The federal government has ignored a key recommendation of the official review of the Northern Territory intervention, vowing to maintain strict controls on Aborigines' welfare money.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said the current income management system, under which all Aboriginal welfare recipients' payments are heavily controlled, had delivered real benefits to women and children.
A key plank of the intervention to stamp out child sex abuse, income management aims to ensure welfare money is spent on essentials, instead of alcohol, drugs and gambling.
The review board, headed by West Australian Peter Yu, recommended income management only apply to families whose children did not attend school or had been reported to child protection authorities.
Ms Macklin said the government would continue the current "stabilisation phase" of the intervention for another 12 months, before progressing to a long-term, development phase.
"The government is determined to improve the safety and well-being of children in remote NT communities and make real in-roads towards closing the gap," she said.
The government will work to amend the intervention legislation to reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA), she said.
The government will also ask the NT Valuer-General to determine a reasonable rent to pay traditional owners for the compulsory acquisition of their land.
