Uluru summit to discuss recognition

More than 250 indigenous leaders are heading to Uluru this week for a First Nations convention.

The talks, hosted by the Mutitjulu community, will present the priorities of 12 First Nation dialogues since December on the question of constitutional recognition for indigenous Australians.

"There has to be a way to ensure that Aboriginal people can bring the government to the table to discuss and negotiate those matters," indigenous Labor senator Patrick Dodson told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

The senator hopes there will be a focus on changes in wording to the constitution that would pass a referendum and give "clarity and real direction" to parliament.

"People are talking about treaties, they're talking about entities, they're talking about meaningful changes to policy implementation and strategies. There's a smorgasbord of things there," he said.

Greens senator Nick McKim said what Australia needed was a treaty with its first people.

"The way that we move towards that needs to come out of a broad consultation between the Aboriginal communities in this country so that they can come to a position that can then be considered by parliamentarians and by the government," he said.

"But ultimately there's unfinished business in Australia and until we've got a treaty, there'll always be unfinished business."

The Uluru convention will conclude before the start of National Reconciliation Week on May 27, commemorating the 1967 referendum to include Indigenous Australians in the census and Mabo decision on land rights.