Constitutional recognition does not have to exclude the future prospect of a treaty for indigenous people, Stan Grant says.
Mr Grant has been appointed to the Referendum Council to advise the government on a way towards a referendum on recognising Australia's first people in the constitution and removing racist clauses.
But on Friday morning at the first national conference on preventing indigenous suicide he was challenged by Dr Marcus Woolombi Waters from Griffith University.
"We don't want it (constitutional recognition), we don't want to be recognised by the perpetrator of the violence," Dr Waters said, calling instead for a treaty "that gives us the right to negotiate as a sovereign people".
There has been a growing chorus of resistance to constitutional recognition, with some indigenous people feeling it will erase the possibility of a future treaty.
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"It's an advisory council, not an advocacy council, it's an important distinction," Mr Grant said.
The constitution affects the daily lives of all Australians, he said, and it is "ludicrous" to pretend it doesn't touch indigenous people.
"There are clauses in that constitution that have allowed our children to be taken away, that have allowed our homes to be invaded, that have told us who we can marry and where we can live. Brother, you can't seriously want those clauses in the constitution, do you?" he asked.
"If we want to remove racist clauses from the constitution, then we can't sit outside and say we don't want to be part of the process."
The form of change and what words will be used are still being negotiated, and it's still not known how many Australians will support the referendum, Mr Grant said.
Only eight of 44 referenda have been successful in Australia, needing the majority of voters in a majority of states to vote yes in order to pass.
Mr Grant pointed to Victoria, whose state constitution recognises indigenous people and which is now opening negotiations for a treaty.
If recognition is not meaningful and did not support and protect the preservation of indigenous people and their culture, "then I'm with you, it's not worth doing," Mr Grant said.
"But we don't do it from the outside, we don't pitch a tent anymore, we don't do it from hurling stones."
