Indigenous advisory body to go: Shorten

A Labor government would likely ditch the Prime Minister's Indigenous Advisory Council headed by former Labor national president Warren Mundine.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the council hadn't been that successful and the existing structure hadn't delivered on the hopes that people had for it.

"I want to hear the voices of Aboriginal people. I'm interested to hear the voices they choose as well as the people I might want to talk to," he told ABC radio.

The advisory council was established by former coalition prime minister Tony Abbott in September 2013 as the government's top level indigenous advisory body.

Labor has a number of high profile indigenous candidates, including Senator Pat Dodson and former NSW minister Linda Burney. But Mr Shorten couldn't say if one would become indigenous affairs minister in a Labor government.

He said Labor Party rules meant that was decided by caucus.

"What I can say is I intend to use the skills of all my caucus members," he said.

Mr Shorten said he was optimistic that Labor's indigenous MPs would do very well.