Indigenous people need to get back to language groups and move away from peak bodies, Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe has said.

Appearing alongside Labor Senator Jana Stewart, Greens Senator Dorinda Cox, and Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) chief executive Jill Gallagher at a pre-election community gathering, the outspoken Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurring woman told the gathering at the Aboriginal Advancement League on Tuesday night that language groups should be making decisions for First Peoples on their own Country.

"It's the language groups - the clans of the language groups - that are the ones getting taken away; getting locked up; ones who can't afford to feed, she said.

"They're the poor cousins on the side that no one cares about."

Senator Thorpe argued peak bodies "have all the say and get all the resources," whilst language groups "get nothing".

"It's the peak bodies that I think are a bit of a problem here," she said.

"I'm seeing peak bodies across this country that are getting so much money, and our services on the ground are struggling. So peak bodies should be small, small, not conglomerates of their own."

Senator Thorpe's comments brought a stinging rebuke from Dr Jill Gallagher, the state's former Treaty Commissioner.

She noted if it hadn't been for VACCHO - a peak body for the health and wellbeing of Indigenous people in Victoria and the organiser of the event - the community gathering on Tuesday night wouldn't have taken place.

"If it wasn't for this peak body, we wouldn't have a voice at all in this state, with [this] state government," she said.

"There needs to be more resources for on the ground, but not at the expense of a voice.

"We support all our smaller services, so they don't get into trouble, so they get more funding—I don't see any Blak politician doing that."

Senator Thorpe also argued the country needed "to get rid of Native Title, and we need to go back to the language groups themselves — which is what Jacinta [Coalition Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price] talks about".

Ms Price, the Coalition spokesperson for Indigenous Australians, used her Closing the Gap speech last month to argue are "too many" peak bodies in the space for meaningful change to be effective.

"The Coalition of Peaks are somehow meant to represent 80 peak organisations, and then each of those peak organisations can represent hundreds of further organisations…we were told in all sincerity that this was an effective way for grassroots opinions to have a seat at the table," Senator Price said.

"That proposition is absurd. It's no wonder our marginalised are remaining and becoming further entrenched in disadvantage."

Senator Thorpe found an ally in Senator Cox, who said smaller groups needed to able to take charge of language revitalisation.

"This needs to come from a grassroots movement, it cannot be led by peaks," she said.

"There's a way to do that as a systemic approach that actually can be built on the back of truth-telling and treaty."

The panel also disagreed over the importance of changing January 26. Both Ms Gallagher and Senator Stewart said the date was of mourning and not to be celebrated, calling for a conversation to be had around changing it.

Senator Thorpe, however, argued people needed to "deal with January 26 and all that that represents". She said if another date was implemented, "racists are still going to dance on our graves".

"I think that it's an ill-informed campaign [change the date], unfortunately, and changing the date is not the way to go," she said.

Asked to talk about positives for Indigenous people in Victoria, Senator Stewart, a Mutthi Mutthi and Wamba Wamba woman, said it was important to note - especially during the number of deficit-based conversations - "the majority of our families are doing okay".

She said "more and more Mob" were buying homes and starting businesses.

"There's been a 50 per cent growth in Aboriginal businesses across the country, that's pretty deadly," Senator Stewart said.

"So, mob are seeing the opportunity to use their culture, their skills, their knowledge, to really just dive in deep to the business space, and that's creating intergenerational wealth for them and their families."

The community gathering didn't feature any member of the federal opposition, with attendees told whilst some were contacted - including Senator Price - they either declined or didn't respond.

Senator Price advised National Indigenous Times she was unable to attend due to Parliamentary business she was undertaking in the Northern Territory.

The Senator's office advised event organisers she would be unable to attend accordingly, a spokesperson said.

This article was updated at 2:15 pm AEDT March 19 to include the statement from Senator Price.