A Liberal senator has attacked his own party's efforts to recognise Indigenous people in Australia's Constitution as it was revealed a short discussion paper came at a cost of over $30,000.

During a parliamentary estimates hearing, bureaucrats from Prime Minister's department and cabinet gave a breakdown of the $40 million that has been allocated to spend on recognition efforts since 2012.

The government's Recognise campaign and separate Referendum Council have been guiding politicians and the public through the process of changing the Constitution to acknowledge Indigenous people.

"For $40 million plus, we've actually moved further away from a consensus on how to approach Indigenous recognition, not closer to one," WA Liberal Senator Dean Smith said during the estimates hearing.

The 16 person council is chaired by influential Indigenous woman Pat Anderson and prominent lawyer Mark Leibler.

Other members include broadcaster Stan Grant, former NSW Premier Kristina Keneally and Indigenous rights stalwart Galarrwuy Yunupingu.

The Prime Minister's Department revealed $30.73 million has been allocated to the Recognise campaign since 2012, with another $9.5 million being given to the Referendum Council.

Nearly $6 million of that has been earmarked for community conferences on achieving recognition, some of which are only open to Indigenous people.

Another $1.6 million was spent on developing a digital platform for the council.

The Cape York Institute, which was founded by Council member Noel Pearson, and the Australian Human Rights Commission shared in approximately $500,000 to refine and assist with the recognition proposal, according to the PM's Department.

When it was revealed one of the Council's discussion papers cost $30,000, Senator Smith appeared incredulous.

"There's nothing new in it - nine pages of written text, two pages of questions, that works out to about $3,300 a page," he said.

He also took aim at the broader goals of the recognition campaign.

"Treaties are off the table, discussions around Indigenous advisory bodies are highly contentious," he said.

"But we have considerable sums of public money being spent on ... ideas that would not pass a constitutional referendum test."

When Senator Smith put to the Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion that a recognition referendum would not occur this May, on the fiftieth anniversary of the 1967 referendum, Mr Scullion replied, "I agree".