Opponents accused Mr Howard of seizing on the issue to boost his re-election chances after he announced a ban on alcohol and pornography, and compulsory medical checks for some Aboriginal children in parts of northern Australia blighted by appalling social conditions.

The indigenous affairs minister, Malcolm Brough, said: "We'll be able to make a practical and real difference to that community."

The measures, which followed a major report last week that highlighted the chronic mistreatment of children in some communities, have in effect reversed a decade of allowing Aboriginal communities to largely govern themselves.

As well as the ban on alcohol and pornography, school attendance will be enforced and restrictions put on welfare payments so parents spend their money on food and not on a "river of grog", as the report's co-author, Pat Anderson, an Aboriginal health specialist, put it. Indigenous communities will in effect come under federal authority for the next five years.

But politicians claimed the prime minister was merely trying to look good in the run-up to the general election. Alan Carpenter, premier of Western Australia, said: "If he thinks it's an emergency, one could ask the question: why hasn't he done anything about it in the last 11 years? This is designed to create an issue for Mr Howard to run on."

Peter Beattie, premier of Queensland, also called the six-month ban on alcohol a "silly gimmick". He said Aboriginal parents should be involved in any plans to improve social conditions in townships. "Let's not become savages in this; we need to involve the community," he said.

There are serious questions about some of the measures. The Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance - Northern Territory said compulsory medical checks on indigenous children were racist and were causing anguish to parents. The Australian Medical Association said there were "nowhere near enough doctors" in the Northern Territory to conduct medical checks for an estimated 23,000 children.

The drinks industry has called the alcohol ban "an administrative nightmare" and said it would not stop problem drinkers from getting alcohol. Community health workers have asked what treatment would be made available for sexual abuse victims or people forced off alcohol. Doubts have also been raised about the ability of local prisons to cope with a possible influx of Aboriginal prisoners in already full jails.

However, Kevin Rudd, leader of the opposition Labor party, dismissed suggestions that the plan was a political stunt and said he would work with the government on a "positive, non-partisan basis".

Mr Howard was standing his ground. "We've been too timid in the past about interfering," he said. "I'll be slammed for taking away people's rights but frankly I don't care about that."

Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory have largely refused to comment so far, saying their councils would issue a considered response in due course. In Brisbane yesterday, demonstrators protesting about the acquittal of a police officer charged with the death of an Aboriginal man in custody condemned interference in Aboriginal affairs.

The statistics

Australia's 460,000 Aborigines make up about 2% of its 20m population. They are consistently the country's most disadvantaged group, with far higher rates of alcohol and drug abuse, and domestic violence. Alcohol causes the death of an Aborigine every 38 hours. Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, who together make up about 2.5% of Australia's population, live on average 17 years less than their fellow citizens. The average life expectancy for Aboriginal men is 59, compared with 77 for non-indigenous males, according to a 2006 report by the Australian institute of health and welfare. An indigenous Australian is 11 times more likely to be in prison than a non-indigenous Australian, and is almost three times more likely to be unemployed.