Priscilla Atkins, NAAJA to again face off in Darwin court in four-day hearing in December

Lawyers for the North Australian Aboriginal Legal Agency and its chief executive will meet again in court after it was ruled Priscilla Atkins was unfairly dismissed.

North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency chief executive Priscilla Atkins outside the Federal Court in Darwin during the trial in November last year. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Lawyers for Priscilla Atkins and the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency will again cross swords in Darwin in December to hash out restitution for her unlawful sacking.

Federal Court Justice Natalie Charlesworth handed down her ruling in the bitter, long running dispute last week, finding NAAJA had failed to demonstrate it had not moved to sack Ms Atkins for exercising her workplace rights.

On Thursday, Justice Charlesworth set down the four-day relief hearing starting on December 9, including three days of evidence and one day set aside for submissions.

Justice Charlesworth said the originally requested three days might be “a bit optimistic”, given “I will need to hear from you in terms of submissions for at least a day of that (and) I don’t know what the scope of the evidence might be”.

“I will, of course, attend in Darwin to hear evidence there personally but it just depends on the scope of issues in dispute,” she said.

“They might be numerous and require evidence, including on the question of quantification of any penalty (and) on the status of any employment relationship as opposed to monetary award.”

Ms Atkins’ barrister Malcolm Harding SC agreed that “four days is a more realistic estimate”.

“It’s difficult for us because we don’t know the full extent of the affidavit material that we’ll be relying on,” he said.

Priscilla Atkins’ barrister Malcolm Harding SC said he would identify the relief sought by the end of next week. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

“I thought that might be a matter for us to identify the relief that we would seek to give effect to your reasons.

“I’m happy to provide the respondent with our proposal in advance but in the end it’s our application.”

Justice Charlesworth previously found Ms Atkins had exercised a recognised workplace right in making a complaint against NAAJA chief financial officer Madhur Evans in November 2022.

In subsequently suspending and then terminating Ms Atkins’ employment, as well as commissioning an external audit of her alleged “misconduct”, Justice Charlesworth ruled NAAJA had breached the Fair Work Act.

“The court has accepted Ms Atkins’ argument that the resolution for her termination was not made in compliance with NAAJA’s constitution,” she said.

“NAAJA’s argument that the resolution was valid notwithstanding that noncompliance is rejected.

“The consequence is that the purported dismissal of Ms Atkins could not be legally effective.”

Justice Charlesworth also found NAAJA’s deputy chairwoman Colleen Rosas gave evidence under oath that was “dubious”, “implausible” and both “startling and unconvincing in equal measure”.