The laws specifically target Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, in what is very clearly an abandonment of the Howard government's 'one size does not fit all' mantra which it has been trumpeting - but rarely practising - in Indigenous affairs in the past few years.

It follows the release of the Little Children Are Sacred report two months ago, an investigation into child sexual assault in the Northern Territory. Responding to the report on June 21, Mr Brough and Prime Minister John Howard said they would introduced legislation to seize control of Aboriginal communities in the Territory.

The report’s authors - Pat Anderson and Rex Wild QC – have condemned the Howard government response.

Now the legislation is entering the public domain, it’s not hard to see why.

While other welfare recipients around the nation will only be subject to the financial control orders if they 'trigger' a series of criteria, such as not enrolling their child in school or having reports of child neglect filed against them by government agencies, all Aboriginal people in the NT communities who receive welfare will have half their welfare benefits controlled, regardless of their past spending habits.

Similarly, while white welfare recipients inside the Territory, and all welfare recipients outside it, will be able to challenge the financial control orders through the normal administrative appeals processes (such as the Social Security Appeals Tribunal and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal) the proposed legislation seeks to prevent Aboriginal people from seeking a review of the controls.

That means that welfare recipients will also not be able to challenge decisions by bureaucrats on how their money is spent. The only mechanism for review is likely to be the Federal Court, an institution clearly inaccessible to Aboriginal people in remote communities.

The bill is called the Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Northern Territory National Emergency Response and Other Measures) Bill 2007.

NIT has obtained advance copies of the federal government's other proposed legislation. We're compiling a feature on the issue for our print edition on Thursday, but will bring NIT online readers the news as it comes to hand.

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