The Northern Territory's Central Land Council have again been forced to defend themselves against allegations they claim are untrue.
On Tuesday, in a media conference in Alice Springs organised by Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, three Arrernte women Veronica Ngkwarraye Lynch, Margaret Ngkwarraye Lynch and Sabella Ngkwarraye Turner, told reporters they were unhappy with the CLC and said they wanted an inquiry.
CLC executive committee member Barbara Shaw said media reports were untrue that the women were asked to leave a council meeting at Watarrka (King’s Canyon) in July.
“Nobody was removed from the meeting," she said.
"On the contrary, the women in question were heard at length and treated with politeness and respect.
“We welcomed the women into the group and listened for a long time to their reasons why their outstation should have its own, separate representation on the council.”
CLC member Ingrid Williams, from Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa), said they treated the visitors respectfully and that nobody asked them to leave the meeting.
“I am surprised and hurt that, after giving them so much of our time, they are now attacking us with false media statements," she said.
“If they are unhappy they should make a formal complaint so it can be properly investigated.”
Senator Nampijinpa Price has repeatedly called for an audit of land councils across the country.
In 2023 the Australian National Audit Office conducted a series of audits into each of the four NT land councils.
The found that the CLC's governance arrangements were "largely effectively" and made 11 recommendations about how they could improve, 10 of which were fully agreed to by the land council and one partially.
CLC deputy chair Warren Williams said the land council receives unqualified audits year after year and the National Indigenous Australians Agency also regularly reviews its performance of native title functions.
“The CLC is among the most successful and most reviewed Aboriginal organisations in the country and has demonstrated over and over that it is well-governed, transparent and effective," he said.
"Another inquiry into the CLC would duplicate existing independent processes that have confirmed the CLC’s effective representation of Aboriginal people across its region ...
"The CLC is demonstrably accountable to its constituents, fulfils its statutory functions and compliance obligations, and is constantly improving how it operates."
On Thursday the NT News published an apology to CLC chief executive Les Turner, after running a story incorrectly claiming that there had been a no-confidence motion.
