The Northern Territory Government has quietly axed the committees it created to scrutinise proposed laws and reversed changes it promised would increase transparency and accountability.
On the first day of Parliament since the August election, Labor introduced new rules that remove the cross-party Legislation Scrutiny Committee.
The new sessional orders also scrap Labor's change that banned "Dorothy Dixer" questions from Wednesday Question Time and reserved it for Opposition and independent questions.
The changes were not flagged in advance, but leader of government business Natasha Fyles rebuked criticism in Parliament on Tuesday, saying the changes were not significant and voters "want us to get on with the job".
But Country Liberal Party leader Lia Finocchiaro called it a retrograde step and an attempt to avoid scrutiny from the new eight-member Opposition.
"It's astonishing, it's absolutely arrogant," she said.
"It comes as a great surprise that the very group of people who created this mechanism of democracy, who promised to futureproof those committees, are the ones to destroy it or banish it from the system."
The scrutiny committee has existed in its current form since Labor rolled the social and economic policy committees into one body in November.
It consisted of three government and two non-government members, who considered submissions on proposed laws from non-government groups and members of the public.
The original committees were introduced after Labor won office in 2016. The Government said they would help create "open and transparent government" and help restore trust after the tumultuous Giles government period.
Alice Springs' member for Araluen Robyn Lambley said the changes would "erode democracy".
"We have got a Government that's fearful and on the run," she said.
Ms Fyles, who remains leader of government business despite losing the Attorney-General portfolio, told Parliament the Opposition "cannot accept the verdict".
"Territorians elected the Gunner Government," she said.
She said the changes were not unusual and new sessional orders were established at the beginning of each term of Parliament.
"What Territorians need right now is an agile response, they need us to act efficiently and quickly," she said.
"Parliament is about outcomes — we need to be efficient, particularly as we step through the coronavirus pandemic and the responses to it."
She said the Opposition should be able to scrutinise the Government without the use of a committee and could use the exposure draft process to collect public input.
