Lionel Quartermaine says reported plans for mainstream government departments to handle indigenous funding are wrong.
He says a royal commission would be a vital first step towards identifying why current systems are not working, and what needs to be done to fix the problems.
Mr Quartermaine says mainstream government departments already fund the areas of health, education, housing and employment, which have the most problems.
He says transferring all funding decisions to government departments would be like giving gold medals to last-placed athletes.
