Protesters gathered in major capitals across the country, to mark the one year anniversary of the Howard Government’s Northern Territory intervention program.

Voicing concern over the reforms, Indigenous leaders called on the Rudd government to take further action to ensure access to health and education was made readily available to marginalised Aboriginal communities.

IN PICTURES: NT protests in Sydney

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Voicing concern over the reforms, Indigenous leaders called on the Rudd government to take further action to ensure access to health and education was made readily available to marginalised Aboriginal communities.

Protesters asked the government to:

*Repeal all "NT intervention" legislation
*Restore the Racial Discrimination Act
*Fund infrastructure and community controlled services
*Sign and implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
*Aboriginal Control of Aboriginal Affairs

The previous coalition government launched the radical measures to combat child sex abuse, including alcohol and porn bans, welfare management and the compulsory acquisition of 73 communities.

'Northern Territory'

Protesters in the Darwin called for the program to be scrapped saying the legislation underpinning the reforms should be repealed.

"There was a lack of consultation, a lack of long-term sustainable planning and inherent discrimination," says Norman George, Chairman of the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency.

“It has set indigenous people back decades. They have been stripped of their rights and are being controlled by the government,” Mr George says.

'Victoria'

Around 100 people gathered in Melbourne also demanding an end to the controversial policy, which aims to stamp out child abuse and improve living standards.

Organiser Michaela Stubbs, of the Alliance for Indigenous Self Determination, said the federal government had to move away from the assimilationist policies of the old Howard government.

"They must act on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples," she said. "Funding and resources in communities is badly needed, but can not come at the expense of basic human rights."

A cry for funding was heard in Queensland as Indigenous leaders called on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to invest $1 billion to help fix problems in Australian Aboriginal communities.

'Queensland'

Members and supporters of Queensland's Aboriginal community met outside parliament house before starting a protest march through the city calling for an end to the intervention.

Murri leader and Aboriginal Rights Coalition spokesman Sam Watson said the intervention did little more than erode the rights of Aboriginals.

"Mr Rudd should put $1 billion on the table and work with Aboriginal political leaders and lay down strategies and programs which will alleviate problems," Mr Watson told AAP.

Mr Watson has also called for the re-establishment of an elected Aboriginal body to work with the government similar to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), which was disbanded in 2004 after a series of controversies.

'New South Wales'

While in Sydney Uluru was at the centre of debate with Aboriginal elders vowing tourists would be banned from climbing the landmark.

In an address to 300 people who gathered at The Block on the CBD's southern edge, Vince Forrester, an elder from the Mutitjulu people who are the traditional owners of the tourist icon, said closing the rock to climbers would highlight the problems caused by the "draconian" intervention plan.

"We've got to take some affirmative action to stop this racist piece of legislation," Mr Forrester told the rally goers.

"We're going to throw a big rock on top of the tourist industry. We will close the climb and no one will climb Uluru ever again - no one."

Mr Forrester said the intervention had introduced more bureaucracy to the Northern Territory, while the extra resources were not being seen on the ground in Aboriginal communities.