(Transcript from World News Radio)
The New South Wales government has made it harder for people to prove they have Aboriginal heritage to access funding and housing.
The move has raised questions over how the rest of the country determines Aboriginality.
Naomi Selvaratnam has the details.
It's an issue that divides indigenous communities and government: proving Aboriginality.
Last month, the New South Wales Aboriginal Housing Office stopped accepting statutory declarations as proof of indigenous heritage.
Social housing applicants must now have their Aboriginality confirmed by land councils and indigenous organisations.
New South Wales Community Services Minister Brad Hazzard says his office is reviewing the Housing Office's decision.
"Under the proposal statutory declarations will not be an option now I'm not necessarily sure that I agree with that and that's why I want to look at the whole system. We need to have a system that applies across all government agencies."
New South Wales opposition spokeswoman on Aboriginal Affairs, Linda Burney, says a statutory declaration can sometimes be the only way a person can prove their Indigenous heritage.
"Particularly for Aboriginal people through by whatever means have lost connection with their community, lost connection with their family and can't produce ID, can't produce photographs."
But the move has revealed a national problem, with inconsistencies across state and territory governments about how Aboriginality is determined.
Most governments require confirmation from a local Aboriginal land council or a registered Aboriginal organisation to provide written confirmation of an applicant's Indigenous heritage.
But there are differences in requirements among government departments to prove Aboriginality.
Indigenous Advisory Council Chairman Warren Mundine says a national database recording all Indigenous people is the solution.
"It's like births and deaths registry. It's about tracking your ancestors and from my experience in native title bodies around Australia, they've built up tremendous databases on who you are and what you are. "
However, Ms Burney says while national consistency is needed, a database is not the solution.
"How dare there be a national register of one particular group within Australia? It would be as fraught as this debate around proving your Aboriginality."
On the streets of Sydney, there's some obvious frustration with the New South Wales government move.
"It's ridiculous to have to go through all these hoops to get what you need.//We've had how many generations of removed children and they live with that problem every day of their lives.// If we're Aboriginal, we're Aboriginal, we shouldn't have to be on a database to prove that."
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