First published on Australian Associated Press ~ AAP

Closing the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australia will remain a pipedream unless workable and legitimate governance arrangements are created in Aboriginal communities, a book argues.

Contested Governance, launched on Monday in Canberra, suggests resolving tensions between Western and indigenous approaches to governance is essential to improving the social and economic standing of Aborigines.

"What we're saying is at present indigenous people don't have enough say and they don't have enough control of the way in which programs and services are delivered to them," co-editor Janet Hunt said.

"Yet, getting governance right is important for the future of indigenous Australia."

There needs to be a greater effort to bring black and white governance systems together "so they can work more effectively", Dr Hunt said.

"At the moment there's a mismatch.

"We try to impose our ways of governing on indigenous people and it's not working."

Dr Hunt said the mainstream system needed to better accommodate indigenous ways of doing things.

"Particularly in terms of a bit more stability in policies and longer term and more streamlined funding instead of little buckets of funding," she said.

The book examined five research sites in the Northern Territory affected by the federal government's intervention into Aboriginal communities.

Dr Hunt said the policy had "quite dramatic impacts" on governance in those communities.

"There were outsiders making decisions for indigenous communities and really not taking account of the strength and the contribution of pre-existing indigenous organisations in those places," she said.

"The intervention did undermine their governance capability."

One community in Arnhem Land was rocked when the sale of kava was banned overnight.

A community organisation which had been selling the drink in an attempt to tackle alcohol abuse suddenly lost $1 million in income a year, Dr Hunt said.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma says Contested Governance is an "invaluable insight" for governments.

"The book details a number of studies of indigenous groups successfully transforming their institutions, responding to new challenges and engaging in their own capacity building," Mr Calma said.

"They, and others like them, deserve to be supported by government as a key priority."

Contested Governance is a collaboration between the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) at ANU, Reconciliation Australia and a number of indigenous community organisations.

A copy of the book can be read online on the ANU website.