A Voice to Parliament would allow Indigenous people to "address our own problems", an inquiry into the proposal heard on Wednesday, as Torres Strait and Far North Queensland traditional owners gathered in Cairns to share their views on the proposed constitutional amendment.
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It comes as newly appointed opposition spokesperson for Indigenous Australians Jacinta Nampijinpa Price launches Fair Australia's new advertisement, featuring herself and her husband speaking out against the Voice.
Earlier on Wednesday, Senator Price told Sky News that while she supported recognition of Indigenous Australians, she saw the bureaucratic structure of the Voice as "divisive" and "dangerous".
In Cairns, Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire Council Mayor Ross Andrews said the Voice was an opportunity to bring the country together and for Australia to "mature as a nation".
"When you look at the data and the negative indicators that continuously go in the wrong direction, I think there's an opportunity for us to really try something different," he said.
Cape York Land Council chairperson Richard Ah Mat said it was a "small ask" from the Australian public and governments to "be acknowledged and recognised to address our own problems".
Mr Ah Mat added that he was disappointed with opposition leader Peter Dutton's stance on the Voice after earlier spending "one on one time" with him.
"For him to come out a week after a senior Elder who had been fighting for land rights for a long, long, long time for Indigenous Australians, for him to come out and say he's starting a 'no' campaign, I thought was unacceptable behaviour and disrespectful to the person who passed away," he said.
Visionary land rights pioneer Yunupingu died peacefully at his home in northeast Arnhem Land on April 3.
In Adelaide on Wednesday, Mr Dutton told reporters Senator Price would be able to continue her role in the Fair Australia campaign alongside her new appointment as opposition spokesperson for Indigenous Australians as he reiterated his party's opposition to the Voice.
"She just distils the message down in a way that Australians can understand it," he said.
"At the moment you've got a proposal for a Voice, which is a Canberra-based Voice, it's the Voice of the elites and it's not going to help Indigenous people on the ground."
Mr Dutton has previously said that his party would instead back local and regional voices.
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At Wednesday's hearing, Indigenous leaders emphasised the need for a national Voice and its ability to advise the executive government.
Responding to suggestions of establishing local and regional voices instead of a national voice, Gur A Baradharaw Kod Torres Strait Sea and Land Council chair Ned David said it was "silly" to have a voice for the region without a national connection.
"You need to have that connection and a seat at the table, simply because all the big decisions that are made nationally, that impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, First Nations people, are done at that level," he said.
"Having a voice at a regional local level and not one that connects to something that sits across a national narrative, I can't see the justification in that or the rationale behind that."
Indigenous representatives also said the Voice needed to be able to advise the executive government, a provision that some legal experts say could lead to court challenges.
Fiona Jose, chief executive of Cape York Partnership, a non-profit working with Indigenous communities, said the Voice and its ability to advise executive government was "vital" to "closing the gap at that local regional perspective".
"We need ... our voices heard at that level as early as possible," she said.
"By the time it gets to parliament or to ministers and parliament at that level, most things have been sorted and done," she said.
Macquarie University senior lecturer in law Shireen Morris, who also gave evidence at the inquiry alongside Torres Strait and Far North Queensland traditional owners, said a High Court challenge was a "very remote possibility", adding that Indigenous Australians have already compromised on the Voice.
"It is a concept that was at its heart, a political compromise, but it wasn't a lowest common denominator, rubbish compromise. It was a noble compromise," she said.
"I call it a radical centre compromise, because it achieved empowering Indigenous recognition in the way they want, because they don't want mere symbolism or minimalism, but it addressed the concerns about the High Court being able to strike down laws."
Indigenous artist Jack Wilkie-Jans was the only witness to call for more time and detail on the Voice.
"There's a lot of aspiration around what the Voice could and should do," he said.
"But there's no framework for the Voice actually being able to deliver that to any particular person in any particular industry."
The next hearing will take place in Perth later this month.
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