The Dialogues are a series of meetings of Indigenous Australians, which were held around the country between December 2016 and May 2017. The purpose was to reach broad agreement on whether and, if so, how, to ‘recognise’ Indigenous Australians in the Australian Constitution. The Dialogues also provided an opportunity for participants to discuss the main options for recognition, understand what they mean, combine or modify existing options and rank options in order of priority.
Attendance to the Dialogues was by invitation only. This ensured each Dialogue was deliberative and reached consensus on the relevant issues. Meetings were capped at 100 participants: 60% of places were reserved for First Nations/traditional owner groups, 20% for community organisations and 20% for key individuals. The Council worked in partnership with a host organisation at each location, to ensure the local community was appropriately represented in the process.
The priorities from each of the First Nations Dialogues were reported to a First Nations Convention at Uluru in May. The views and opinions heard will be part of a report for the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition.