The Northern Land Council's longest serving chief executive Norman Fry has denied being pushed out of the powerful Aboriginal organisation, after 11 years in the job.

But announcing his departure the day after John Daly was voted out as its chairman, Mr Fry said he didn't know if traditional owners had lost confidence in the council leadership.

"I've been wanting to go for some time, that's no secret," he told reporters in Darwin.

Asked if he was pushed, Mr Fry replied: "That's a good question, I have been pushed from day one ... but no, the timing is one of my own".

He also refused to answer questions about whether traditional Aboriginal land owners, which the council represents, had lost faith in the organisation's leadership.

"I can't answer that question because I just don't know the answer," he said.

The NLC came under fire earlier this year for backing a controversial nuclear waste dump on Aboriginal land at Muckaty Station near Tennant Creek.

"We cop flak over everything, whether it's a nuclear waste repository or a uranium mine," Mr Fry said.

"We've opened the door and what will take place are bigger and better opportunities."

Mr Fry said Aboriginal people needed hope and to be able to get proper jobs.

"Land rights is changing and evolving through the natural course of time," he said.

"We are actually looking to make something out of it now."

He has been an outspoken critic of the Howard government's intervention in Aboriginal communities and said there were still "a lot of mixed signals and messages".

"The land council has always been concerned about that," he said.

"We've been very concerned about the intervention since day one."

He said he believed the permit system should be re-introduced and had ongoing concerns with the compulsory acquisition of land under five-year lease schemes.

With a change of leaders at a federal and territory level, he warned against short-term political point scoring.

"I hate to think that local politicians here and federal politicians would mess around with such a serious intent, it's far too serious a matter," he said.

"It's too big an issue to play politics with it."

The council's new chairman Wali Wunungmurra paid tribute to Mr Fry.

He said the former chief executive had been instrumental in many major projects such as the Blue Mud Bay court case, which granted Aboriginal people exclusive access to more than 80 per cent of tidal waters along the NT coast.

It is on appeal to the High Court next week.