They marched from Hyde Park to the New South Wales state Parliament with plans to continue to the U.S. Consulate.

Around 2,000 demonstrators had gathered in Australia's west coast city of Perth on Monday night to peacefully protest Floyd's death, and rallies are planned for other Australian cities this week.

An indigenous Australian lawmaker called on governments to use Floyd's death as an opportunity to reduce deaths of indigenous people in custody.

Linda Burney, the opposition spokeswoman on indigenous Australians, said Tuesday that more than 430 indigenous people had died in Australian police custody since 1991.

"I think we should be using it as an opportunity," Burney told the ABC, referring to Floyd's death.

"Whether we like it or not, it doesn't take much for racism to come out of the underbelly of this country."

"It seems to me that there are lots of things that state and territory governments could do, and the federal government could do to lower the number of Aboriginal people in custody," she added.

While indigenous adults make up only 2 per cent of the Australian population, they account for 27 per cent of the prison population.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese backed Burney's call. "There are far too many indigenous Australians who are incarcerated today. As a percentage of the population, this is a tragedy and it's one that must be addressed as an absolute national priority," Albanese told reporters.

AAP