Political and community leaders say a famous annual festival in the Northern Territory celebrating Aboriginal culture is marred by the "unfinished business" of a treaty that has never come to pass.

Key points: Political and community leaders lament lack of treaty at major Indigenous festival in the NT

Political and community leaders lament lack of treaty at major Indigenous festival in the NT Bob Hawke was famously presented with the Barunga Statement at the event in 1988

Bob Hawke was famously presented with the Barunga Statement at the event in 1988 Despite his government supporting a treaty, such an accord still has not been reached

At the Barunga Festival in 1988, the Northern and Central Land Councils presented the late former Prime Minister Bob Hawke with the Barunga Statement, which called on the government to recognise the rights of Aboriginal Australians.

The Hawke Government adopted a policy to support a treaty between the Australian Government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people — but no treaty has been signed in the decades since.

Former prime minister Bob Hawke receives the Barunga statement during the 1988 festival. ( File photo )

"This was the place, this was the place that the treaty movement started," said the Federal Member for Lingiari, Warren Snowdon, at the festival's opening on the weekend.

"When we think about what we're here for," Mr Snowden said.

Member for Lingiari Warren Snowdon says voters are being denied the chance to enrol. ( ABC News: Alan Dowler )

"I'd like all of us to take away from here a yearning to see that product finished, so that we can have a treaty with our first Australians."

Northern Territory senator Malarndirri McCarthy reiterated Mr Snowdon's comments.

"We have unfinished business for our country," Ms McCarthy said.

"The spirit of this country we all call home knows there is unfinished business."

Senator Malarndirri McCarthy is concerned the funding will be used to oppose land claims ( ABC News: Mitch Woolnough )

The Northern Territory Government signed a memorandum of understanding with the four Land Council groups across the NT 12 months ago.

Professor Mick Dodson was appointed as the NT Treaty Commissioned in March.

He said he has had preliminary meetings with some organisations, and that community consultation on the treaty will begin in 2020.

Disappointment over delay

Roper Gulf Regional Council deputy mayor Helen Lee says she is deeply disappointed Aboriginal people are still waiting for a treaty with the Australian Government. ( Bridget Fitzgerald )

Barunga woman and deputy mayor of Roper Gulf Regional Council Helen Lee was 21 when Bob Hawke came to the town to sign the statement.

She says the fact it is yet to be fulfilled is incredibly disappointing.

"When are we going to reconcile? When are we going to come together? [To] close the gap?" Ms Lee said.

"When are the First People going to take responsibility over our own lives?

"There's no self determination for us.

"I'm very disappointed."

Northern Land Council chairman and local man Samuel Bush-Blanasi said he wished the issue of treaty had been resolved year ago.

But he said the appointment of Australia's first Aboriginal Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Ken Wyatt, gave him hope for the progression of Indigenous rights in Australia.

"It's time that white Australia should really look at it and try and get behind us," Mr Bush-Blanasi said.

Hope for the future

Tasman Keith is a 23-year-old hip hop artist and Gumbaynggirr man from Bowraville in New South Wales. ( Bridget Fitzgerald )

Hip hop artist Tasman Keith said there is a clear lack of understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

The 23-year-old Gumbaynggirr artist from Bowraville in New South Wales said he is often the only Indigenous person in his classes at a Sydney university.

"People flip out [because] they've never met an indigenous person before," he said.

Mr Keith said he used music as a way of connecting non-Indigenous Australians to his story and his culture.

"My story isn't just my story, it's a representation of my cousins, my uncles, my aunties, my whole family," he said.

"I feel like that story is not really told in mainstream music in Australia or throughout the world.