Australians could vote on a proposal to recognise Indigenous people in the constitution within the next three years.
Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt will detail the government's plan to achieve Indigenous constitutional recognition in a major speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday for NAIDOC week.
"I will develop and bring forward a consensus option for constitutional recognition to be put to a referendum during the current parliamentary term," Mr Wyatt will say.
"I have commenced the process of engaging and seeking the counsel of Indigenous leaders on the best way forward."
Member for Hasluck and Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison Source: AAP
The commitment is a significant step forward just two years after former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull rejected a proposal for an Indigenous voice to parliament to be included in the constitution.
Mr Turnbull's dismissal of the idea that came out of the landmark 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart angered many Indigenous groups.
As the first Indigenous person appointed to the role of Indigenous Australians Minister, Mr Wyatt told SBS News earlier in the week he supports the intention of an Indigenous voice to Parliament.
The opening ceremony for the National Indigenous Constitutional Convention held in 2017 that produced the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Source: AAP
Minister optimistic
For a referendum to succeed, it must win majority support across the nation and in the majority of states and territories - a bar that has proved too high for most campaigns for constitutional change in Australia.
Only eight of 44 nation-wide referendums have been successful in Australia, including the 1967 referendum to include Indigenous Australians in the census.
But Mr Wyatt is optimistic given the process has the support of the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese.
"Equally, (Shadow Indigenous Australians Minister) Linda Burney and I will be charged with finding that consensus that our people agree to, that the majority of Australians would accept and the majority of states and territories," he told ABC radio on Wednesday.
Indigenous Labor Senator Pat Dodson said a referendum could be held sooner.
Labor Senator Pat Dodson says a referendum on constitutional recognition of Indigenous people could be held within 18 months. Source: AAP
"People should really put the challenge to the minister, come up with the model they want in the voice, and the set of words they want in the constitution," he told ABC radio.
"There have been proposals in relation to those matters and it shouldn't take more than 18 months."
