The prime minister and opposition leader have been urged to hold a public vote on including an indigenous voice in parliament or take the issue of constitutional recognition off the agenda altogether.
The Referendum Council, tasked in 2015 with finding a path forward on constitutional recognition for indigenous Australians, issued the challenge during a meeting with the pair on Monday.
Council co-chair Mark Leibler told the meeting in Sydney that as far as a referendum was concerned, there were only two alternatives
"You either adopt our recommendation or alternatively you put constitutional recognition for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders on the backburner for the moment and put it off maybe for the next 20 years," he said.
The council's proposal would establish a constitutionally-entrenched indigenous advisory body to the federal parliament.
The prime minister was non-committal, describing the recommendation as a "big idea" short on detail.
"It couldn't be shorter on detail, in fact, but it is a very big idea," Mr Turnbull said during the meeting in Sydney.
The prime minister - who led the failed republic campaign - said he knew better than most how hard it was to change the constitution.
"We do not want to embark - I'm sure none of us do - in some sort of exercise of heroic failure," he said.
"We need to ensure that any changes that are proposed are ones that meet both the expectations of first Australians but also will bring together all Australians."
The prime minister was particularly keen to discuss why the previous recommendations of various expert panels and committees had been set aside in favour of a different course on constitutional change.
Mr Leibler said the council was mindful of work already done on the issue, but said none of those inquiries had consulted as comprehensively with indigenous people.
Some details of how the representative body would operate needed to be fleshed out before a referendum was held but more could be finalised afterward, he said.
Mr Shorten said politicians shouldn't shy away from the "legitimate aspirations" laid out in the report.
"My party is ready to work with all of the political parties, indigenous leaders and the broader community in terms of final proposals for constitutional change," he said.
Labor senator and Aboriginal leader Pat Dodson said more clarity was required on exactly how the indigenous voice to parliament would be put into reality.
He is concerned the country is going around in circles on indigenous rights, and is not convinced the Turnbull government will back the Referendum Council's proposal.
"I don't think we've got a clear line of sight as to whether any constitutional change is going to take place or not," he told the ABC's 730 program.
The council's suggestions follow months of consultation, which culminated in a summit of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders at Uluru in May.
At the end of the gathering, they dumped a planned referendum for the recognition of indigenous as first peoples in the constitution, turning instead to the proposal for an advisory body.
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