KARLA GRANT: Tonight on Living Black, with the 40th anniversary of the 1967 referendum upon us, we look at one of the key organisations that campaigned for Aboriginal rights.

The Aboriginal Advancement League were the ones that built I think the real sense of the word 'reconciliation'.

KARLA GRANT: And we meet Uncle Herb Patten, who won the hearts of the nation playing a gumleaf.

It's coming from you, yourself, Just like the voice. The voice is you. The gum leaf is you.

KARLA GRANT: Hello. And welcome to Living Black. I'm Karla Grant. Last week, the town camps of Alice Springs rejected $70 million in Federal Government funding offered to lift the living standards of its Indigenous residents. It's an offer the Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister, Mal Brough, says is not negotiable. In a bid to try and change their minds, NT Chief Minister Clare Martin has asked for the deadline to be extended. That deadline is today. Angela Bates reports.

VO1 An offer of $70 million - it's money that's desperately needed to help alleviate social problems in the poverty stricken town camps of Alice Springs. But the take-it-or-leave deal comes with conditions attached and town camp residents are not happy.

WALTER SHAW, BOARD MEMBER, TANGENTYERE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL: One of the major concerns was giving up a portion of their leases in which they've held for over 30 years.

VO2 If they take the money, town camp residents would be forced to sublease their land to the NT Government for 99 years.

KATHY ABBOTT, TOWN CAMP RESIDENTS: I think part of the other negotiations of really surrendering something that old people have fought for many years to be able to have something that our people can have through the generations.

VO3 And the town camp residents are not so willing to surrender their land or their rights.

WALTER SHAW, TANGENTYERE COUNCIL EXECUTIVE MEMBER: The general feeling of the town campers is that they are standing firm in their decision as of last Friday until an agreement is met by the whole three parties - the Australian Government, the Northern Territory Government and town campers.

VO4 Another concern is Tangentyere Council would have to hand over management of housing responsibilities to the Northern Territory Housing Commission who will then turn town camps into suburbs of Alice Springs. Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough confirmed that the Housing Commission policies would then apply, such as the maintenance of homes and paying rent on time or face eviction.

WALTER SHAW, TANGENTYERE COUNCIL EXECUTIVE MEMBER: A lot of the concerns from town campers is they're looking at mass evictions, a lot of the houses on town camps - I've made this comment before - that a lot of the houses are shells, and there have been shells on town camps for over 30 years.

VO5 - While the point of funding is to give the houses a facelift, there are concerns about the transition to living in upgraded homes.

WALTER SHAW - TANGENTYERE COUNCIL EXECUTIVE MEMBER: And, I mean, with the allocation of the $60 million it will bring houses up to standardised living but also we need some sort of transitional period as to a person living in a shell with $60,000, $50,000 worth of fittings in the house. They've adapted to living in the shell and they also have to adapt to living in a standardised house.

VO6 But the reasons for rejecting the cash have been met with harsh criticism.

FRAN KILGARIFF, ALICE SPRINGS MAYOR: This is a golden opportunity, in fact it's the only opportunity that I can see in the foreseeable future where there is the money, the political will, the opportunity and the processes to actually make a difference in town camps.

JODEEN CARNEY, NT OPPOSITION LEADER: What it means for the Indigenous community is that they will continue to live in the appalling conditions that they do. What it means for the wider community is that we will miss an opportunity of seeing $60 million to $70 million injected in to the town.

VO Labor Member for Lingiari Warren Snowdon feels that the take-it-or-leave-it deal is going to hurt the community.

WARREN SNOWDON: It's up to Mal Brough to do what he likes, I guess, but I think it will be an absolute shame if that money's not spent where it's been allocated, that is in the town camps around Alice Springs.

KARLA GRANT: Angela Bates with that report. And we approached Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough for comment, but due to the delicate nature of the situation, he has declined to make any further statement at this stage. However, joining me now from Alice Springs is Rosalie Kunoth-Monks. Rosalie is the Deputy Chair of the Urapuntja Council of the Alyawerre region and is a native title holder of Alice Springs.

KARLA GRANT: What are your main concerns about this whole deal concerning the Federal Government funding?

ROSALIE KUNOTH-MONKS: The whole concern to me is the fact that the funding is conditional on the lease of these town camps to be handed back to the Northern Territory Government. This concerns, I think, each and every Indigenous Australian, and it should. And this is the concern also with the proposed shire councils that are being implemented, or, yeah, we are in the midst of the implementation, I guess, because it has to come into force on 1 July, 2008. There is a lot of things that are going around that we are not clear on, nor are we satisfied with the dialogues that should be taking place.

KARLA GRANT Right, but are there any concerns about different family groups, I guess, living near each other if this proposal was to go ahead?

ROSALIE KUNOTH-MONKS: The proposal of the town camps you are talking about?

KARLA GRANT Yes.

ROSALIE KUNOTH-MONKS: The town camps are the most impoverished people, worse than, I believe, Third World countries. They live within sight of the town. They live within sight of today's affluent, rich country of Australia. And I think that is the sin - the fact that they are a blight on and around Alice Springs. Alice Springs, in the first instance, is a native title country where Aboriginal people are there for everyone to see. But the fact that people are upset because we seem to be out in the open, all the social or antisocial behaviour is out in the open, all the misery is out in the open. These miseries are fuelled by failed policies of the governments of the day. It doesn't matter which government. It is fuelled by those failed policies. Now, to really consider where to from here, surely would mean that the two lots of people - Indigenous Australia and our brothers and sisters that belong to the other culture - I don't like saying 'white' because I don't think that makes a difference - but to come together with real concern and real care for each other, I believe we can overcome and I believe we shall overcome.

KARLA GRANT: Obviously this is a very sensitive issue, but if these people don't accept the Government's offer, it could well mean that they continue to live in these deplorable conditions for next 10 or 20 years. Do the people at the town camps understand that and aren't they concerned with that?

ROSALIE KUNOTH-MONKS: Of course they understand it. But if there is no social justice in approaching this issue, it will not get anywhere. Whether we live in mansions or whatever, if you are unacceptable to the rest of the community, it is not going to work. We need to go a bit deeper and a bit more intelligently into the issues that affect all of us, whether in Alice Springs or other country centres. And I believe its is overdue for this discussion to take place.

KARLA GRANT: We're going to have to leave it there. I'm sure this is an issue that we're going to continue to hear a lot of in the coming weeks. But Rosalie Kunoth-Monks, thank you very much for joining us today.

ROSALIE KUNOTH-MONKS: Karla, I want to say in language - (Speaks Indigenous language) Thank you for this discussion with me. Thank you.

KARLA GRANT: That was Rosie Kunoth-Monks joining us from Alice Springs. And as reported in our story, a decision on whether the town camps will reconsider the Federal Government's offer of funding is expected to be made today. We'll bring you further developments as they come to hand. Still to come on Living Black, with the 40th anniversary of the 1967 referendum upon us, we take a look at the work of the Victorian Aboriginal Advancement League.

KARLA GRANT: This Sunday will mark the 40th anniversary of the 1967 referendum in which Australians voted overwhelmingly to give the Commonwealth the power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. It also officially included them in the national Census. But 40 years on, how much has changed? Video journalist Emma Cook travelled to Melbourne to visit one of Australia's oldest Aboriginal organisations, and asked members what they think. 'THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGING' BY BOB DYLAN PLAYS

FAITH BANDLER (FILE FOOTAGE) The referendum is on Saturday and it's important that we should have the maximum vote. What effect do you think it will have in real terms if you get a yes vote? It's not a question of fact, I think it's a matter of democratic right.

VO: It remains the most successful referendum in Australia's history. In 1967 over 90% of Australians voted for change.

PHILIP COOPER: I think that it sort of recognised us as human beings but I think that what we should have done is took it a little bit further and pushed it a lot harder around human rights.

MERLE JACKOMOS AND ESMAI MANAHAN: It's now, in this day and age, it's really difficult to believe that it was only 40 years ago. We say a long time ago - it's not a long time that Aboriginal people in this country had citizenship rights.

VO: Melbourne in the 1960s - passion and politics converge. It was here that the Victorian Aboriginal Advancement League was born. The league was set up in 1957 by white and black Australians, including champion athlete and pastor Sir Doug Nicholls and his colleague Stan Davey. Stan suffered a stroke two years ago but his wife, Jan, remembers vividly the day he took up the cause.

JAN RICHARDSON: Stan was a Churches of Christ minister at the time and was absolutely outraged at what he saw of the conditions of Aboriginal people in Victoria. He ultimately decided that his life-work commitment was to be for the cause of Aboriginal justice.

COOK: The Aborigines' Advancement League were the ones that built, I think, the real sense of the word 'reconciliation'

VO: Relying totally on public donations, those early years saw members out on the streets of Melbourne shaking tins and gathering signatures, pressuring the government into holding the referendum vote. Field officer Alick Jackomos and his wife, Merle, campaigned wherever and whenever they could. Esmai Manahan couldn't be prouder that her parents were instrumental in the campaign.

ESMAI MANAHAN: I remember my father actually going to places like the Collingwood Football Ground or standing in Westgarth Street, Northcote, Smith Street, Collingwood, just getting the petitions signed as a part of that whole group, which was about Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people really fighting for that yes referendum to happen.

VO: Soon after the referendum Aboriginal members took over all management positions within the league fighting for Aboriginal rights.

ESMAI MANEHAN: It was termed the Black Power movement, which actually scared a lot of the non-Aboriginal members of the Advancement League because they felt...you know, people did feel threatened about their role, their role within the Advancement League. And that was the catalyst for change in the Advancement League, that's when things changed.

RICHARD BROOME: It has changed its focus somewhat because at the start the league did everything.

VO: Historian Richard Broome has made it his mission to take the league's history out of these boxes and give it the attention it deserves.

RICHARD BROOME: Now a lot of other Aboriginal organisations have grown up, of course, in the 1980s - legal services, health services, housing services, etc, so the league's functions have been slimmed down over the years but it's still here.

VO: They still have their radical roots but today the league plays a more nurturing role.

ESMAI MANAHAN: The Advancement League provides a social centre for Aboriginal people. It's a meeting place, it's a place to network and it really is the mother organisation for every other organisation in this country

VO: For many the league wasn't just an organisation, it was an education. Former president Margaret Briggs-Wirrpanda describes it as a political awakening.

MARGARET BRIGGS-WIRRPANDA: There was always statements coming out of the league on government policies, and statements on the issues, and it was very much a vital role that the Advancement League played.

VO: While she looks back at the league with great affection, there's also great sorrow. She says 40 years later many Indigenous people still live in poverty, something that those who fought for the referendum would find disheartening.

MARGARET BRIGGS-WIRRPANDA: The state that we're living in now, it's not much - it's only, what, one step forward, half a step back. Margaret sees the 40th anniversary as a call to action in the spirit of those who fought for the referendum.

MARGARET BRIGGS-WIRRPANDA: We've got to stoke the fires up again, you know, because I think that our elders would have been jumping up and down about a lot of things because everyone's gone too quiet. Don't sit back and allow the Government to do all your thinking for you. We've got to do our own thinking and our own talking.

KARLA GRANT: After recent success on Channel 7's show 'Australia's Got Talent', Victorian Aboriginal elder Herb Patten is renowned around Australia for his skill playing the gumleaf. Video journalist Jacinta Isaacs reveals the other side of Uncle Herb - that of political advocate, artist and natural self-promoter.

VO1: He was crowd-pleaser yet, incredibly, Herb Patten had to be persuaded to appear on the show.

HERB PATTEN: I don't like playing in contests because my music should never be judged. I'm a musician.

VO2: But judged he was. Channel 7 viewers Australia-wide voted Herb into the finals. He may not have won the big bucks but he attracted followers around the country. Judge Red Symons recognises his appeal. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

RED SYMONS: It was kind of gorgeous. Everything about Herb had exactly the right tone for the show. And I wouldn't have predicted it but it was really pleasing that he actually came well, effectively he was one of the two finalists in the final show.

HERB: And the sound comes over the top. (Plays scale)

VO4: But there's another side to Uncle Herb. He's an artist, student, political activist and he might even say a healer.

HERB: I've played trees without even picking a leaf and I walked past that tree a couple of years later, for some reason or other, it's greener - it's got my music growing in it. I believe there could be some healing powers in the sounds I make.

VO6: His dedication to Indigenous rights began in the '60s.

HERB It was sort of like a new dawn happening with Aboriginal people starting to get some sort of recognition by governments of the day.

VO7: Herb, a Ganai-Kurnai man from Victoria's East Gippsland, grew up disconnected from much of his Aboriginal heritage.

HERB: I guess I grew up not knowing the real, true gist of history. Me parents never told me a great deal. I didn't even know there was that many Aboriginal people around until I started to move around. But things changed of course once I understood, when I got out into the broader world. pause

VO8: Today, every time Uncle Herb picks up a gumleaf or a paintbrush, he returns to his roots.

HERB: With shields we can identify who we are traditionally, who we are culturally to our people.

VO9: Melbourne Museum's Bunjilaka Aboriginal Centre is currently showcasing Herb's artwork.

HERB: I find it very rewarding to paint anything about gumleaves. It's the biggest one I've done. It's called 'Gumleaf Infusion'.

CAROLINE MARTIN, MANAGER BUNJILAKA: His personality, his passion for the gumleaf actually has brought those paintings alive. It's absolutely amazing.

VO10: Caroline Martin is a Bunerong traditional owner and descendent of the Briggs family in Victoria. She's known Uncle Herb most of her life.

CAROLINE: He is someone that generates warmth and humility. He's got this most amazing ability to actually make you feel like you are the special person when he's having a conversation with you.

HERB: Your music, it can be modern, it can be old, it can be crazy, it can be just any type of thing, but it's coming from you, yourself. Just like the voice - the voice is you. The gumleaf is you. (Plays 'Waltzing Matilda)

VO11: And when it comes to his music, Herb Patten has big dreams.

HERB: PAUSE I want a 12-piece band anywhere - white or black, doesn't make no difference. If you're a good gumleaf musician and you can play good quality notes, you know a bit of what music's about, we can get together. Who knows - we could have a 12-piece band like they had back in the '30s. NAT SOT6- Gumleaf song (Waltzing Matilda)

KARLA GRANT: Let's take a look at what's making news. The Australian Medical Association says Indigenous people are dying early because of institutional racism. The AMA's annual Indigenous Health Report Card says Indigenous Australians are still dying at least 17 years before non-Indigenous Australians.

DR MUKESH HAIKERWAL, AMA: The health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is so far behind that of the rest of the community that we actually have to step up to the plate with a decent sum of money and a way of making sure that money goes into primary health care.

KARLA GRANT: The report says Indigenous Australians face financial and cultural barriers to getting adequate health care. The AMA is calling for $460 million a year to improve basic health services for Indigenous Australians.

TONY ABBOTT, HEALTH MINISTER It is not going to happen tomorrow or the day after or even next month but I think you can be very confident, based on the record of this Government, that Indigenous health spending will steadily and significantly increase.

KARLA GRANT: And as we've reported earlier, this Sunday marks the 40th anniversary of the 1967 referendum. And to celebrate the most successful referendum in Australia's history, dozens of high profile Australians have joined a new reconciliation campaign.

LEAH PURCELL Reconciliation is a story about all of us, and it is a lot bigger than this ad. Reconciliation Australia launched the "Too Big a Story" advertising campaign aimed at starting a nationwide conversation on reconciliation. If you'd like to become an ambassador for reconciliation, log on to reconcile.org.au for more information.

KARLA GRANT: As reported in our main story tonight, members of the Tangentyere Council have been meeting today with the Northern Territory Government to reconsider their decision to reject $70 million of Federal Government funding. And we've just heard in the last hour that they've decided to stand by their decision and reject the Federal Government's offer.

KARLA GRANT: And that's all for today. On next week's program, we look at how Indigenous Australians can contribute to the issue of climate change.

Indigenous people have lived on country for thousands of years so their adaptation to past climate change is a really useful way of understanding how we might adapt in the future, and not just Indigenous communities but non-Indigenous ones to.

KARLA GRANT: That's next week on Living Black. Don't forget if you'd like to visit our website, you can do that by logging on to sbs.com.au and click on News. And with the anniversary of the 1967 referendum upon us, we leave you with thoughts on that significant time in Australia's history. Thanks for joining us. I'm Karla Grant. Goodnight.