Mick Gooda Distances Himself From Tweet Calling For NT Government Sacking

Two new commissioners were named just an hour after the first commissioner resigned due to concerns over a conflict of interest.

The government claims it has listened to concerns from the Indigenous community over the announcement of a royal commission into the Northern Territory juvenile detention system, naming Mick Gooda as one of the new heads of the inquiry.

Neda Vanovac / AAPIMAGE

Attorney general George Brandis announced the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social justice commissioner would head up the emergency royal commission after the person appointed to lead the inquiry, Brian Martin QC, resigned.

It had emerged in recent days that Martin’s daughter, Joanna Martin, worked at the NT’s Justice Department during the period that much of the abuse exposed by Four Corners last week was alleged to have occurred. "I am not prepared to allow the unwarranted intrusion into the life of my daughter to continue," Martin said on Monday.

Brandis also named a second royal commissioner, former Queensland supreme court judge, Margaret White.

Steve Pohlner / AAPIMAGE

Brandis said the government had listened to complaints from the Indigenous community about the appointment of Martin.

"We've heard and heeded the many Indigenous voices who have asked for the representation of an Indigenous person on the royal commission," he said.

Gooda today back-tracked from a tweet he sent on the night that Four Corners aired the footage from inside the Don Dale centre, where he called for the NT government to be sacked.

Mick Gooda @MickGooda

The Federal Government has to intervene and sack the NT Government

Mon Jul 25 11:31:42 UTC+0000 2016

"I think I said on the Tuesday [it was] a day of emotions and people had all sorts of emotional responses," Gooda said.

"In the clear light of day, I probably wouldn't think that. At the moment I've got a job to do."