The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) directors are pleased to announce the appointment of three new independent directors and the appointment of a new Barkly regional director to join its existing board of four Aboriginal member directors.
David Parsons SC, Karl Dyason and Dominic McCormack have been appointed as independent directors of NAAJA until the 2025 annual general meeting in November. All three are eligible to be reappointed.
David Parsons SC is a recently retired judge of the County Court of Victoria. In the 1970s he worked for three years as a solicitor with the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service in Alice Springs and later as senior solicitor with the Northern Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service in Darwin. He joined the Northern Territory Bar at the end of 1979 and remained there until September 1982, specialising in work with Aboriginal organisations, primarily the Northern Land Council, and in criminal matters. From 1982 he practised at the Victorian Bar but continued to work in the Northern Territory representing Aboriginal groups before the Aboriginal Land Commissioner. He is a member of the Law Council of Australia’s Indigenous Affairs Committee and was a director of the Koorie Heritage Trust and the Stolen Generation’s Board of Victoria. He was appointed as a judge of the County Court of Victoria in 2006. He was involved with the establishment and, later, the expansion of the County Koori Court in Victoria.
Karl Dyason has spent 11 years working and living in remote communities in the Northern Territory including Papunya, Ali Curung, Groote Eylandt, Yirrkala and Maningrida and was the CEO of Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation in Maningrida for a number of years. He is a qualified accountant and for five years was the chief financial officer for the Department of the Chief Minister. Karl is currently an independent director of the Bunurong Aboriginal Land Council Aboriginal Corporation in Victoria and until recently was an independent director of Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation.
Dominic McCormack has practised as a lawyer in the Northern Territory for over 20 years, including as a partner of private legal firms for 16 years. He spent his primary school years in Wadeye and is a NAATI accredited interpreter in Murrinh-patha. Dominic has for many years worked closely with Aboriginal organisations advising on corporate governance. He is an independent director of Yipirinya School Council Inc. in Alice Springs.
The appointment of the independent directors follows other governance reforms completed by NAAJA in 2024, including a new constitution and the election of member directors.
Joey (George) Carter from Tennant Creek was last week appointed as a member director for the Barkly Region to fill a casual vacancy and brings to NAAJA many years of public sector and Aboriginal community control experience.
‘NAAJA has grown into a major Aboriginal community-controlled company and is essential in providing the best quality legal and support services to Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory’, said NAAJA chairperson, Theresa Roe. ‘We experienced some widely reported governance issues in the last two years but the appointment of the independent directors marks a new chapter in the governance of NAAJA. We welcome Joey, David, Karl and Dominic to the board and look forward to working with them as part of this new chapter.’
Media contact
Comments in this media release other than direct quotes can be attributed to a NAAJA spokesperson.
Anthony Beven, 0419 218 518, anthony.beven@naaja.org.au