PM handed final report on Indigenous recognition

A group set up to advise federal parliament on progress towards constitutional recognition for Indigenous Australians will hand down its final report.

Malcolm Turnbull at the first meeting of the Referendum Council in May 2017.

Malcolm Turnbull at the first meeting of the Referendum Council in May 2017. Source: AAP

The prime minister and opposition leader are set to receive the final report suggesting a pathway to recognising indigenous Australians in the constitution.

The Referendum Council, a group set up in 2015 to advise Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten on a way forward, will deliver their full findings and recommendations on Friday.

It follows months of consultation, culminating in a summit of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders at Uluru in May.

In a statement released at the end of the gathering, they dumped a planned referendum for the recognition of indigenous as first peoples in the constitution.

Instead, the group called for the enshrining in the constitution of an advisory body to give indigenous people a say on laws and policies that impact them.

Federal MPs are split over the proposal, with Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce initially labelling it an overreach.

Mr Turnbull has noted that only "conservative" constitutional changes would succeed at a referendum.

AAP


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