Indigenous leader set for Senate seat

Indigenous leader Pat Dodson has been unanimously backed by the ALP to fill the Senate seat left vacant by Joe Bullock.

Senator Bullock announced last week he would leave federal parliament, citing his disagreement with Labor over a binding vote for MPs on same-sex marriage.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, speaking in Melbourne on Tuesday, said Mr Dodson had been unanimously endorsed by the ALP's national executive on Friday and given the nod by the Labor party in Western Australia.

Mr Dodson was Australia's first Aboriginal Catholic priest and was ordained in 1975.

Following his departure from the church, he worked with the Central Land Council, was appointed a commissioner for the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody and was also the inaugural chairman of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.