"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.

For 60 years, until 1970, the Australian government took mixed-race Aboriginal children from their families and put them in dormitories or industrial schools, claiming it was protecting them. As a result of the policy, "stolen" children lost contact with their families and heritage, received poor education, lived in harsh conditions and often endured abuse.

The child-removal policy was largely a secret until about a decade ago, when a government inquiry exposed it. That sparked a mass movement, supported by many white Australians, demanding an apology.