TWO reports into the successes and failures of the Northern Territory intervention in Aboriginal communities have called for welfare quarantining to be curtailed.

Both reports have found women and children are safer as a result of the intervention, instigated by the Howard government last year and continued in most aspects by the Rudd Government.

But the reports recommend quarantining welfare on a case-by-case basis to reward responsible parents and assist others, even though critics say this approach exposes those who do the right thing to "humbugging" from those who do not.

An NT Government report last week suggested case management of welfare recipients could be triggered by alcohol and justice orders, child neglect and rent arrears. Variations of this approach are being trialled in some Cape York and Western Australian communities, and in Walgett, NSW.

In one of the studies, an analysis of 38 residents from 11 out of 18 town camps in Alice Springs found they were safer since the intervention and that "people are spending more money on food and clothes, and having more food more often".

But the study, conducted by Caritas and Tangentyere Council, which runs the camps, also found welfare quarantining was humiliating for Aborigines and prevented easy payment of loans, car registration, fines and children's sport costs.s

Another study of 118 people in four communities east of Katherine by two Newcastle academics, Claire Smith and Gary Jackson, found 27 per cent of interviewees believed the intervention had benefited them.

The east Katherine study found alcohol bans in outlying communities meant drunks were going to Katherine and had nowhere to live, leading to increased racial tensions in the town and even signs of a "white flight" trend.