The Blak sovereign movement (BSM) have declared their opposition to the Voice to Parliament, calling the proposed body 'a weak proposition'.
A gathering of the group's members at Parliament House in Canberra met on Tuesday to formalise their position, which rejects the constitutional change in favour of movements towards treaties and Aboriginal sovereignty.
Lidia Thorpe, the independent senator and face of the BSM, told reporters that the Voice "is in violation of our ancient protocols. It is not a self-determined body."
"We are the original and only sovereign of these lands," she said on Tuesday.
Senator Thorpe voted no to the referendum legislation on Monday, which nonetheless passed the upper house, paving the way for the poll to happen sometime later this year.
Michael Mansell, a member of the BSM and chairperson of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, said the Voice would be so powerless that it could not be supported "on principle".
"We [would] sit in the advisory body," he told NITV.
It sits away from the table where the decisions are made. All it can do is make comment on any matters that take place inside the federal parliament.
"It cannot give land for Aboriginal people. It cannot distribute resources, because it doesn't have them. It cannot stop a racist law like the Northern Territory intervention.
"We call on the people of Australia to vote it down, so that Albanese has to come back to the table with Aboriginal people and begin discussions about seats in the parliament and the treaty."
Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe and Walpiri Elder Ned Hargraves speak out against the Voice. Source: AAP / LUKAS COCH/AAPIMAGE
Senate seats and sovereignty
Guaranteed senate seats for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been proposed as a way to give First Nations people more power in the nation's capital.
That is a system already in place in countries around the world; Māori have had guaranteed representation in Aotearoa New Zealand's parliament since the 1800s.
Mr Mansell says it would give actual power to Indigenous people here.
"They would be a very powerful political lobby for Aboriginal people. If you get them in there, they could use their position to lever for land rights treaty, identify and prioritise the needs of Aboriginal people and provide resources to deal with those priorities.
"There's a lot going for seats in the parliament, where they are real decision makers and power brokers as against people sitting outside giving advice."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has always declared that he supports the enactment of the Voice first, with treaty and truth-telling, the other elements of the Uluru Statement, to follow afterwards.
Mansell rejects suggestions that the failure of the referendum would also defer those other aims.
"If the whole purpose of your referendum was to give Aboriginal people a voice ... Albanese would have egg on his face if the referendum got defeated and he refused to talk to Aboriginal people about alternative models.
Strange bedfellows
In announcing their opposition to the constitutional amendment, Senator Thorpe and the BSM essentially become the face of the progressive No campaign.
They are keen to distance themselves, however, from other groups also calling for the Voice to be voted down: some are concerned that the group has not yet outlined a definite plan for distinguishing itself from the racist elements against the body.
"Because we're saying no to the referendum, people will associate us with that group," Mansell told NITV.
Aboriginal lawyer, Michael Mansell. Source: Supplied / Michael Mansell
That distinction is providing another battlefront as preparations get underway for the nation-wide distribution of a pamphlet outlining the case for both sides of the debate.
Historically a requirement of a referendum, the Albanese government initially wanted to forego the physical document in favour of more online campaigns, but relented to the federal opposition's demands that it remain.
While the Yes campaign is relatively united, a stoush is now underway over who gets to write the case for the No side, with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and Ms Thorpe both fighting for the right.
