The upcoming referendum on the voice is a vote to complete the meaning of the country, a leading Indigenous lawyer says.
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"Australia is an incomplete idea and we have the opportunity to make it complete," Noel Pearson has told 1500 energy leaders, financiers and politicians.
"We didn't do it when the country federated in 1901. It's unfinished business," the land rights activist said in Sydney.
"We now have an opportunity to finish it," he said to a standing ovation at the Clean Energy Council Summit's gala dinner.
The voice to parliament, if successful, will make representations on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
"That's the function of the voice. That's the purpose of the voice," he said.
'All kinds of scaremongering have been directed as to what this voice is."
Mr Pearson said some people have suggested in the debate so far that Indigenous people would be making representations about everything from nuclear submarines to parking tickets.
"It is solely the parliament's job after the referendum to supply the details and they will do that through the normal process of lawmaking," he said.
The final day of the summit features Ross Garnaut, Malcolm Turnbull, and energy ministers Lily D'Ambrosio, Shane Rattenbury and Penny Sharpe.
Australian Associated Press
