Despite polls showing No voters in a clear majority for the Voice referendum, an optimistic Prime Minister is making plans for a joint parliamentary committee to oversee the creation of the advisory body.

The committee will have co-chairs from Labor and the Coalition to ensure there is broad support for the legislation, Mr Anthony Albanese announced on Sunday.

“It will be important and that way, you won’t have chopping and changing,” he told reporters.

“This is a constructive proposal to go forward because if Australians vote ‘yes’ on October 14, I believe firmly it will be a moment of national unity.”

The announcement came at a meeting of ‘Yes’ campaigners at the Ashfield Uniting Church in Sydney’s west.

Mr Albanese, who addressed the congregation after participating in a smoking ceremony, continues to fight for the Yes case despite recent polls showing as few as 38 per cent of Australians in favour of the Voice.

The church has called on Australians to support the Voice to Parliament, saying it will ensure Indigenous ideas and perspectives are listened to by government.

“This is a defining moment for our country and a golden opportunity to create a better future for First Nations people and all Australians,” Uniting NSW ACT’s Emma Maiden said.

More than 53 leading health organisations have also publicly backed the voice, arguing it will lead to better health outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

Banishing ‘governmment whim’

“Government works best when it is listening,” Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation chief executive Jill Gallagher said on Sunday.

“The Voice will connect the communities we serve with the national government making decisions.”

VicHealth, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, Cancer Council Victoria and the Victorian Healthcare Association are among the organisations that signed on to support the voice.

A ‘Yes’ vote would ensure Indigenous health policy was no longer subject to a government’s whim, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute’s Graham Gee said.

“It will provide a permanent platform for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to share their wisdom, knowledge and advice to parliament on decisions affecting their own health and wellbeing,” he said.

“It is a historic opportunity.”

Unheard voices

But the ‘no’ campaign argues the Voice will only keep Australia divided rather than improve the lives of Indigenous people.

“The feeling on the ground is that this is about those in the cities who are trying to impose their thinking onto regional and remote Australia,” Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price told Sky News.

“There are those voices that aren’t really happy because they don’t feel like we should be relegated to an entity because of our racial heritage.”

Remote voting starts on Monday for the October 14 poll, with 61 sites set up across the country.

More than 17.67 million people have enrolled to vote, ensuring 97.7 per cent of eligible Australians will have their say.

-AAP

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