A vote on Indigenous recognition in the Constitution may be delayed, with a federal parliamentary committee recommending pushing back the timeframe for the referendum until, or after, the 2016 election.

Previously, the committee recommended the referendum be held at, or before the 2016 poll.

The committee said, based on submissions and advice, it would be best if the referendum was held later.

This would allow time for public momentum to be built around the proposed wording of the question.

Indigenous Liberal MP Ken Wyatt has lobbied for both houses of Parliament to also hold a day of debate on the best way to get a successful vote.

"We have a real opportunity here to enact lasting change to our constitution," he said.

"In a sense, the timeframe isn't being pushed out. It's creating the option because we know there is further work to be done in developing awareness on a much broader basis."

Previously Mr Wyatt had been concerned any delay would mean people would lose interest in the issue.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott was understood to favour 2017 for the referendum because it would coincide with the 50th anniversary of the 1967 referendum.

That referendum approved two amendments to the Australian Constitution, including Aboriginal people being counted as members of the Australian population for the first time.

Federal Labor said a report also supported a push for the referendum to include a racism ban.

A cross-party parliamentary committee released its latest assessment of the plans for changing the constitution.

The report gave three options for change, with one proposal including a broad prohibition of racism.

The Opposition's Indigenous affairs spokesman, Shayne Neumann, said he was getting similar feedback from the community.

"The possibility of racial discrimination is of critical importance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people," Mr Neumann said.

"They have referred consistently in their submissions to this inquiry of the dispossession of their land, the loss of their language and destruction of their culture since colonial settlement."

Indigenous leaders in Arnhem Land recently raised concerns about the racism ban, suggesting it could complicate the referendum and thwart prospects of a successful vote.