One of the royal commissioners presiding over an inquiry into the Northern Territory's juvenile justice system has rejected concerns of bias.
Mick Gooda, the former indigenous social justice commissioner, on Tuesday promised "externeous" factors won't affect his conclusions from the hearings.
"I wish to assure ... the community that I will look only at the evidence and other information given to the commission and that nothing extraneous will affect the conclusions I reach with my co-commissioner," he said in an opening statement at a directions hearing in Darwin.
Mr Gooda also said the success of the inquiry would be judged on what recommendations it made and the readiness of governments to implement them.
But there was a general consensus in the community that more research to 'describe the issues' wasn't needed.
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He said there had been several related royal commissions - including Aboriginal deaths in custody - so this latest inquiry must develop meaningful recommendations which would ensure a better future for all in the territory.
"Despite being a painful process, for a community to move forward, it must come to understand where these wrongs have occurred and ensure those wrongs are not repeated."
Co-commissioner Margaret White said the terms of reference were wide and required delving into cases over a decade.
She urged anyone with information to come forward so the work of the commission was fruitful.
"There can be no one in our community who is not anxious to find out if there are ways to bring about a significant reduction in child offending."
Senior counsel assisting the inquiry Peter Callaghan said the terms of reference had mentioned two cases of alleged abuse.
"But there are many more - we have identified at least a dozen such reports that are potentially relevant."
