Indigenous leader Warren Mundine has put forward a solution he believes would end the current controversy surrounding the Welcome to Country ceremony.

In an interview on Sky News Australia, Mr Mundine discussed the contentious issue which has sparked national debate following a performance of the ceremony at an AFL match by Indigenous elder Brendan Kerin on September 14.

Mr Mundine was asked by host James Macpherson whether Welcome to Country should be scripted to avoid ‘political grandstanding’.

‘You’re a genius, I was just thinking of that yesterday,’ Mr Mundine told Macpherson.

‘In fact, I’m actually talking to some of my Bundjalung people back home about actually doing that, where we will have a script, a couple of paragraphs or something where we actually welcome people and do it properly by bringing people together and not dividing them.’

Mr Kerin’s performance of Welcome to Country went viral ahead of the AFL semifinal match between GWS Giants and Brisbane Lions at Sydney Olympic Park.

As part of his performance, Mr Kerin addressed the sell-out crowd and told them that such rituals were not actually for ‘white people’.

‘I’m here this evening to perform a ceremony of Welcome to Country… a Welcome to Country is not a welcome to Australia,’ Mr Kerin said.

‘Within Australia we have many Aboriginal lands and we refer to our lands as ‘country’. So it’s always a welcome to the lands you’ve gathered on.

‘A Welcome to Country is not a ceremony we’ve invented to cater for white people.

‘It’s a ceremony we’ve been doing for 250,000 years-plus BC – and the BC stands for Before Cook.’

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson described the comments as divisive and said Mr Kerin’s comments had left footy fans ‘scratching their heads’.

‘If they (Welcome to Country ceremonies) are not to cater to white people than why are white people constantly subjected to them?’ she asked in the Senate on Tuesday.

On her website, Ms Hanson vowed to ‘turn her back’ on Welcome to Country  performances.

During his interview on Sky News Australia, Mr Mundine called out Ms Hanson arguing her suggestion was adding to the division. 

‘We want them to get back to the original concept which is that we welcome people, we say hello, you’re here, we welcome you,’ he said.

‘I think we need to get back to that concept of actually welcoming people, working together and not having divisions.’

Mr Mundine said Welcome to Country is a ‘beautiful idea where we say to people we welcome them’.

‘What it has started to turn into is this very divisive, political push,’ he said.

‘Look, I’m sorry Pauline. I think you’ve gone a step too far.’

Mr Mundine suggested Mr Kerin’s performance of Welcome to Country was also divisive.

‘He’s gone down the Pauline Hanson line as well,’ he said.

‘He’s causing divisions. Let’s get back to what it’s actually about.’