Federal Minister for Aged Care Ken Wyatt says people in Aboriginal communities and in camps on homelands need to call him if they have concerns about elderly residents.

The ABC published shocking images of acclaimed artist Kathleen Ngale, aged in her 80s, immobile and lying on a squalid mattress with just the heat of her dogs for warmth.

In the Utopia homelands of Australia's central desert, Ms Ngale has not been provided with proper housing, or even a wheelchair.

Mr Wyatt, who is also the Minister for Indigenous Health, said aged care services and funding for the Utopia region was adequate, and it was up to individuals to "raise the alarm" about people who fall through the cracks.

Kathleen Ngale and her husband Motorbike Paddy Ngale at home in Camel Camp, Utopia.

"When a situation like the one that was reported in the ABC arises, then I would have expected the community to have gone to their provider, or alternatively advised their local federal member, or advised me of their circumstance," he said.

"There's always opportunities to address these issues."

Ms Ngale has lived in the Utopia region all of her life, and speaks little English. There is one pay phone at her homeland of Camel Camp, and Ms Ngale cannot move unassisted.

Mr Wyatt said if the department was not made aware of a person's circumstances, they could not provide the assistance required.

"I do have concerns about her [Ms Ngale] slipping through the cracks, but at the same time, somebody in that community should have been in touch and raised concerns about her circumstance, like not having a wheelchair," he said.

Mr Wyatt said when people called the department, concerns were acted upon.

"Somebody will be following up on this," he said.

'It's appalling, it's third-world standards'

The Barkly Regional Council and the local Urapantja Aboriginal organisation said they had been on the phone, but there was limited funding available to service the vast, remote region.

The 2008 Intervention was responsible for stripping organisations of the services they once offered, said Michael Gravener, Urapuntja chief executive.

The public phone at Camel Camp, Utopia. ( ABC News: Neda Vanovac )

"Since 2008 and the NT Intervention, the onset of the Barkly Regional Council and the super-shires, Urapantja was disenfranchised in that they lost all access to their housing, services they delivered prior to that time," he said.

"We're not happy with the services that are being delivered, and we now wish to deliver those services."

Mr Gravener said Urapantja were frustrated they did not have control over the delivery of local aged care services, and he believed the service delivery as a whole had regressed since the Intervention.

He said there was an entrenched lack of appreciation at a Government funding level of the geographical area the services needed to cover, and the decision-makers needed to come and see places like Utopia for themselves to truly understand what was required.

"There's a sort of acceptance that this lack of service delivery to Aboriginal people is acceptable. It's not. It's appalling," he said.