Indigenous council to be set up soon

A council to oversee public consultation on recognising indigenous people in the constitution will be announced in a few weeks.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters on Mer Island, in the Torres Strait, on Monday it was important not to rush the process.

"I am hoping that the referendum council will be announced in the next couple of weeks and I would like to think that within the next couple of months the community conference process can begin," he said.

Mr Abbott said the new council would preside over a series of conferences, with an indigenous stream and a general stream which would come together at some point.

"I think we should have as many of these as we need because if this is going to be a really great unifying moment as the 1967 referendum was, people have got to think it through, talk it through," he told ABC radio.

Mr Abbott said people needed to feel comfortable with the proposed change.

He said there was an abundance of goodwill and strong support for the principle of indigenous recognition.

"We do need to socialise as it were particular concepts with people before we proceed to the actual referendum and that's why we have got to take as long as we need," he said.