Australian political rivals unite for Aboriginal recognition

Indigenous Australian performers hold a smoking ceremony to open NAIDOC Week, a national program that celebrates the National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee in Sydney on July 6, 2015. -AFP

SYDNEY: Australia’s political rivals met Aboriginal leaders in Sydney on Monday to work towards “correcting” the constitution by recognising the nation’s first indigenous inhabitants.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has previously declared he would “sweat blood“ to update the document which was written more than a century ago and fails to mention Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people.