Urgent action is required to address the abuse of women and children in Indigenous communities and all genuine efforts to address Indigenous family violence should be encouraged and supported. The level of resources now available to Northern Territory communities through the Commonwealth Government’s ‘national emergency’ plan presents an opportunity to make real progress in addressing these issues. However, many Indigenous and non-Indigenous people hold grave concerns that the Government’s intervention is a missed opportunity because of the lack of genuine partnership with community members, especially the many women who have been doing this work, without adequate resources, for many years. The primary purpose of this article is to review the Commonwealth Government’s ‘national emergency response to protect Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory’ against the researched evidence on effective interventions in Indigenous family violence.