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The NTER was and is a whole of government response. As a consequence, its governance structure inevitably reflected a complicated matrix of interests and in my opinion a confused set of accountabilities. In part that was inevitable given the genuine interests of the departments and agencies involved but also, and significantly it resulted from the need to accommodate the directions of government in relation to the management of the Response which added to that complexity but which did provide a decisive focus for implementation of the programs.
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A particular consequences of those directions was the creation of the NTER Operations Centre which reported on paper to a Taskforce, but which had direct access to the then Minister. For reasons I am unable to either explain or understand the Secretary FaHCSIA was not a member of the Taskforce. The Taskforce was not part of the interdepartmental structure which reported to the Minister/Prime Minster through a body identified as the Secretaries Sub Group. That structure had FaHCSIA as the lead agency. The structure is outlined in Attachment B.
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Whilst effective cooperation was achieved between some individuals the division of responsibilities and accountabilities reflected in this structure was problematic and in my opinion was a factor in what I regard as inadequacies in the management of the accommodation related issues.
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In my opinion other factors included the spread of and changes to functional responsibilities across FaHCSIA and the loss of key personnel at critical times. Whilst the latter could not be avoided it did highlight the need for a clear authoritative focus for the coordination of effective delivery of those elements of the Response which were the direct responsibility of the Department and on the importance of the relationship with the Operations Centre. In my opinion that focus was lost at some critical times.
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The coordination problems inherent in the division of responsibility between the Department and the Operations Centre have been recognised and clearer reporting lines have been established. These are represented in Attachment C. With the phasing out of the Operations Centre, at least in its current form, in December 2008 FaHCSIA will assume operational control for coordinating its functional responsibilities and the need to manage the effective delivery and maintain the central focus will become an internal problem. This presents an opportunity to improve accountability and responsibility.
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Having regard to the history of the accommodation problems, that new arrangement will in my opinion require very clear lines of responsibility and accountability. It is likely that that can best be achieved through an organisational structure designed to meet the special needs of the NTER – in effect an Operations Centre within the FaHCSIA Northern Territory Office ("NTO") but with appropriate 'command and reporting' lines. A critical issue is likely to be management of the roles of the Indigenous Coordination Centres ("ICCs") and the GBMs.