Lawyer prepares UN case against intervention

An Indigenous leader from central Australia has asked a human rights lawyer to take a case against the federal intervention to the United Nations.

Barbara Shaw from the Intervention Rollback Action Group says she believes the compulsory quarantining of welfare payments and the continued suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act is wrong.

Her UN case will argue that the federal intervention into Northern Territory Aboriginal communities is racially discriminatory.

The Government says it will reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act in the next phase of the intervention, once it has consulted with Indigenous communities.

But Ms Shaw says that is not acceptable.

"I believe that the intervention is wrong and a lot of people are suffering," she said.

"The Minister for Indigenous Affairs and the Prime Minister thinks that everybody likes the intervention and it's helping our children and women, and in fact it's not."

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