A delegation of Aboriginals has asked to meet Premier Howard as Parliament starts debating a law on child abuse allowing federal intervention in the Northern Territory.

Below is an article published by the Canberra Times:

A delegation of the Northern Territory's Aboriginal leaders will descend on Canberra this week [6-12 August 2007] to try to stop the Federal Government's controversial emergency intervention legislation to combat child abuse.

The high-profile group, led by former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment Coordinator Pat Turner and former NT Government minister John Ah Kit, will seek a meeting with Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd before Parliament starts debating the legislation on Tuesday [07 August 2007].

Two letters were sent yesterday [04 August 2007] from deep in the heart of a stringybark forest in north-east Arnhem Land following a meeting of some of Australia's most respected Aboriginal leaders.

These include former Northern Land Council president Galarrwuy Yunupingu and his brother Mandawuy from Yothu Yindi, the "father of reconciliation" Patrick Dodson, Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma and Jackie Huggins, co-chairwoman of Reconciliation Australia.

The letters call on both the coalition and Labor to delay passing legislation that authorises Canberra's unprecedented intervention in the Territory.

"It is not because they have to secure the safety of our children, as they put it forward and tug at the heartstrings of all the parents in Australia," Ms Turner said. "It's because they have control of both houses of Parliament and they can do what they like, taking away our hard-fought rights."

Prompted by a report that found widespread abuse in Aboriginal communities across the Territory, Mr Howard wants to scrap the permit system controlling the entry of non-indigenous people on to Aboriginal lands.