History
In 2007, the Commonwealth Government imposed the Northern Territory Emergency Response legislation (the Intervention) directly impacting upon remote Aboriginal people and communities without any prior consultation with Aboriginal people or their representative organisations.
In October 2010, an alliance of Aboriginal peak organisation came together to discuss and work collaboratively to address such policies and programmes impacting of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory.
APO NT’s founding members were the Central Land Council, Northern Land Council, the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service, the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, and the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory.
Whilst each founding member maintained its own mandate through legislative or constitutional roles and responsibilities and decision-making processes, APO NT became the informed voice on key issues affecting Aboriginal people, their rights, health, livelihoods and future.
The APO NT alliance was instrumental in working collaboratively to negotiate new ways forward for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. Alongside this was a need to be able to coordinate engagement between Aboriginal organisations in responding to the plethora of government policy, programmes and actions, at the Commonwealth and Territory level impacting on Aboriginal people.
APO NT has always sought to act in the best interests of Aboriginal people around rights and equity to receive mainstream service delivery, local community control, good governance, health, housing,
alcohol, and law and justice reforms. APO NT members represent Aboriginal people living in remote, very remote and regional centres of the Territory, through to the urban areas.
APO NT’s achievements include:
- Establishing a collective voice for Aboriginal organisations across the NT to influence policy directions of the Northern Territory, Commonwealth and Local Governments;
- Facilitating Territory wide forums with representatives of Aboriginal communities who had significant input into policy change with respect to Housing, Homelands and Outstations, Alcohol management, Employment, Income Support, Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and Governance;
- Achieving Australia wide endorsement of the APO NT Partnership Principles by non-government organisations operating on Aboriginal land;
- Building partnerships with the NTG’s Departmental Heads and Ministers;
- Establishing the Aboriginal Governance and Management Program (AGMP) in 2013, to strengthen governance in Aboriginal organisations;
- Building a new Aboriginal Community-Controlled peak representative body for Aboriginal housing in 2019, Aboriginal Housing NT (AHNT); and
- Playing a senior leadership role as members of the national Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled peak organisations (Coalition of Peaks) including the negotiation of the first ever National Agreement and Targets on Closing the Gap between responding to the plethora of government policy, programmes and actions, at the Commonwealth and Territory level impacting on Aboriginal people. Australian Governments and representatives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
To coincide with its 10th anniversary, APO NT’s members decided to undertake a refresh of its governance, membership, funding arrangements and operations.
A key driver for the refresh and developing Terms of Reference for Governance and Operations was the signing of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap in July 2020. It requires that every State/Territory/Commonwealth Government develops and delivers a jurisdictional implementation plan in partnership with the Coalition of Peaks and other Aboriginal partners.
A refreshed APO NT alliance expects to represent Aboriginal people from across the Northern Territory in developing and delivering the NT’s Closing the Gap jurisdictional implementation plan.