A senior board member at one Australia's largest Aboriginal legal services has revealed she intends to step down in the wake of concerns about the board's governance and finances.

The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) has been beset by a series of controversies since it sacked its long-standing CEO Priscilla Atkins in February 2023.

Ms Atkins challenged her termination with an unfair dismissal case in the Federal Court and won in June this year.

Since her departure there has been an exodus of lawyers and staff, a suspension of criminal services, a revolving door of acting chief executive officers and now calls for the board to step aside.

Late last week NAAJA released a statement saying that several directors have "advised that they are stepping down from the NAAJA board".

NAAJA deputy chair Colleen Rosas has told 7.30 that while she is still on the board, she intends "to resign at the right time".

The announcement comes as former executives of NAAJA speak out for the first time about the challenges they experienced while at the organisation.

Olga Havnen was one of six acting CEOs appointed since late 2022, when Ms Atkins was initially stood aside.

"We were really struggling to recruit lawyers," she said.

"I saw that as an opportunity at NAAJA to try and get [the organisation] redirected, get some good foundations in place, and really try to build that leadership team so that you could better support staff and clients and community."

But Ms Havnen said she encountered operational issues which hampered NAAJA's ability to service its clients.

"For example, they have a telephone system that wasn't set up and configured properly, so many calls, particularly the ones coming in from the prison, were going unanswered," she said.

Ms Havnen said she chose not to extend her three-month contract.

"It was up to me to make that decision as to whether or not I was prepared to continue to work with the board that I didn't have that confidence and trust in and I chose to leave," she said.

'A lot of people in jail who shouldn't be'

A few days after Olga Havnen left in November 2023, NAAJA halted its criminal services due to staff shortages.

During this suspension around 75 clients were not represented in court.

"There are a lot of people in jail now who shouldn't be," former NAAJA senior lawyer John Lawrence said.

Leeanne Caton was appointed acting deputy CEO in February and was there when NAAJA managed to resume full services in April.

"After a lot of blood, sweat and tears and hard work, we were pretty much back to basic staffing levels," Ms Caton said.

She said her priority was to strengthen NAAJA's governance, which included updating its constitution.

"When I first started there had been a number of audit reports done and and we compiled those, collated those reports, and compiled an executive leadership plan," she said.

"It was about how we were going to address the urgent needs in relation to governance of the organisation and compliance to the government funding bodies."

'An unskilled board'

The governance concerns identified by Ms Havnen and Ms Caton were echoed in a KPMG report commissioned by NAAJA in 2022 and tendered as evidence in Priscilla Atkins' Fair Work trial in the Federal Court.

It found the "operation of the board has not evolved in response to the growth in the size and complexity of NAAJA over the past 15 years to provide sufficient oversight of the organisation".

Ms Caton ultimately chose to resign when she felt she could not implement the changes she thought were necessary, and when she learned new chair, Hugh Woodbury, had faced serious domestic violence charges, which included physically abusing his pregnant partner.

She attended a domestic violence roundtable in Canberra with Mr Woodbury in May, unaware of his history of domestic violence.

"I spent a lot of the time introducing him as the NAAJA chair," she said.

There was no conviction recorded for Mr Woodbury, who pleaded guilty to the charges.

"We support DV victims. We support family and the client, the victims of family and domestic violence. It is just poor judgement," Ms Caton said.

"This is what I mean about an unskilled board who doesn't have the ability to environmentally scan and see what potential issues may arise over these poor decisions."

The turmoil of NAAJA drew the attention of the Commonwealth and Territory governments, which fund the organisation, as well as the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA).

In Senate estimates in June the then-assistant minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy was questioned about what steps were being taken.

"There have been a series of steps. We've seen a number of CEOs go through those changes as part of that, and then those CEOS have moved on indicating the instability and the concerns with NAAJA. There have also been breach notices sent to NAAJA."

Late last week NAAJA released a statement saying it had: "commenced changes to its board as it embarks on the next phase of an ongoing program designed to strengthen governance and operations".

It said several directors have advised they would step down, while Mr Woodbury would stand down as chair but remain a director.

7.30 requested an interview with board members and NAAJA's new CEO Anthony Bevan, who started in the role on Tuesday.

No board members, nor Mr Bevan agreed to be interviewed.

Government concerned

Following NAAJA's announcement, a federal government spokesperson told 7.30 "the government has made clear that we are concerned about governance issues at NAAJA and its ability to maintain these services".

On Tuesday a spokesperson for Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy told 7.30 "the National Indigenous Australians Agency, along with the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department and the NT Government, are waiting on a formal response to the letter sent to NAAJA on 1 August.

"The NIAA and Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department have clearly set out expectations in relation to NAAJA maintaining service delivery to the community while addressing its governance and financial management issues as a priority."

The Northern Territory Department of Attorney-General and Justice also released a statement, saying [the] "issues are urgent matters for NAAJA to address", and its priority "is to ensure a stable and high-performing legal service for First Nations Territorians".

Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV