WA Aboriginal Recognition Bill progresses

A bill to officially recognise Aboriginal people in the West Australian constitution will be progressed through state parliament.

The Aboriginal Recognition Bill, tabled by Kimberley Labor MP Josie Farrer, will amend the WA constitution to recognise indigenous people as the first people and custodians of the state.

The bill has received bipartisan support.

Opposition Aboriginal affairs spokesman Ben Wyatt said on Wednesday governments had for a long time viewed indigenous people as "less than human", and needing to be controlled and bullied to the point where it threatened their culture's existence.

Mr Wyatt said the bill would confirm in the state constitution what the High Court and Native Title Act said in the 1990s - that Aboriginal people were the traditional owners of Australia.

"Whilst it may be regarded as a symbolic statement, ultimately we are human beings, we're creatures of symbol, we're creatures of spirit," he told reporters.

"I think this is an important part of our journey as a state and our journey of that relationship between Aboriginal people and broader non-Aboriginal people that is really ultimately still a long way to go before that full reconciliation takes place."

Mr Wyatt said it was a small but important sentence that would acknowledge Aboriginal people.

"The Aboriginal identity is the Australian identity - you can't have one without the other," he said.