NAAJA board took ‘taxpayer-funded trip’ after court case

The board of Australia’s largest Aboriginal justice service chose to stay in Darwin on a taxpayer-funded trip for a week after they testified in a Federal Court spat engulfing the embattled agency.

NAAJA Acting CEO Darryl Pearce.

The board of Australia’s largest Aboriginal justice service allegedly defied legal advice and chose to stay in Darwin on a taxpayer-funded trip for a week after they testified in a Federal Court spat engulfing the embattled agency, as former employees join growing calls that the organisation’s executive be overthrown.

The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency is now at risk of losing $20m per year in government funding following revelations, published in The Australian last week, that vulnerable Aboriginal people accused of crimes in one of Australia’s most dangerous criminal jurisdictions, Alice Springs, are being forced to represent themselves due to staff leaving the organisation in droves.

For the first time since this masthead revealed allegations of corruption tearing apart the organisation and forcing the mass exodus of staff, NAAJA’s former acting chief executive Olga Havnen has broken her silence, saying the board does not possess “high level skills” and needs to be removed immediately.

“The board has struggled to deal effectively with strategic and risk challenges facing NAAJA,” she told The Australian.

Ms Havnen has called for an updated membership structure, immediate changes to the senior leadership team and an entirely new board.

“There are no independent non-member directors and I don’t believe that directors have the requisite high level skills, knowledge or expertise necessary for ensuring appropriate oversight of management and operations of a large complex organisation,” she said.

“They simply do not understand what is necessary for good corporate governance.”

Ms Havnen resigned as acting CEO in November last year after just three months in the role, claiming that her personal integrity would be compromised if she remained with the organisation.

In a letter to the board indicating her desire to resign, obtained exclusively by The Australian, Ms Havnen blasted the board for remaining in Darwin for an additional week after testifying in the Federal Court case between former chief executive Priscilla Atkins and NAAJA.

“NAAJA’s legal representatives in the Federal Court matter have spelt out very clearly to you that the decision to remain in Darwin for another week raises serious implications for the current actions of some directors in terms of attendance at court, talking to witnesses, and potentially poses a very real risk of jeopardising the outcome of the current legal proceedings,” she wrote in the letter, which was also provided to NT government officials.

“NAAJA has already spent more than $400,000 on legal fees to date and it is critical that directors follow the legal advice they have been given.”

Ms Havnen, in the letter, said the board were engaging in “unjustified and unnecessary expenditure” in choosing to stay in Darwin after they had given evidence, in order to hold a meeting one week later.

“I have given clear advice that is not necessary nor desirable for directors to stay on in Darwin for the purpose of holding a board meeting because to do so could also be perceived to be a self-indulgent expenditure of NAAJA funds and not a decision taken in the best interests of the organisation,” she wrote.

“This would be compounded by the significant cost likely to be incurred in costs covering Travelling Allowance, additional accommodation costs and reimbursement of some directors for loss of salary/income.

“I have on several occasions proposed that a board meeting could be convened by Teams to consider matters for decision with a face-to-face board meeting to be held in early December 2023.

“In my view, the decision to hold a Board meeting in Darwin later this week despite legal advice not to proceed due to the risk of witnesses and their evidence being tainted, as well as the significant cost and potential criticism of the Board for incurring significant unjustified expenditure of NAAJA funds, leaves me as Acting CEO in an untenable position despite my loyalty and continuing commitment to the organisation.”

Colleen Rosas.

Priscilla Atkins.

The revelations follow extensive reporting in The Australian about explosive claims of corruption, fraud, bullying and drug use within the NAAJA, including allegations that former CEO Ms Atkins, and current CFO Madhur Evans and chair Colleen Rosas misused thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds.

Amid these allegations, dozens of staff have left the organisation, leaving it chronically short-staffed and forcing a shutdown of legal operations in Alice Springs late last year.

Acting CEO Darryl Pearce told The Australian last week he was not “100 per cent sure” when NAAJA operations would be wholly functional again, but said it would be April at the absolute earliest.

Former NAAJA senior lawyer John Lawrence SC told The Australian the organisation’s executive team needs to be “hosed out”.

“(The Northern Territory) is a vacuum for Aboriginal people into jail. They require the best, most professional, most robust representation around,” he said.

“They require the best because they are the most vulnerable and exposed and marginalised, and they get almost the opposite of that now. That’s because for over a decade, NAAJA has been grossly mismanaged by people who are not up to the task, not qualified and are busy pursuing their self interests.”

NAAJA is currently receiving $83m over a five-year period from the National Legal Assistance Partnership (NLAP), which is helmed by the federal government.

However, the federal Attorney-General’s department earlier this week announced it had altered arrangements for the NAAJA, allowing the NT government to redirect funding to other organisations.

If this occurs, NAAJA will be provided with advanced notice of that intention and given the opportunity to make submissions as to why the NT government should not redirect the funding.

NT chief minister Eva Lawler on Thursday morning told reporters there was a possibility that the funding might be redistributed to organisations such as Legal Aid.

“The main focus is around … some of our Territorians who need legal representation,” she said. “This is public money, it needs to be spent in the right place.”

Chair Ms Rosas and Acting CEO Mr Pearce did not respond to The Australian’s request for comment.