Labor won't act on Australia Day call

Opposition leader Bill Shorten says he's "totally relaxed" about Labor's candidate for the West Australian seat of Swan suggesting changing the date of Australia Day.

Tammy Solonec, an indigenous woman and human rights lawyer, received publicity when she recently said the public holiday should be moved from January 26 to Wattle Day on September 1 as that would be more sensitive to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Ms Solonec, who stood as a Greens candidate at the 2013 state election, also made headlines recently for labelling Liberal MP for Swan, Steve Irons, a "rich white man".

Mr Irons was a ward of the state as a child and later became a businessman.

Mr Shorten said Labor had no plans to change the date of Australia Day but he also had no problem with Ms Solonec's idea.

"I run a political party where we welcome people's contributions and their diverse backgrounds," he told reporters in Perth on Tuesday.

"She's a very successful person and do you know what? I think she's entitled as an Aboriginal Australian, as a woman from Derby, to have her views, and I'm totally relaxed about that."

Ms Solonec appeared alongside Mr Shorten and would not be drawn on whether she supported his comment on the ABC's Q&A on Monday that a future Labor government could move beyond constitutional recognition towards a treaty with indigenous people.

"I support conversation," she said.

"The important thing is to maintain bipartisanship support for constitutional reform and what conversations happen after that will be conversations for all of us."