Aboriginal Affairs Minister Selena Uibo accepts recommendations from scathing Local Decision Making inquiry

The Territory government has committed to reforming its bush community empowerment framework following a scathing inquiry.

The Territory government has committed to reform its framework to empower bush communities in the wake of the Voice referendum defeat.

On Thursday Aboriginal Affairs Minister Selena Uibo released the NT government’s response to the two-year Public Accounts Committee inquiry into the Local Decision Making Framework.

The LDM framework is the government’s 10-year strategy to transfer service delivery to Aboriginal communities to allow them to determine their own futures.

But in May a committee reviewing the past three years of LDM implementation found there was “considerable confusion” about the scheme — even among the 11 communities with active LDM agreements.

It said there was limited funding, a lack of clarity and transparency and inadequate engagement with communities, councils and the federal government.

Aboriginal Affairs Minister Selena Uibo released the NT government’s response to the two-year Public Accounts Committee inquiry into Local Decision Making Framework. Picture: Jason Walls

The committee also revealed that the Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the NT withdrew from the LDM scheme “due to fatigue, from policies that don’t live up to the promise of real change or reform and loss of confidence and trust in the process”.

As the Treaty and Local Decision Making Minister, Ms Uibo confirmed on Thursday that the government had fully committed to half of the eight committee recommendations, with the remaining granted “in principal” support.

Ms Uibo also gave “in principal” support to critical calls for “adequate funding” to engage communities and implement their agreements.

She promised to release a joint review of the LDM between the government and APONT, which would investigate funding arrangements.

“The capacity and capability of communities to be in a position to manage the transition of services, will also be considered in funding settings,” Ms Uibo said.

Nganambala Traditional Owners sign their Local Decision Making Agreement with the NT Government. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

She also said the joint review would investigate a recommendation to define the role of regional councils and explore how community councils can sit within local government structure.

Ms Uibo also gave “in principal” support to investigate concerns over the duplication of responsibilities and service delivery due to a lack of co-ordination between the Territory and commonwealth governments and Northern Territory Aboriginal Affairs.

She said the Office of Aboriginal Affairs and APONT would “explore” a process for annual public reporting of the LDM status and progress.

It comes as the Territory searches for a new path forward in Indigenous policy following the defeat of the Voice Referendum.

The latest Closing the Gap report had a grave overview of the Territory’s progress, with less than half the Indigenous affairs targets showing signs of improving.

“The Northern Territory’s outcomes worsened across eight target areas in which it was already performing relatively poorly at the starting point,” it said.

Over a three-year consultation process the independent Treaty Commission delivered its final report in 2022, but no timeline has been set to draw up the historic agreement.

On Thursday Ms Uibo said it was “a complex process that has taken time and will continue to take time”, while the CLP opposition has “rejected” the Treaty process.

Originally published as Aboriginal Affairs Minister Selena Uibo accepts recommendations from scathing Local Decision Making inquiry