The Morrison government is being urged to reconsider its controversial voter identification proposal on the grounds it will further disenfranchise Indigenous Australians.
Northern Land Council acting chief executive Joe Martin-Jard told a Senate estimates hearing the representative body was not consulted about the bill introduced into parliament this week.
"The short answer is no, we weren't consulted," he said on Friday.
"We'd just like to put on the record, too, that we ask that the government reconsiders this bill because we think that Aboriginal people in remote areas would be further disenfranchised."
Mr Martin-Jard also called on the government to bolster resources under the Australian Electoral Commission to educate and empower Indigenous voters.
"Many years ago when John Howard was the prime minister, they nearly gutted a program that the AEC used to run," he said.
"It was a very good program where Aboriginal people were enrolled and there were education programs about civic duties and so on."
Special Minister of State Ben Morton told parliament on Thursday the government would provide an extra $9.4 million to boost Indigenous participation in elections.
He said the Indigenous enrolment rate had lifted from 74.7 per cent in 2017 to 79.3 per cent in 2021.
The voter identification legislation has been panned by advocacy groups and the opposition, labelling it discriminatory.
It would require people to show identification such as a driver's licence or Medicare card in order to vote.
The government has promised no voter would be turned away and indicated it would like changes in place by the election to be held by May next year.
