NT men unite against domestic violence

In the face of shocking domestic abuse statistics in the Northern Territory, indigenous men from the Tiwi Islands to Alice Springs have signed a memorandum of understanding to say enough is enough.

In front of Parliament House in Darwin on Monday, they declared their intention to fight family violence by entreating other men to tackle the problem.

"Aboriginal men have been disenfranchised since colonisation," said Deputy CEO of the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, Des Rogers.

He pointed to statistics showing the NT homicide rate is five times the national average, and Aboriginal women are 80 times more likely to be hospitalised due to assault.

The group, drawn from five regions, has been galvanised by NT Chief Minister Adam Giles' announcement last month that he wants to be an ambassador for the effort.

"I believe some Aboriginal men need a greater supportive framework in place to help them break away from welfare, stay out of the justice system and avoid alcohol abuse," he said in a statement.

Indigenous men's campaigner Charlie King said the commitment had buoyed the group.

"You try to get men to fix men's problems and they can do it; you try to fix it from outside, it doesn't get fixed," he told AAP.

"We want to change the attitude of men to say, `this is unacceptable behaviour, this is not what men do'."

Mr Rogers said indigenous men were often left out of community programs, which necessarily tend to focus on women and children.

"In order to stop it we need to empower men to do more about it, we can't leave them out of the picture," Mr King said.

The group have declared their intention to bring men together to reduce family violence, and engage with educational, medical and social support providers.

"We think the Territory can lead the way here, we want to surf in front of the wave if we can," Mr King said.

He will convene a forum of men's groups representatives in Darwin in October.