The Greens’ decision to make changing the date of Australia Day a top priority “could end up being more divisive than helpful”, Labor MP Linda Burney has warned.

The shadow human services minister, and first Indigenous woman elected to the federal lower house, said on Wednesday that the Greens were turning Australia Day “into a political issue” and called for a renewed focus on the Uluru statement for constitutional recognition and a voice to parliament.

The Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, started 2018 by campaigning to move Australia Day from 26 January, which has prompted accusations from the Turnbull government that the party is attacking national unity.

But Burney – who told Radio National that 26 January was “extremely painful” to first Australians – is an unlikely critic of the Greens campaign because she is sympathetic to the idea of moving the date.

Asked about Labor’s position, Burney said there was “no proposal to change the date” and it won’t change “any time soon”. But the opposition wanted Australians to “think deeply about the truth and true history of this country and [have] it be a day of reflection”, she said.

Burney said 26 January was not a day of celebration for first peoples, and represented the usurping of Aboriginal culture and “the attack on sovereignty”.

“The Labor position is very clear and it is broader than just whether we’re going to change the date … that’s a very narrow way to look at the issue of Indigenous affairs.

“Whatever happened to the Uluru statement that Malcolm Turnbull cut down, that has to be part of the discussion as well.”

Burney said issues of health, education, incarceration and employment were “at the top of the agenda for changing the life chances of Indigenous Australians”.

Burney said she had difficulty celebrating Australia Day, and while she attended official functions she noted they now included elements of official Aboriginal history and culture. She also attends the Survival festival in Sydney.

The shadow human services minister said she was worried by “the jingoism that’s coming into Australia Day”. “I don’t think it makes you any more Australian if you wrap a flag around you and tattoo the Southern Cross on your neck.”

Burney noted that 26 January did not officially become the Australia Day public holiday until 1994 and said within Labor she was advocating for a national public holiday to recognise first Australians.

The assistant immigration minister, Alex Hawke, has said he has not heard a “reasonable argument” to support changing the date of Australia Day.

Hawke said the national day should not be moved “just because we have some elements of our history that we’re not proud of”.

On Wednesday the trade minister, Steven Ciobo, told ABC’s AM that the push to change the date was “an attempt to delegitimise the significance and cultural impact of Australia Day”.

Ciobo said that Australia Day should not “be an excuse to mourn what has happened, that it should downplay or delegitimise … valid community expectations that Australia Day is a day for celebration”.

He said the day “isn’t about commemorating or celebrating white oppression … it’s about what Australia is today, it’s a celebration of the values we share as people”.