as a “highly respected Aboriginal Advocate who has spent his life fighting for the rights and interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians”.

That page has now been removed and replaced with information about Mr McAvoy.

In part it says: “In 2015 (Mr McAvoy) was appointed as Senior Counsel, the first First Nations person to receive such an appointment,” it says.

“In 2016 he was appointed to the role of Co-Senior Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory (Don Dale).

“In 2018 he received the QUT Outstanding of the Year Award. He chairs various professional committees, is founding member of the First Nations Clean Energy Network, and interim Director of the newly established Queensland First Nations Tourism Council. He is member of the advisory board on the Climate Ready Initiative and a member of the Australian Academy of Law.

“He has given evidence at numerous parliamentary inquiries on various matters, and has spoken at a multitude of conferences on issues including First Nations over-incarceration, treaties and truth commissions, First Nations heritage protection, constitutional reform, human rights and climate change.”