Western Australian Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas is set to launch a petition calling for the state's Aboriginal Affairs minister to resign.

Mr Zempilas will launch the petition Sunday morning.

Earlier this week, Mr Zempilas called for Don Punch to be sacked.

"The premier should instantly dismiss Don Punch from the portfolio as Aboriginal affairs minister, he is clearly no longer fit to be the minister for Aboriginal affairs," he said.

The minister has faced criticism over his response to the crisis in WA's child protection system, which is particularly acute in the Pilbara region.

Reporting by The Australian in September revealed a government-owned home in the Pilbara town of Port Hedland in which up to 15 Indigenous children lived, often unsupervised, in poor conditions.

In October, after a long campaign by Yamatji-Wajarri woman Dorothy Papertalk, Western Australia's Attorney General called for an inquest into the deaths of her three grandchildren in 2022, who were killed in Port Hedland by their mother the day after she was turned away from a women's refuge. Ms Papertalk had long fought for an inquest to examine why her multiple warnings to child protection authorities did not lead to the removal of the children for their safety.

While Premier Roger Cook, Minister for the Pilbara Amber-Jade Sanderson, Minister for Child Protection Jessica Stojkovski and Minister for Community Services Matthew Swinburne visited the region across September and October, Mr Punch has not done so, and has faced criticism over his engagement, or lack thereof, in child protection and other issues disproportionately impacting Aboriginal people.

The minister recently defended his performance.

"The Aboriginal affairs portfolio does not have a direct responsibility for housing or health or child protection," Mr Punch told the ABC earlier this week.

"Aboriginal affairs is a collective responsibility across government, across the cabinet. It doesn't mean to say that every time there is a matter that the police have or the child protection minister has, or the health minister has that concerns Aboriginal people, I am necessarily involved.

"I leave it to the ministers responsible."

Mr Punch pointed to Minister Stojkovski's several visits to the Pilbara, insisting she had taken positive action.

Nyamal Elder Linda Doogiebee called for Mr Punch to be removed as minister following a radio interview in which he said: "We need to understand what Aboriginal affairs is today. Aboriginal affairs is about managing a land estate. It's about negotiating compensation on native title. It's about heritage protection."

He said his portfolio does not have "direct responsibility" for child protection, housing or health, adding that "the issues of welfare of Aboriginal people are a collective responsibility for the cabinet".

The Aboriginal Affairs Planning Authority Act 1972 puts the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs in charge of key statutory bodies which advise on social, economic and health outcomes for Aboriginal people.

Ms Doogiebee, who previously worked for the Planning Authority, told The West Australian Mr Punch "should have his portfolio taken off him, if he cannot understand what the role means".

"He needs to go back to Ground Zero, ad actually come up to Port Hedland," she said.

"I think they'll be utterly disgusted and shocked (by his comments on his role)."

Kariyarra Elder Pat Mason was also shocked by the minister's claims about the role.

"It doesn't sound right because the minister, his portfolio is about community and child protection is part of his portfolio," she told The West Australian.

Speaking to the same publication after the mid-week radio interview in which Mr Punch made his comments, the minister said one of his roles as Aboriginal Affairs "is to improve whole-of-government coordination on strategic initiatives and policies that affect the cultural, health, social and economic outcomes for Aboriginal people".

Ms Mason said the minister "needs to get a clarification about what the term for welfare is".

"Poverty and living in squalor is part of an Aboriginal Affairs issue, so he needs to deal with it. He carries that portfolio. It's not solely about child protection," she said.

"It's about what's actually happening from the Aboriginal side of it that's actually causing this havoc.

"I'm appalled by the whole situation, why has it taken nine to ten weeks?"