{"id":879430,"date":"2026-09-04T07:30:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T07:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/879430\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T07:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T07:30:16","slug":"nt-government-says-no-more-coddling-criminals-or-identity-politics-after-experts-walk-out-over-ignored-advice-indigenous-australians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/879430\/","title":{"rendered":"NT government says no more \u2018coddling criminals\u2019 or \u2018identity politics\u2019 after experts walk out over ignored advice | Indigenous Australians"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Northern Territory<\/a> government has hit back after a panel of independent experts tasked with improving justice outcomes for First Nations people stood down over what they described as a \u201cfacade of scrutiny, dialogue and collaboration\u201d, with the territory\u2019s attorney general saying there would be \u201cno more coddling criminals, no more talk-fests, and no more identity politics\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a formal letter on Thursday night, seven members of the Northern Territory Justice Policy Partnership (NTJPP) \u2013 a non-government panel of independent justice experts and representatives of Aboriginal community-controlled organisations \u2013 announced they would suspend their participation for a period of six months due to \u201ca breakdown in genuine dialogue, partnership and shared decision-making\u201d.<\/p>\n

An eighth resigned independently on Thursday and a ninth resigned in July, leaving one remaining.<\/p>\n

It comes two weeks after the resignation of Yolgnu independent MP Yi\u014biya Guyula<\/a>, the fourth high-profile resignation since the CLP swept into government in 2024.<\/p>\n

The letter, sent to the NT\u2019s Department of the Attorney-General and Justice and the group\u2019s government co-chair, said the decision followed repeated attempts by members to bring the partnership back on track.<\/p>\n

The NTJPP\u2019s co-chair, Matthew Connop, said the Finocchiaro government had been ignoring members\u2019 advice on crucial policy reform.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to walk away from the table,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we cannot keep sitting at the table if our advice is ignored and our presence is then used to suggest we agree with decisions we don\u2019t support.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat isn\u2019t partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NTJPP, which was established in 2023 under the Closing the Gap agreement, was tasked with developing practical, evidence-based solutions to address the over-representation of First Nations adults and young people in the justice system.<\/p>\n

The non-governmental members say they have yet to receive an adequate response to letters sent in October 2024 and May 2025 raising serious concerns about progress toward the closing the gap targets, and that their input had \u201crepeatedly been set aside\u201d.<\/p>\n

They allege the NT government has shown a departure from its shared decision-making commitments with other Indigenous-led independent panels, \u201craising serious questions about whether the NT Government has the ability to work in partnership with experts and organisations who say things the government may not want to hear\u201d.<\/p>\n

They said the six-month suspension is not a withdrawal from the work and have \u201cinvited the NT Government to use the period to restore genuine partnership and focus on what works to reduce crime\u201d.<\/p>\n

The NT attorney general, Marie-Clare Boothby, responded in a public statement on Friday, saying the CLP was elected to reduce crime.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhat these organisations \u2013 funded by taxpayers \u2013 choose to do is a matter for them, but Territorians have demanded loudly and clearly: no more coddling criminals, no more talk-fests, and no more identity politics,\u201d Boothby said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re getting on with the job Territorians elected us to do: to reduce crime, rebuild the economy, and restore our unique Territory lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senior Larrakia and Warramunga man Dr Richard Fejo resigned from the Darwin Waterfront Corporation in late 2024 in protest against the new NT government lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 10-years-old. He told Guardian Australia he had appealed to the CLP not to make the change before his highly publicised resignation, but was ignored and felt he could not remain.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it comes to Closing the Gap, the CLP are running the race in the wrong direction,\u201d Fejo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe feeling on the ground in the community is one of fear, because while we don\u2019t blame the police, who are doing their jobs, it\u2019s the way the police are being directed,\u201d he said. \u201cIt appears to me the CLP strategy is to remove anyone who opposes them, and that includes myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

In July the the NT children\u2019s commissioner, Shahleena Musk, resigned over changes to child protection laws<\/a>. That same month Rob McPhee, CEO of Danila Dilba Aboriginal Health services, resigned as independent Aboriginal chair of the NT children and families tripartite forum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Northern Territory government has hit back after a panel of independent experts tasked with improving justice outcomes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":879431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-879430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=879430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/879431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}