Northern Territory Aboriginal Affairs Minister Selena Uibo has defended her government's decision to abolish the independent NT Treaty Commission and says it remains committed to a treaty with Aboriginal territorians, after it was accused of deliberately delaying the process.
In late December, the NT government released its response to the June 2022 Treaty Commission final report, saying the commission would be closed, its work taken up by a new unit within government and a new series of consultations held with Indigenous people across the territory.
The response angered some Indigenous leaders, including independent MP Yingiya Guyula, who yesterday accused the NT government of intentionally delaying a treaty.
The government has also been accused of attempting to bury the news during a quiet time of year, with no press conference held for the response and Ms Uibo failing to respond to an interview request on the day.
Ms Uibo this morning told ABC Radio Darwin the NT government was committed to continuing the treaty process and the extra consultations it was holding were a necessary further step.
The series of forums, which the government says will "test" whether Aboriginal Territorians agree with the commission's recommendations, is expected to run for the next 18 months to two years.
"It's not a form of repeating," Ms Uibo said today.
"It's now the recommendations show us the pathway — what are the practical steps of making those words turn into actions in the territory, and what's the implications of those actions?"
Ms Uibo also said the government had been unable to keep funding the commission, in line with a recommendation in its final report, because that report had come out a month after the NT budget.
The commission previously received $4 million in funding from the NT government over three years, but that expired in June.
"We do have to go through … our budgetary process … and unfortunately, it doesn't fit in terms of the time frames of when the report was received, to ensure that the treaty commission could be funded further," she said.
"If life was ideal, we'd have everything done and dusted, and we would have had everything in for a budget cycle. But unfortunately it's not."
Asked about the timing of the government's response, Ms Uibo said its release had been delayed a week beyond the initial planned date of December 23 out of respect for the death of the late member for Arafura, who was an advocate for treaty.
Mr Guyula yesterday told ABC Radio Darwin he believed the NT government's extra consultations were not necessary and would hold up the treaty process in the territory.
"The government is just running around in circles and back again. They are just delaying this purposely because they don't want to see a treaty go ahead straight away," he said.
"There's nothing wrong.
"The treaty commissioner came out and conducted [consultations], the government should say yes."
