If the referendum to recognise indigenous people in the constitution fails it could set back the cause of reconciliation by decades, the prime minister has warned.
"We've got to get it right," Tony Abbott said on Friday. "It's more important to get it right than to rush it."
Mr Abbott has nominated May 27, 2017 as his preferred date for the long-awaited referendum - the 50th anniversary of the celebrated 1967 referendum on indigenous rights.
The prime minister says no one wants the first Australians to finally feel like first-class citizens more than he does - but he says it's better to take it slowly and ensure it succeeds.
And if the referendum failed?
"It would set back the cause of national integration, of reconciliation, by years or perhaps decades," he said.
"We shouldn't be unambitious and we shouldn't be over-ambitious. That's the balance we have to get right here."
Constitutional change must satisfy a majority of people in a majority of states.
A parliamentary committee report on the issue is due in the first quarter of next year.
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