The Prime Minister has kicked the can of Indigenous recognition further down the road.

Speakers at the Garma Festival in the Northern Territory focused on the Referendum Council's recommendation of constitutionally enshrining a voice for Aboriginal Australians in Parliament.

Yolngu leader Dr Galarrwuy Yunupingu spoke about the word ‘Makarrata’ - the theme for this year's Garma - which refers to the process of finding formal peace, a ‘final settelemnt’, after a period of battle.

“We trust the Prime Minister to put the Makarrata to the Government,” Dr Yunupingu said.

“A solution that says ‘yes’, there shall be a Makarrata, for the sake of the Aboriginal people.”

ABC aboriginal editor Stan Grant was at the festival too, and has written about exactly what the Indigenous community wants, and the challenges in achieving it.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he knows from experience that succeeding in a referendum is a tricky task, having led the failed bid for a republic in 1999.

“Many people talk about referendums, but few people have knowledge in running one,” he said.

“An all-or-nothing approach often results in nothing.

“I respect deeply the work of the Referendum Council, and I respect it by considering [their report] very carefully.”

Mr Turnbull said Cabinet was still considering the recommendations of the Referendum Council, and has not decided on a final approach.

“That's our way,” he said.

“That's how we give respect to serious matters.”

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said he was committed to delivering a referendum but would also work with the Prime Minister for a bipartisan resolution.

“The question is not if we should do these things, but when and how. We are not chained to the prejudices of the past. We cannot let the failure of [the republic referendum] govern the future of the constitution,” he said.

“The Parliament could agree on the question by the end of this year, with the referendum to follow soon after that.

“We are up for negotiation, compromise and debate, but the fundamental presumption is that we should have a process in this country where decisions that are made which affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders are made with them not without them.”