Rights activist Faith Bandler dies aged 96

A state funeral has been offered for Faith Bandler, who was instrumental in campaigning to give Indigenous Australians rights under the constitution

Bandler was instrumental in campaigning for the 1967 referendum to give Indigenous Australians rights under the constitution.

A state funeral has been offered to her family. “Our country has lost a champion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians,” said the prime minister, Tony Abbott, and the Indigenous affairs minister, Nigel Scullion, in a statement on Saturday.

In 1956, Bandler helped establish the Aboriginal Australian Fellowship and was general secretary of the federal council for the advancement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

Bandler received many awards for her work. She was named as a national living treasure and receiving the Order of Australia.

“Her legacy lives on in our journey toward the constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,” 

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and opposition Indigenous Affairs spokesman Shanye Neumann said in a joint statement on Saturday.