Indigenous MP Ken Wyatt has rejected claims by Noel Pearson that Monday's summit of Aboriginal leaders on Indigenous recognition was "highly stage-managed" by Tony Abbott and Bill Shorten.
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The Cape York leader complained that many contributions by Indigenous leaders at the event were redundant because the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader had really "decided the parameters of the process going forward" before the meeting.
"I would have preferred to stay in Cape York at my beach house, with my kids, and sent a cardboard cut-out down to this meeting today," Mr Pearson told ABC radio. "It was very beautifully finessed, might I say. Both of them did a very good job of pretending to listen, I thought."
But Mr Wyatt, who chairs the parliamentary committee on recognition, said he did not believe "for one moment" that the event was staged-managed by the political leaders.
"I honestly believe that both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition were genuine - and that was evident all the way through," the Liberal MP told Fairfax Media.
"There was a genuine desire by both men to reach a point at which we can move forward in terms of propositions that have to be discussed over the coming months."
After the summit, Mr Abbott and Mr Shorten announced a process to progress the referendum including community meetings, preparation of a discussion paper and the setting up of a referendum council.
Mr Wyatt suspected Mr Pearson was disappointed that his alternative proposal for recognition was not thoroughly canvassed at the summit.
"There are certainly matters that are dear to Noel's heart and he certainly wants deep and meaningful dialogue on them and, if that's what he was wanting, that wasn't going to be the trajectory of those talks," he said.
Mr Wyatt agreed that the vast majority of Indigenous leaders at the summit want a ban on racial discrimination included in the referendum question. But, while his committee recommended three options for such a ban, Mr Wyatt said he was not optimistic that a prohibition would be included in the referendum question.
"There is a possibility that it could emerge, but I think the challenge of convincing enough people that it is worthy of inclusion is the problematic issue, particularly some of the eminent constitutional conservatives," he said.
Mr Wyatt also expressed reservations about the Pearson alternative of an Indigenous body enshrined in the constitution to advise the Parliament on issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
"Your bottom question has to be: how would that eliminate racism, how would it protect people from racial discrimination? And the logic would have to say it doesn't."
