The referendum to recognise indigenous Australians in the constitution will not be held in 2016, Prime Minister Tony Abbott says, because he does not want the federal election to infect the bipartisan Recognise campaign.
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Both Mr Abbott and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten want to see Aboriginal Australians formally recognised in the constitution but a push in 2012 stalled because of low awareness and a breakdown in support for the technical wording being proposed. The leaders have met privately and struck an accord to ensure bipartisan support for the referendum when it does go ahead.
Mr Abbott is in Arnhem Land making good on a commitment to spend a week in a remote community each year he is Prime Minister. He refused to confirm media reports that his favoured timeframe is for a referendum in 2017 but did pour cold water on the idea of holding it a year earlier.
"I think it's going to be difficult to run a bipartisan referendum campaign in conjunction with a highly partisan election campaign. That's why I don't think it is really that sensible to have the referendum at the time of the next election," he said.
"If we rush prematurely into naming dates, into deciding what the proposal will be, I think we cruel our pitch, I think we jeopardise our chances of getting it all through," the Prime Minister added.
A parliamentary committee chaired by indigenous Liberal MP Ken Wyatt recommended this week the referendum be held before or at the next election.
Labor Northern Territory senator Nova Peris told Fairfax Media the opposition also believes recognition "must be achieved" before the next election.
But Senator Peris, who is Labor's first indigenous female senator, said "the important thing is to get this right; we can't rush it but we can't take too long".
Senator Peris said it was important that any constitutional change be "meaningful" and more than just a "token gesture".
"I believe you can't have recognition of the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander peoples and then allow a power to remain which is designed to discriminate against people," Senator Peris said.
Senator Peris also refused to back the idea of quarantining a number of seats in the Senate for indigenous Australians, saying while she wanted to see greater representation of the first Australians, she does not want to be "distracted" from the issue of recognition.
Mr Abbott has said "spiritual ambition" for constitutional recognition may be more realistic than "legalistic ambition".
Holding the referendum in 2017 would mark 50 years since the 1967 referendum, which removed discriminations against Aboriginal Australians. It was overwhelmingly supported by the public.
