The chief executive of one of Australia's most prominent Aboriginal legal services has been suspended on full pay following an internal dispute.
Priscilla Atkins has headed the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) for 15 years.
She is also is the co-chair of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS) peak body for all Australian indigenous legal services.
NAAJA is the main agency providing legal support to Aboriginal people across the NT, where the Indigenous incarceration rate is the highest in the nation and rising.
The service is funded by both the federal and NT governments, and staff have long complained that it has suffered funding shortages which have made it difficult for the agency to meet demand.
Ms Atkins and the NAAJA board have been locked in a dispute since the end of last year.
Both she and the board have made a series of complaints about each other and both have denied wrongdoing.
Ms Atkins said she remains chief executive of NAAJA and the matter is currently before the Fair Work Commission.
She said she raised a complaint with NAAJA before being suspended.
The NAAJA board has seconded the head of the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the NT (AMSANT), John Paterson, to act in the position of NAAJA chief executive for six months.
