A Labor candidate in Victoria's state election who claims to be a "proud Yorta Yorta woman" has been challenged by a family member who suggests she is not Indigenous.

Lauren O'Dwyer, running for the Labor-held seat of Richmond, told the ABC her Aboriginal ancestry comes from her great-grandfather, Graham Berry.

However, Mr Berry's daughter, Joan Keele, said he was not Indigenous.

"My father was not … Aboriginal. His father was born in Swan Hill and his mother was born in Richmond," she said.

"I was really surprised when I read that on Facebook that she was… a proud Yorta Yorta woman… I can't understand her. I really don't."

In 2018 Labor won the seat 55.5% to 44.5% against the Greens, with new district boundaries expected to slightly favour Labor in 2022.

Ms O'Dwyer told the ABC that she is proud of her heritage.

"I am a Yorta Yorta woman. Like many Aboriginal Australians my heritage was unknown to me until I was a teenager, and unconfirmed until I was in my early 20s… Since then, I have spent many years recapturing what was lost and building connection to community," she said.

"The whole concept of Identity Papers is complex and contested — but I do have them. They were obtained by my mother on my behalf from the Njernda Aboriginal Corporation in Echuca and signed off by respected local Elders with a long connection to my family.

"They verify that I am of Aboriginal descent and accepted by this corporation as part of the Aboriginal community."

Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Monica Morgan told the ABC Ms O'Dwyer cannot claim Yorta Yorta heritage until she comes to the Country.

"I'm not against this woman per se, but it is very clear that she has no right to procure an identity as a Yorta Yorta without going through the proper channels and going to their Elders," she said.

"We would have appreciated, most certainly, any politician or person who's running for parliament and claims Yorta Yorta … to reach out to the Yorta and ask us what it is that we believe is in our future."

Ms Morgan said neither Ms O'Dwyer nor her great-grandfather Mr Berry were found along the line of descendants of the 16 families who moved to the Cummeragunja Aboriginal Mission, near the Victorian-New South Wales border, which makes up the Yorta Yorta nation today.

"I've looked at her genealogy and there is nobody of the Berry family group within the Yorta Yorta genealogical line," she said.

On Monday Victorian premier and Labor leader Dan Andrews told a press conference that "cultural identity is a complex thing".

"There can often be contested processes. There can often be differences of view and opinion. They are complex. They are as complex as each individual involved," he said.

"I'm not going to speak for her. … That's a matter of her identity and she's been very very clear about who she is and where she comes from."

In November it was reported in The Age that Ms O'Dwyer held a Confirmation of Aboriginality from the Njernda Aboriginal Corporation, based in Echuca.

Yorta Yorta member of Victoria's First Peoples' Assembly, Ngarra Murray, expressed concern that some people with newly-found Aboriginal ancestry who have not yet tracked down family ties or learned where they come from nevertheless "feel entitled to become the next Aboriginal voice and authority on a variety of matters without first speaking with our elders and families".

"There are cultural protocols to follow and no-one is above scrutiny in our nations," she said.