A Queensland Indigenous leader says an ancient Aboriginal curse placed on Prime Minister John Howard is no laughing matter and could even have deadly consequences.

Suspended Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commissioner (ATSIC) chairman Geoff Clark was with a group of Aboriginal people who performed a ceremony known as pointing the bone at Mr Howard at Colac in south-west Victoria this week.

Indigenous rights campaigner Bob Weatherall says Aborigines believe that to point a bone at someone is strong enough to cause death.

He says John Howard has pushed Aborigines too far with his plans to abolish ATSIC and now they are using everything they have to fight back.

"You can't take it any other way, when somebody says and actually does the pointing of the bone then you have to take it as serious, you don't take it as a gimmick," he said.

"You don't think that it's not going to happen, you have got to respect that."