From June to the end of August 2009, the Australian Government conducted extensive consultations with Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory about future directions for the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER). Some consultation meetings also took place in late May and early September. 

In its response to the report of the NTER Review Board, the Government said that it would introduce legislation into the Parliament in late 2009 to bring existing NTER legislation within the scope of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (RDA). 

On 21 May 2009, as a starting point for discussion through the engagement process, the Government released a Discussion Paper titled Future Directions for the Northern Territory Emergency Response (the Discussion Paper).

The consultations involved people in all 73 NTER communities as well as several other Northern Territory Aboriginal communities and town camps. There were over 500 Tier 1 and Tier 2 consultation meetings in communities, as well as eleven Tier 3 and 4 workshops with regional leaders and stakeholder organisations.

A total of 277 people attended the Tiers 3 and 4 workshops; 176 in Tier 3 and 101 in Tier 4. The majority of participants were Indigenous people who either nominated as individuals or were selected by their community or organisation to speak on the community’s or the organisation’s behalf. 

The views expressed in these meetings and workshops are summarised in this report.