Aboriginal elder Ossie Cruse has met four prime ministers in his lifetime.
The 82-year-old has advised state and federal governments on indigenous policy for years and believes a treaty between the government and indigenous Australians is the way forward.
He was there when Malcolm Fraser almost made it a reality and now he's got his hopes set on Malcolm Turnbull.
"Our children need to grow up in a place where they feel accepted as part of this country and at the moment they're not," Pastor Cruse told reporters in his home town of Eden on the NSW far south coast on Monday.
Mr Turnbull was serenaded by the pastor as he walked along a jetty in the bellwether electorate of Eden-Monaro.
He played the prime minister a rendition of We Are Australian using a gum leaf.
Pastor Cruse said building on the work already being done by the coalition government was the best option for his community.
It's a big job to take on but if no one starts, it will never get done, he says.
Both the sovereignty of British colonists and Aboriginal people needed to be recognised.
"Bring both those sovereignties up on the same level and make arrangements for the future of our children's children by way of a treaty," he said.
"It's so easy to do, I don't know why it's been held up."
