AS BARACK OBAMA prepares to take the oath taken only by white men before him, Aborigines are pondering what his inauguration means for black people in this country.

Faith Bandler, a South Sea Islander who led the campaign to cut discriminatory provisions from the constitution in a 1967 referendum, is not prepared to say we lag the US in race relations.

"But therein lies the lesson for the Australian people, that a country is prepared to accept a person in the top job regardless of the colour of their skin," she said.

"That says a lot, because the colour of a person's skin has been used in many ways, for terrible exploitation and disregard."

She said she would be surprised to see an indigenous prime minister or governor-general.

"People are very set in their ways. It's very hard. I don't know because I'm not white but I would say … people don't find it easy to change their ways or their thinking," she said.

Larissa Behrendt, Australia's first indigenous Harvard graduate, believes it is Australia's two-party system that means hopes for a black prime minister are misplaced.

"You have to be willing to have your first loyalty to the party and that makes a different kind of leader to someone who wants to become president and isn't as beholden. [Australia] is a very difficult place to be if you enter politics to be a spokesman for your own people," she said.

But Professor Behrendt concedes Mr Obama's win was possible only because he did not talk about race in the same way as earlier black politicians such as the Reverend Jesse Jackson.

"[Mr Obama's] not seen as a confrontational black," she said."There's this idea that he's not an Anthony Mundine, he's a Cathy Freeman.

"But you have to acknowledge that he pulled in people from a broad range of backgrounds. What he did very cleverly was he didn't make it the issue."

Linda Burney, NSW's most senior indigenous politician as Minister for Community Services, has long argued against the pigeonholing of black politicians.

She said Mr Obama's subtle handling of the race issue was "very dignified" and "very smart politics".