Aboriginal petition against gay marriage

A group of senior Aboriginal leaders is petitioning federal parliament to oppose same-sex marriage.

The Uluru bark petition, backed by leaders of 70 different indigenous cultural groups from Queensland to Western Australia, was formally delivered to Speaker Tony Smith on Thursday.

The group opposes same-sex marriage on the basis that traditional unions between a man and a woman have always been upheld amongst the oldest living culture on earth.

Indigenous Liberal MP Ken Wyatt said fathers and mothers were deeply honoured in Aboriginal culture.

"They form the foundation of our families, class and system, and pass down our teaching, culture our traditions from generation to generation," he told parliament.