The remote town set to receive the first police and troops under the federal government's radical Northern Territory indigenous abuse plan has questioned the need for the "military occupation".
Mutitjulu community leaders Bob and Dorothea Randall issued a statement in which they also said the women and children of their community were frightened of being forced to undergo medical checks.
The government last week seized control of 60 NT Aboriginal communities, including Mutitjulu, as Prime Minister John Howard declared the problem of child abuse a "national emergency".
The intervention, which involves bans on alcohol and hardcore pornography, welfare restrictions, increases in police numbers and compulsory health checks for Aboriginal children, followed the release of a damning report on the abuse of youngsters in the region.
The government hopes police, sourced from states and the Australian Federal Police (AFP), will be on the ground, supported logistically by the military, within a week.
Mutitjulu is expected to be one of the first communities police enter.
The Randalls said police and military intervention was fine for logistics and coordination but healthcare, youth services, education and basic housing were more essential.
"Where is the money for all the essential services?" they asked.
"We need long term financial and political commitment to provide the infrastructure and planning for our community.
"There is an urgent need for tens of millions of dollars to do what needs to be done.
"Will (Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal) Mr Brough give us a commitment beyond the police and military?
"The commonwealth needs to work with us to put health and social services, housing and education in place rather than treating Mutitjulu as a political football."
The Randalls said trust had to be built with the community before people were forced to undergo medical examinations.
"Even the doctors say they are reluctant to examine a young child without a parent's permission," they said.
"Of course any child that is vulnerable or at risk should be immediately protected but a wholesale intrusion into our women and children's privacy is a violation of our human and sacred rights."
The Randalls also questioned why it had taken so long for drastic action when the community had been in dire need of help for years.
They asked the government to clarify how it proposed to enforce an alcohol ban when there was a five star hotel 20 minutes from the town.
"We have been begging for an alcohol counsellor and a rehabilitation worker so that we can help alcoholics and substance abusers but those pleas have been ignored," they said.
"What will happen to alcoholics when this ban is introduced?
"How will the government keep the grog runners out of our community without a permit system?"
They said the community had gone backwards in terms of services since Mr Brough became minister.
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