In the final days of the Voice to parliament campaign, prominent Indigenous leader Pat Dodson has made his first public appearance to call on Australians to give his people a seat at the table, rather than leave them to "pick up crumbs".
The Labor senator has taken several months off work while undergoing treatment for cancer, but returned to the public eye to give a rallying cry for people to vote Yes this weekend.
"Are we going to go backwards? Cop more of the same?" Dodson told the National Press Club in a speech from his hometown of Broome.
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"Are Aboriginal people going to be given a seat at the table or are they going to be picking up the crumbs that fall from the table as we have for the last 200 years?"
With the Voice advisory body on track to be rejected, according to published polls, Dodson said the only poll he's concerned about is the one this weekend.
He also took aim at the opposition's suggestion of a referendum on recognition without a Voice to parliament, describing it as akin to "buying your child a car but not giving them the keys".
"That's what a hollow referendum simply on recognition amounts to," he said.
"It amounts to a hollow gesture.
"It amounts to no substance.
"It amounts to never giving the keys to the Aboriginal people so they can drive the vehicle in the new direction ... that's why we need Australians in the seat, helping them get there."
