The federal intervention in Northern Territory indigenous communities is designed to cut off income to traditional land owners and is unconstitutional, the High Court has been told.
Traditional land owners Reggie Wurridjal and Joy Garlbin are taking on the federal government over its compulsory five-year takeover of their Maningrida township in Arnhem Land.
The elders, along with the Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation, say the commonwealth failed to acquire the land on "just terms" as required by the constitution.
They want the government's lease over the township to be declared invalid.
"We flew all the way down here with the number one goal of trying to win back traditional owners' rights to their land," Bawinanga chairman Peter Danaja told reporters outside the High Court in Canberra.
"We want to help the intervention succeed but number one is to have the ownership back to the traditional owners.
"It's been completely stripped off."
However, the commonwealth is expected to argue the takeover of the Maningrida land was not an acquisition of property, and even if it was, the "just terms" provision of the constitution does not apply to the Northern Territory.
