The Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory Aboriginal Corporation has urged the NT government to scrap the Territory Coordinator Bill.
"The Territory Coordinator has unprecedented power that contradicts commitments the Northern Territory Government have signed up to under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap," said Dr John Paterson, APO NT Lead Convenor.
"The Northern Territory's four land councils have united in calling for the Territory Coordinator Bill to be dumped. And we completely agree. This bill has ignored public outcry from Territorians and fundamentally erodes our rights.
"When the Country Liberal Party came to power, they said they would govern for all Territorians; this Bill represents a worrying direction for the Finocchiaro government."
On Wednesday Traditional Owners from the Beetaloo Basin also called for the Bill to be abandoned after the parliamentary scrutiny committee tabled its report, which recommended only minor changes to the legislation.
In a submission to the committee, Greg McIntyre SC, a former Law Council of Australia president who represented Eddie Mabo in the landmark native title case, wrote: "This is an extraordinary piece of legislation which gives unprecedented powers to a public servant… It is a very unusual piece of legislation to have before any parliament."
"It has extraordinary powers of allowing this Territory Coordinator to step into the place of existing decision-makers to vary conditions which they previously placed upon approvals," he warned.
Dr Paterson said the NT Aboriginal peak body's submissions called for "greater and clearer safeguards, but given this has been ignored, we cannot support this legislation".
"Our work is underpinned by the principle of Aboriginal self-determination. We will not stand by as unchecked powers to overrule existing laws threaten our people, our sacred sites, our culture and our rights. We call on the Government to listen to the community and take our concerns seriously," he said.
APO NT Aboriginal Corporation is the leading Aboriginal representative body for the Northern Territory, comprising the Aboriginal community-controlled organisations of Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory, Central Land Council, Northern Land Council, Tiwi Land Council, Anindilyakwa Land Council, North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, Aboriginal Housing NT and the Northern Territory Indigenous Business Network.
