About us

Treaty Commissioner

The Northern Territory’s Acting Treaty Commissioner is Tony McAvoy SC.

Tony McAvoy SC, is a Wirdi man from the Clermont region of Central Queensland.

Born and raised in Brisbane. He studied law at the Queensland University of Technology graduating in 1988 and was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland the same year. He practiced as a solicitor until 1994 when took a position in the NSW Government.

From 1996 to 1999 he was the Manager, of Heritage and Natural Resources at the Department of Aboriginal Affairs (NSW) performed many roles including leading negotiations on behalf of Aboriginal groups in the Regional Forest negotiations.

In 2000 he was admitted as a barrister in the Supreme Court of NSW and has since successfully represented many native title holders in the Federal Court of Australia, and appeared regularly in a variety of jurisdiction including coronial inquiries, criminal courts and human rights matters.

Between 2011 and 2013 held an Acting Part Time Commissioners position sitting on the NSW Land and Environment Court.

In 2015 he was appointed as Senior Counsel, the first First Nations person to receive such an appointment.

In 2016 he was appointed to the role of Co-Senior Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory (don Dale).

In 2018 he received the QUT Alumnus of the Year and also received the Faculty of Law’s Outstanding Alumni Award. He chairs various professional committees, is founding member of the First Nations Clean Energy Network, and interim Director of the newly established Queensland First Nations Tourism Council. He is member of the advisory board on the Climate Ready Initiative and a member of the Australian Academy of Law. He has given evidence at numerous parliamentary inquiries on various matters, and has spoken at a multitude of conferences on issues including First Nations over-incarceration, treaties and truth commissions, First Nations heritage protection, constitutional reform, human rights and climate change.

Treaty Commissioner's role

The NT Treaty Commission in the NT is an independent office, headed by the NT Treaty Commissioner, launched in early 2019.  The role of the Treaty Commissioner is laid out in the Northern Territory Treaty Commissioner Terms of Reference (TOR) PDF (482.7 KB) as well as the Treaty Commissioner Act 2020 . The TOR strongly reinforce the Treaty Commissioner’s status as an independent officer as follows:

“The Commissioner and their staff must act independently and impartially. The Commissioner will not be subject to direction from the Northern Territory Government.  Similarly, the Commissioner’s staff will only be subject to the direction of the Commissioner or another member of the Commissioner’s staff.“

The job of the Treaty Commissioner is to:

a) Facilitate consultation with Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory regarding a Treaty; and

b) Develop a framework for Treaty negotiations;

The Treaty Commissioner is required to inquire, report, investigate and make recommendations on these things to the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory and Parliament.

Specifically, responsibilities are:

  • Undertaking consultation with First Nations and Aboriginal people to ascertain their support for a Treaty;
  • Undertaking consultation with Aboriginal representative bodies and organisations on afuture treaty process;
  • Undertaking research in relation to a Treaty and providing advice to government, First Nations, Aboriginal communities and Land Councils on best practice, to support futureTreaty negotiations in the Northern Territory;
  • Developing a suitable framework to further Treaty negotiations with the Northern Territory Government;
  • Providing advice to government in relation to the most appropriate and effective form of Aboriginal representation for any future Treaty negotiations;
  • Ensuring that the broader public, including non-Aboriginal Territorians, are engaged;
  • Managing the operations of the Treaty Commissioner’s Office, including staff and budget allocations; and
  • Establishing internal protocols and procedures, including reporting systems, to ensure information is communicated to government, the Land Councils, and the Treaty Working Group.

Key outputs are to devise and implement a consultation program with two stages:

Stage one

  • Advise and share information and ideas about different best practice approaches to negotiating and settling a Treaty nationally and internationally.
  • Explore possible models for a Treaty in the Northern Territory.
  • Provide explanations of the legal context of a Northern Territory Treaty.
  • Determine the level of interest in a Treaty amongst First Nations and Aboriginal Territorians.

An interim report is to be provided to the Chief Minister and a discussion paper for public release prepared by March 2020.

Stage two

  • Release of a public discussion paper to facilitate informed discussions about the matters outlined under ‘role’.
  • This stage of consultations will revolve around the content of the discussion paper and an assessment of whether a consensus or majority view exists on all or any of the substantive items included in the Discussion Paper.
  • Make recommendations to the Northern Territory Government on next steps and the appropriate framework to be put in place to undertake Treaty negotiations.

A final report on the outcomes of consultations, recommendation of next steps and a proposed negotiation, framework for Treaty to be proceed in the NT is to be delivered to the Chief Minister no more than 18 month after delivery of the interim report discussion paper.

It is important to reiterate that the Treaty Commissioner's role is NOT to negotiate treaties.  It is to make recommendations for a framework to negotiate treaties to the NT Government.

Deputy Treaty Commissioner

The Northern Territory Deputy Treaty Commissioner is Ms Ursula Raymond.

Ms Raymond

Ms Raymond is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander woman born and raised in the Territory and has lived and worked here most of her life. Ms Raymond has been involved in a number of major consultations across the NT.

She has an extensive background in media and communications, including senior roles at the Northern Land Council and the ABC, and has worked at both a Federal and Territory government level.

A key component of Deputy Commissioner Raymond’s role will be to ensure that Aboriginal culture is respected and practiced appropriately when consulting with Aboriginal women and girls across the NT.