Voice would 'lift quality of life for everybody'

An esteemed activist says a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous voice would benefit all Australians and help close the disadvantage gap.  

Jack Beetson, who co-founded Aboriginal education initiative Literacy for Life and sat on the referendum working group, said concerns about racial divisions were unfounded. 

"This invitation for all Australians to walk with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on this journey to reconciliation is the only way to bring the nation together," he told AAP.

Professor Beetson pointed to shopfront medical and legal services started for Aboriginal people in the 1970s as the foundation of models that would then underpin free healthcare and legal aid services.

"It's about lifting the quality of life for everybody. It won't just be Aboriginal people, it will be all Australians," he said. 

The Ngemba man from western NSW also hit back at opponents of a national voice for misrepresenting what the consultative body would do, saying the arguments only served to confuse and divide the nation.

The Liberal Party is opposing enshrining the national voice in the constitution and is instead pushing for local and regional representation it says will lead to better outcomes. 

Warren Mundine, a former politician heading the 'no' campaign, backed the Liberals' alternative plan.

"If you look at the Closing the Gap figures, you will see the biggest problem is not between black and white," he told ABC radio.

"The biggest problem is between regional Aboriginals and city Aboriginals."

Prof Beetson hit back at the 'no' campaigner, saying any gap that existed needed to be closed. 

"If you look at the cities, you get the same socio-economic problems you get elsewhere. It's the wrong assertion to make," he said.

"It doesn't matter who the gap is between, it's about improving the lives of Aboriginal people that are living a lesser quality of life."

Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce raised concerns about the difficulty in overhauling such a body if it was enshrined in the constitution.

"You can't have an election to remove them, how will you deal with that forever?" he said.

"No matter who changes the government, they stay the same. That for a politician should ring some bells."

Prof Beetson said that was the point.

"What's happened in the past is bodies have been dismantled by successive governments," he said. 

"That voice won't be able to be taken away. Whether governments listen to that advice is another matter but at least that advice will have a right to be heard."

All state and territory leaders have thrown their in-principle support behind the voice, including the sole Liberal, Tasmania's Jeremy Rockliff.

Mr Joyce said it was up to Mr Rockliff to explain why he "believes that people are born in Australia with different rights".

He said the inclusion of an Indigenous advisory body would essentially split Australia down racial lines and called on the government to release legislation for the proposed body before the referendum. 

Labor cabinet minister Tanya Plibersek said the referendum's wording meant parliament would decide on the model, which could be changed as it was not embedded in the constitution.

"There's no point in having the legislation if the referendum is lost," she said.