(CNN) -- Australia's government said Monday that it is moving to recognize Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the nation's constitution.
"The Australian Constitution is the foundation document of our system of government, but it fails to recognize the special place of our first Australians," Prime Minister Julia Gillard's office said in a statement.
A panel will consider how to advance constitutional recognition and offer options for an amendment that Australians could vote on in a referendum, the office said. The panel -- which is to include indigenous and community leaders, constitutional experts and parliamentary members -- will lead a national discussion during 2011, the administration said.
Australia will push further for reforms and investments in early education, health, jobs, housing and services, and infrastructure, aiming to "close the gap in Indigenous disadvantage," the administration said.
In 2008, the Australian government apologized for years of "mistreatment" that inflicted "profound grief, suffering and loss" on the country's Aboriginal people.
Lawmakers unanimously passed a motion proposing the apology. Then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd read the apology to Aborigines and the "stolen generations" of children who were taken from their families.
CNN
