''We want it to happen as quickly as possible but a rushed job might be a botched job.''

The Senior Australian of the Year, former federal politician and founding co-chairman of Reconciliation Australia, Fred Chaney, said it was important to work in partnership with the indigenous community to ''enable the Aboriginal people of Australia to have their rightful place in this country''.

Speaking at a flag raising and citizenship ceremony on Sunday, Mr Abbott said it was a fitting day to celebrate new citizens as ''Australia's first modern migrants'' had arrived on the First Fleet in 1788, and acknowledged that his own family was among those who had since migrated to Australia.

''Australia has not disappointed them,'' he said.

''My hope is that it won't disappoint anyone. My duty, as your Prime Minister, is to ensure that, as far as possible, in this great land of ours, no one is left behind.''