Senator spurs on Indigenous reform

One year after Aboriginal leaders came together for talks at Uluru, Labor's Pat Dodson is continuing his push for an indigenous consultative "voice" to parliament to be enshrined in law.

"Otherwise, it just becomes the play tool of the parliament, whoever's in parliament," Senator Dodson told ABC Radio on Sorry Day.

"Because if you start getting critical and stroppy of the government then they're going to get rid of you."

Senator Dodson chairs a committee examining whether an indigenous 'voice' to parliament should be written into the constitution, as recommended in the Uluru Statement, and is due to report by July.

Labor has said if it is elected at the next federal election it will legislate a 'voice' to parliament as a first step towards constitutional entrenchment.

The move would give indigenous Australians a say on policy addressing the social inequalities highlighted by the 'Closing the Gap' program.

Only three of the program's seven targets to improve indigenous welfare are on track of being met.

"It's a simple proposition but a very important one if we're going to go forward," Senator Dodson said.

"It'll deliver to them the aspirations that underpin the Uluru statement, the creation of an entity - a body, a voice - that can interface with the parliament."

After he spoke, an indigenous delegation marched on Parliament House from the Aboriginal Tent Embassy to mark two decades of National Sorry Day.

The First Nations Grandmothers have been meeting with government this week to address the high rates of indigenous children in care and custody.

"As we speak my children are still there in that system," said Queensland First Nations woman Serena Bulmer.

"I am fighting for them. That's the reason I came down here to Canberra. Being here with these old ladies has given us strength to keep fighting".