They took away their children, decided they were better off without missionaries, stopped them living in remote communities, and sent in the army.

Now local Aborigines watch as the federal government attempts to prod the Territory government towards reforms that not only redress their problems but address the national shame its callous, racist behaviour towards children under its care laid at Australia's door.

But Territory governments are provincially patriotic and stubborn. Darwin politicians make careers out of ignoring outsiders and the last time Australia tried to help - the 2007 Intervention initiated by John Howard's government - it unravelled big time.

In their report, co-commissioners Margaret White and Mick Gooda slammed the Intervention, saying it damaged more than repaired:

"The legislation that enabled the Intervention directly discriminated against Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. The Intervention involved a suite of measures with a broad aim to protect children and women from violence in Aboriginal communities. While the need for protective measures and action was not disputed, the method for achieving these aims was intensely contested."

In the end, they said, Intervention revived memories and trauma experienced by generations of Aborigines and was directly linked to family breakdown associated with children in custody.

Shortly after the report was tabled on Friday, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Attorney-General George Brandis and the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Nigel Scullion, patted themselves on the back for establishing the royal commission in a joint statement but tiptoed around the Darwin administration. Nobody mentioned money.

"While most of the recommendations of this Royal Commission are matters for the Northern Territory, the Australian Government will now carefully consider those findings directed to the Commonwealth. Importantly, many of the recommendations have wider implications for all jurisdictions," they said.

The politicians did not mention money but the commissioners suggested reform could save $335.5 million by 2027 but doing nothing would see this year's $37.3 million cost blow out to $113.4 million by 2026-27.

Locking up Aboriginal people was a form of tyranny in the Territory long before the July 2016 ABC's Four Corners programme exposed the dark at the centre of its jail system.

Twenty-six years ago, when the royal commission reported into 99 deaths in custody, 69 per cent of the Territory's prison population was Aboriginal. It has now risen to 90 per cent. Commissioners said up to 96 per cent of juveniles in detention or under supervision were Aboriginal. The youngest was 11. Sometimes 20 per of detainees in Darwin's notorious Don Dale Youth Detention Centre are under 14.

TV footage of teenage detainee Dylan Voller in a restraint chair and spit hood galvanised Australia but on Friday his lawyer Peter O'Brien said many believed Darwin would remain unmoved.

"Their lawyers not only represented corrective services ...(and) many of the guards and management officials named as abusers. They pitted the government's position against whistleblowers and attacked the credibility and veracity of evidence of every young person who gave evidence of abuse," he said.

"How the NT Government will respond to these findings, given they railed against the evidence on which they were based, is a question to be determined but I doubt they are genuinely committed to change."