The intervention is the most expensive attempt to change the relationship between remote Aboriginal Australia and the white nation, launched with a budget of $1.5 billion dollars. The Commonwealth government sought to restructure community economies, undertake health check programs for children, increase school attendance, restrict alcohol sales and quarantine income. At the same time the Northern Territory government terminated community councils and began implementing shires, resulting in an absence of community governance.

This paper reflects on diverse opinions expressed by significant stakeholders in the Alice Springs region. The Intervention's first year of operation has closed on a confused note. The overarching objective of phase 1 was to 'stabilise' communities regarded as lawless, dysfunctional and most critically rampant with child sex abuse and so bring this 'moral tsunami' under control. The concept of stabilisation is seen as problematic in conception as it has been in realisation. This intervention, crudely conceived and implemented, retrofitted programs to policy. It is perceived by some as a qualified success, others disagree.