Commissioner's Update Nr. 1

This is the Treaty Commissioner’s first update.  From now on I will be issuing updates on a quarterly basis.

Now that I have started as Treaty Commissioner, I thought it would a good idea to let you know a bit about my role and how I plan to go about my task as Treaty Commissioner.

Now that I have started as Treaty Commissioner, I thought it would a good idea to let you know a bit about my role and how I plan to go about my task as Treaty Commissioner. My job is governed by a Terms of Reference (TOR) that I must follow. The TOR has been agreed between the four NT Land Councils and the NT Government, though I also had input into it.

The TOR make it very clear that I and my office are independent of the Northern Territory Government (NTG). In fact, the TOR actually require myself and my staff to act independently and impartially. Importantly, I am not be subject to direction from the Northern Territory Government and my staff are only subject to either my direction or the direction of another member of my staff. This independence should give Aboriginal Territorians the confidence to be open and frank with me.

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