Four prominent Indigenous community leaders will meet Tony Abbott to keep up the momentum for constitutional recognition before the prime minister’s week-long visit to the Torres Strait.
The head of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, Kirstie Parker; Cape York leader Noel Pearson, Indigenous constitutional lawyer Megan Davis and Broome leader Patrick Dodson will travel to Canberra on Thursday for the talks.
The meeting is expected to discuss Indigenous-specific forums on constitutional recognition, a proposal previously rejected by Abbott.
Dodson told ABC radio on Wednesday that Australia’s first peoples needed to be informed of the referendum process.
“So long as there’s communication going on around challenging issues like specific conventions for Indigenous peoples, that’s got to be a positive,” he said. “At least the door’s open to have the discussion, the resourcing of that’s critical.”
“I hope that we can go forward. I think the country is looking for some leadership here,” Dodson said.
The four leaders had written to the prime minister earlier this month to ask the government to fund Indigenous-only forums.
They argued that the specific forums would be the best way of ensuring Indigenous people supported the model put forward for constitutional change.
Abbott rejected the proposal in a letter to the leaders, saying the recognition campaign needed the support of all Australians, not just one section of the community.
“I am in favour of building a consensus, but strongly believe that this should be a national consensus in favour of a particular form of recognition, rather than simply an Indigenous one,” the letter said. “The risk with an Indigenous-only – or even an Indigenous-first – process is that it might produce something akin to a log of claims that is unlikely to receive general support.”
Thursday’s meeting is expected to try to find a compromise between the concerns of the prime minister and the wishes of Indigenous groups.
The prime minister’s office did not respond to Guardian Australia’s request for comment on the matter. Labor supports the proposal for Indigenous-specific forums.
“You cannot have constitutional recognition without the support of Indigenous people,” Labor’s indigenous affairs spokesman, Shayne Neumann, told Guardian Australia. “I’m hoping that the prime minister will listen to the voices of well-respected [Indigenous] leaders and have a change of heart and of mind.”
Abbott will head to the Torres Strait next week as part of his pre-election promise to spend one week a year visiting remote Indigenous communities.
The proposal to change the constitution to recognise Australia’s first peoples has bipartisan support, but the form that would take has not been finalised.
A question will be ready by mid-2016, and Abbott is committed to holding the referendum in 2017, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the successful referendum on including Indigenous people in the census.
Polls have shown that three out of four voters are in favour of recognition.
