Olga Havnen says the vast majority of money pumped into the NT after the Intervention a decade ago has been squandered, but the Territory needs a 10-year plan in which the federal government and Aboriginal people are heavily involved.
The Danila Dilba Health Service CEO says it will probably be necessary to have much stronger involvement by the federal government, given the Territory's heavy reliance on Commonwealth funding.
"It would be an ideal time I suppose to do maybe mark 2 of what was attempted previously under the intervention but do this completely differently," Ms Havnen told the NT child protection royal commission on Thursday.
Ms Havnen said the federal government did not need to be directly involved as service providers.
"The experience of the intervention was such a debacle you'd never want that repeated, but I do think that there is a role for the federal government in here in the Northern Territory."