Just to highlight how out of touch the Liberal and National parties are, this week the two biggest mining companies, BHP and Rio Tinto, publicly supported the Uluru statement.

Turnbull and Morrison did not even give Indigenous people the courtesy of asking, “What do you mean by a ‘voice’?”

They just assumed it meant a group of elected Indigenous people who would have a veto over legislation – a third house.

But it need not be like that. Sure, it must be more than some glib symbolic statement of recognition. For decades now Indigenous people have heard endless public speakers begin their speeches with paying respect to Indigenous leaders and recognition of ownership of the land. But it has not come to much.

Further, Indigenous people are right to want constitutional recognition. The intervention showed that, without it, legislation can easily erode Indigenous rights.

But it need not be a third house. There are other options. One proposed by Tony Abbott several years ago (about which he has since gone silent on) has a lot of merit.

It follows the New Zealand principle of giving Indigenous people representation in the Parliament.

The Abbott proposal was for Indigenous representation in the Senate of 12 senators – the equivalent of an Original State in the Constitution. That has a symmetery to it. It would be as if the six original colonies and the original Indigenous population had come together as a single nation.

People identifying themselves as Indigenous would have the option of either voting for the Indigenous senators or voting in the state or territory of their residence, but not both.

So there could be no objection that Indigenous people were getting more than everyone else.

Of course, it is likely that the Indigenous senators would not vote as a block on most issues. It is very likely that they would stand under party umbrellas or as independents, just as the state senators do.

This would have several advantages. It would give a constitutionally recognised “voice” to Indigenous people. It would not be a third chamber giving Indigenous people a veto. Even if the Indigenous senators were party members, they would still look out separately for Indigenous interests, just as Tasmanian or Queensland senators look out for Tasmanian or Queensland interests.

Importantly, it would provide an Indigenous voice in the respective party rooms.

There have been nine Indigenous members of the federal Parliament since Neville Bonner became a senator in 1971: three Liberal, three Labor and three from minor parties. So the parties have little to fear from Indigenous representatives being all from one party.

At present the 798,400 people who identified as Indigenous represented 3.3 per cent of the people as at the 2016 census, according to the ABS. And that percentage is rising. The Indigenous population is higher than that of Tasmania, the ACT or the Northern Territory, all of which have Senate representation.

True, 12 senators would be 5.1 per cent of the enlarged Parliament, a little higher than the percentage of Indigenous people in the population, but Tasmania has 7.5 per cent of the present Parliament with only two per cent of the population.

The arguments made at the 1890s constitutional conventions in favour of smaller states having greater representation in the Senate apply equally to the Indigenous population.

It would need a change to the Constitution, of course. That would mean a referendum, which could perhaps be held on 26 January, or the new provisions could be stated to come in to effect on 26 January.

No doubt such an idea would need refining or changing after consultation, but it is a better starting point than Turnbull or Morrison’s blanket rejection of an Indigenous voice because it would amount to a third chamber. Clearly 12 senators, many of whom would have party affiliations, would not be a third chamber.

One of the joys of a meaningful recognition, voice, and Makarrata is that it would not be like an economic change, where there are winners and losers.

It would be more like the same-sex marriage change: there were no losers.