National Indigenous Australians Agency to probe NAAJA funds
Australia’s top Indigenous Australians body, under the leadership of Linda Burney, is conducting an audit of the embattled legal service, citing concerns about possible misuse of taxpayer dollars.
Australia’s peak Indigenous Australians body is conducting a thorough audit of the embattled North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, citing concerns about how the legal service “looks after” the government funding it is provided.
Representatives from the National Indigenous Australians Agency, under the leadership of Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney, told a Senate committee on Tuesday it would probe whether NAAJA was using taxpayer funds “in line with the funding agreements”.
This follows explosive reports published in The Australian over the past year detailing serious allegations of corruption, fraud and drug use among senior NAAJA staff. The allegations are denied.
The Australian most recently revealed the NAAJA board appointed chairman Hugh Woodbury despite knowing he had assaulted his pregnant partner by standing on her stomach, slamming her arm in a door and pushing her to the ground.
NIAA group manager Bridgette Bellenger told the Senate committee on Tuesday the agency had implemented a grants controller at NAAJA to investigate its funding use.
“We actually have a professional body working within NAAJA around NIAA funding, and they had raised a number of concerns about their transparency (and) the lack of modern accounting software,” she said.
“We have recently worked back with the board on those findings that were found in March 2024. Currently, we’ve recently issued NAAJA with a breach notice, and they have until the 16th of July to come back to us with a strong remediation plan.”
The NIAA is providing $9.8m to NAAJA over the current financial year to deliver non-legal aid activities such as prisoner throughcare, a custody notification service, and legal training for community night patrols.
“We do have some concerns about how they keep their money and look after it in that sense,” Ms Bellenger said.
The allegations of illegal activity amongst board members and former executives at NAAJA has sparked calls from MPs and legal experts for the board to be “flushed out” and replaced.
Ms Bellenger said while the NIAA does not have the power to remove the board, the agency has “written to the parties that you know can take that action”.
Ms Bellenger was forced to admit she was unaware of who the current NAAJA directors are.
“There’s been some correspondence from the Northern Territory Attorney-General’s department to ASIC … raising that issue with them,” she said.
Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle asked Ms Bellenger whether this was cause for concern.
“Right now, we have an organisation that’s been under public scrutiny for the last 12 months, where we don’t know who the current directors are, and therefore we don’t even know their eligibility under the legislation that is administered by the Attorney-General?” she probed.
Ms Bellenger said: “We don’t have any jurisdiction in removing the board. We have written to the parties that can take that action … and work through the validity of board members.”
Ms Burney told The Australian she expects “all organisations funded by my agency to uphold high standards of governance and financial management”.
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