Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to meet with Indigenous elders during a visit to the Torres Strait for talks on what form a voice to parliament would look like.
Mr Albanese will travel to Thursday Island along with Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney and Queensland senator Nita Green, as part of a two-day visit to the area.
During the trip, the prime minister will meet with the Torres Strait Regional Authority, before meeting young Torres Strait Islanders as part of a cultural lunch.
Mr Albanese said he will reiterate his recent speech made at the Garma Festival during a roundtable with Indigenous leaders.
The speech, made at the festival last month, laid out a proposed referendum question to enshrine an Indigenous voice to parliament in the constitution.
The question proposed would be: do you support an alteration to the constitution that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice?
Mr Albanese said he wanted to be wide ranging in his discussions about what a voice to parliament would look like.
“I want to engage with Australians, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to consult with them,” Mr Albanese told reporters on Wednesday.
“Now it’s time to have those consultation mechanisms.”
The prime minister is set to meet with female community leaders in the Torres Strait on Friday morning during the second day of his visit.
It comes as Ms Burney met with state and territory Indigenous ministers on Wednesday to discuss the implementation of the voice to parliament and the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
State and territory ministers all agreed to back the federal government’s work towards enshrining the voice in the constitution.
“This reflects a shared desire from all jurisdictions to put progress on recognition and better outcomes for First Nations peoples above politics,” a communique of the meeting said.
“All governments emphasised their strong ongoing commitment to working together to improve practice outcome for First Nations peoples.”
The ministers discussed the practical steps to implementing the voice, including at regional levels.
It’s hoped the steps would allow for Indigenous people to work in a partnership with all levels of government to improve services and programs in their regions.
Ministers are set to meet again at the end of the month at the joint council for closing the gap, where progress on the national agreement will be on the agenda.
