Deputy Administrator asked to retire today as CEO of CAALAS

By ERWIN CHLANDA
 
The Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service (CAALAS) has requested its CEO, Patricia Miller  to retire today, according to a source within the service. The request was made in a letter delivered yesterday.
 
Speaking on the condition of anonymity the source also rejected rumors circulating about the service’s board.
 
Mrs Miller is Deputy to the Administrator of the Northern Territory.
 
The source says Mrs Miller indicated in August last year that she would retire from CAALAS on January 31, 2015, and the service is now asking that she stands by her promise.
 
This follows protracted conflicts within CAALAS that started early last year.
 
The source denies rumours that the board has been rorting sitting fees and travel allowances (TAs), saying only about 10 meetings have been held in the last 12 months, including two this month to deal with the current upheavals.
 
The source also says only two fuel vouchers are being given to board members, a single one to a couple living two hours’ drive out of town, and the other one to a member living 45 minutes away.
 
The source says the CEO position is an “identified Indigenous position” but the service has the option of filling it temporarily with a non-Indigenous person as an acting CEO.
 
The source says the board will consider early in February a report from the Federal Attorney General dealing with issues within CAALAS.
 
The Alice Springs News Online has contacted Mrs Miller with a request for comment.
 
[Google this site for earlier reports.]