Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney is celebrating a historic step towards a referendum on a voice to parliament while calling out the "doubters and wreckers" holding the nation back.
The first formal step to holding a referendum has been taken, as the words to alter the Australian constitution to enshrine an Indigenous voice were presented to federal parliament on Thursday.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus introduced the bill, setting the wheels in motion for a referendum later this year.
Ms Burney said the bill's introduction was history in the making and a step towards improving the lives of Indigenous people.
"This referendum is not about politicians and it's not about lawyers," she told reporters.
"It's about the Australian people having a say in the future of our country ... so that we can recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians in our founding document."
While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was in the chamber for the speech, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton was absent.
Mr Dutton has not revealed whether the Liberal Party would support a voice to parliament.
But Ms Burney said she hadn't taken much notice and the government still had "enormous hope" they would provide bipartisanship.
"There will always be those that seek to hold us back. Those doubters, those wreckers, they want to hold Australia back," she said.
"Well, we want to take Australia forward more united, more hopeful and more reconciled than ever before."
In his speech, Mr Dreyfus said the alteration would rectify more than 120 years of the explicit exclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia's constitution.
"Recognition through a voice is neither the beginning nor the end of this story, but it is an important new chapter," he told parliament.
"It is now 2023. It is time to accept the generous invitation in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. It is time to listen."
Mr Dreyfus said despite efforts of successive governments, steps to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians had not been successful.
"It is time for a different approach, it is a time to open a new chapter, it is time to listen," he said.
The constitutional change will involve adding three clauses saying:
"There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice;
"The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to parliament and the executive government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;
"The parliament shall, subject to this constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures."
The attorney-general said nothing in the provision would impact the ordinary functioning of Australia's democratic system, but rather it would enhance democracy.
"It will be a matter for the parliament to determine whether the executive government is under any obligation in relation to representations made by the voice," he said.
Referendum working group member Pat Anderson said generations of Indigenous people had been seeking to prove their place in Australia, but if recognised by the constitution that would not need to happen anymore.
"There's nowhere else in my view, we've got our bare arses on the barbed wire here," she said.
"The system has to change to accommodate our needs so we can really get down to the disadvantage that continues ... on and on to plague us."
