The Northern Territory Intervention has been surrounded in controversy since day one. Three and a half years later the intervention continues, but we now have a chance to take stock in search of a just response to a complex problem.  
  
In this essay, Dr Mary Edmunds draws together the history, circumstance, culture, principles and practice surrounding the Northern Territory Intervention. Key to her argument is that the Northern Territory Intervention has, for all of its drawbacks, provided an opportunity to review and re-approach how government enables or prevents the exercise of Aboriginal human rights.  
  
The paper is a passionate exposition that opens the space for engaging with ideas of poverty, abuse, governance and human rights in Aboriginal Australia. It is a considered and robust examination of the tension between our human rights obligations, the imperative to act, and the way these intentions are experienced on the ground.  
  
The essay was commissioned by the Whitlam Institute within the University of Western Sydney.  It is the latest in the “Perspectives” series of essays by respected public intellectuals designed to canvass ideas and put forward views on the policies that would shape a better, fairer Australia.