The NT Government has finally funded a full-time Auslan interpreter to help deaf clients across the NT and provide services during the government’s COVID-19 press conferences and in emergencies, months after the Gunner Government apologised for the lack of an interpreter.

The government announced the $360,000 allocation to fund a three year-term for Deaf Connect (formerly Deaf Services and the Deaf Society) in October to recruit a full-time, NT-based Auslan interpreter, and announced yesterday that an accredited interpreter has now been secured.

Paula Bun, an accredited interpreter at the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI), has started work in the Northern Territory this week and will offer support to clients across the Territory.

There are around 600 Auslan interpreters across Australia, but as of last year none were based in the Northern Territory.

The NT’s only full-time Auslan interpreter resigned in 2019 and the role was defunded shortly afterwards, the ABC previously reported.

Deaf Connect chief executive Brett Casey said the organisation was pleased the government had funded the position.

“We are pleased to see that our work with the Northern Territory Government has so quickly resulted in a tangible outcome for Deaf Territorians,” Mr Casey said.

“We welcome the government’s commitment to equality among their constituents through the funding of this critical program.

“The availability of an on-site Auslan interpreter will unlock the capacity within the Deaf community through equitable access to information many hearing people take for granted.”

The government said in a statement that the local Auslan interpreter will provide support for Deaf Territorians “across a range of situations, including in delivery of government services, in health, education and justice”.

“In addition, it will provide support for families and public messaging during emergencies, such as COVID-19,” the statement said.

The NT Government said it is also finalising the Auslan scholarship program, “so that we can grow our own qualified Auslan interpreters across the Territory”, with a funding commitment of almost $90,000.

The scholarship program aims to boost the number of NT-based interpreters to service the needs of the NT’s deaf community.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner said there are more than 230 Territorians who are Deaf or hard of hearing.

“The recent COVID-19 lockdowns have highlighted the need to have [an] Auslan interpreter in the NT to deliver important public messages,” Mr Gunner said.

He apologised in June last year for having no Auslan interpreter at COVID-19 press conferences after deaf individuals and people with hearing impairments expressed their frustration at not being informed at the same time as others.

The government then hired an interstate interpreter from Queensland in the last half of last year for press conferences.

The NT’s only specialised Auslan service Deaf NT closed its office in June 2020.

For eight years, Deaf Children Australia operated Deaf NT in the Territory and had provided Auslan lessons, social events, and advocacy for people with hearing loss.

Closing the service came down to a “business decision” after Deaf NT’s funding ended through the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), Deaf Children Australia chief executive David Wilson said at the time.