THE man tasked with leading Australia towards recognition of the nation's indigenous people in the Constitution credits the Tweed with his strong link to community.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community leader Mark Yettica-Paulson was appointed last week as the new joint campaign director for RECOGNISE, the awareness campaign for recognition of the First Australians and dealing with racial discrimination in our Constitution.

Reconciliation Australia co-chair Professor Tom Calma, AO, announced Mr Yettica-Paulson's appointment to jointly lead RECOGNISE alongside experienced campaigner, Tim Gartrell.

"A respected Aboriginal leader, with almost three decades of experience in advocacy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues, Mark Yettica-Paulson is an outstanding person to fill this important national role,” Prof Calma said.

"With a career spanning years as a youth activist in the early 1990s, Mark has dedicated his professional life to cross-cultural engagement bringing indigenous and non-indigenous Australians together to drive social change.”

He is credited with helping to develop the Aboriginal war cry - similar to the Maori Haka - since adopted by several renowned AFL footy players.

But it is his links to the Tweed, and specifically Fingal, where his heritage lies. Although himself brought up in Brisbane, Mr Yettica-Paulson's father and those before him, hail from Fingal where he still has a close allegiance.

"The Tweed is where my great-grandfather sought asylum,” he said.

"He left Bundaberg and when he landed in the Tweed, there were three main things that made him fall in love and stay there: the beauty of the place reminded him of his homeland in Vanuatu; he fell in love with the Aboriginal women there, and the strength of that family and our ties to the place maintain a real, profound connection for us.

"My children know their ancestors are buried there... it's like a sacred site for us.”

Mr Yettica-Paulson said he aimed to ensure a referendum to change the Constitution to acknowledge Australia's first people was held during the current Federal term, particularly with the most indigenous MPs ever elected currently in office.

"We need to maintain and build on momentum,” he said.

"This has been around for decades as an idea but this particular campaign began almost 10 years ago and we are really at the last stages of getting the possibility of a model.”

Mr Yettica-Paulson's work has seen him lead projects to drive reconciliation within diverse organisations such as the AFL, NAB, Social Leadership Australia, the Foundation for Young Australians and many others.

He has held leadership roles with the Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre and with the Office of the Registrar for Aboriginal Corporations.