The federal and Northern Territory governments have agreed to a joint funding framework for child and family services after the NT government has also backed down on its earlier refusals to have its spending audited.
The agreement has been hailed as a “major step forward” in acting on recommendations made by the royal commission into child protection and detention.
Both governments have previously voiced overall support for the recommendations but costs and funding reviews have been points of friction in recent weeks. A particular sticking point was the NT’s refusal to let the Productivity Commission review commonwealth expenditure on NT child services.
On Thursday the federal minister for social services, Dan Tehan, and assistant minister for children and families, David Gillespie, met members of the NT Labor government, including the chief minister, Michael Gunner, in Darwin.
According to the NT government the two parties agreed to establish a joint coordinated funding framework “which would provide an agreed approach to the planning, funding and delivery of services for families and children”.
It would also “set the groundwork to have a coordinated approach to funding – this would be a major step forward in providing coordinated services that support all children and families in the Territory”, the statement said.
The NT government has called for the federal government to match financial commitments for rebuilding youth detention centres, as well as assisting in other aspects of the required overhaul of the protection and detention systems. It spent $27m on its share of the royal commission’s running costs, as well as a further $16m in legal bills and staffing.
The NT government had pushed back on calls for a review into its spending of commonwealth funds, claiming the recommended review referred to commonwealth-funded services in the NT, and Gunner would instruct public servants not to cooperate.
Thursday’s announcement appeared to be a reversal of the government’s position.
Multiple NT governments have been found to have spent federal funds drawn from GST revenue in areas other than what was intended, prompting accusations of siphoning money away from Indigenous disadvantage and avoiding transparency.
Last month Gunner accused the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, of calling the royal commission only as a PR stunt, after the federal government said it was not responsible for most of the more than 230 recommendations.
“It’s clear from the prime minister’s response and the Australian government’s response to the royal commissions that their only motivation for calling this was dealing with an issue at the time,” he said last month.
“It’s crisis management.”
On Thursday the NT government said the ministers welcomed the chance for a “frank and positive conversation”.
“Discussions were positive, constructive and practical. The importance of working together to address the recommendations of the royal commission was strongly supported.”
Thursday’s announcement included the establishment of a tripartite government and community sector forum to oversee youth justice and protection policies, and the development of a 10-year “generational strategy”.
Earlier this month the NT government gave full or in principle support to all but 10 of the recommendations, but would not guarantee funding until after a budget review.
The offices of the NT minister for Territory families and the chief minister were contacted for further information.
Tehan’s office directed Guardian Australia to previous statements.
