Mr Abbott says often Aboriginal people are not suited to self-government and administrators should instead be sent in to run communities with social problems.
Labor's health spokeswoman, Julia Gillard, says the Howard government hasn't made any difference to the huge gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and other Australians.
She says it is time for the government to consult Indigenous communities, rather than taking decision-making away from them.
“I think Tony Abbott's statement talking about a return to paternalism shows just what a failure of ideas this government has when it come to policies for Indigenous Australians. A paternalistic approach has been tried in this country for Indigenous Australians and it did not work. Our own history tells us it didn't work,” said Ms Gillard.