Advocates for and against Indigenous Voice to Parliament address Wangaratta

By 7.15pm, about 40 people had filed in the door of the CWA Hall from 50 $10 tickets sold, with Liberal Party organisers saying they expected more to spill in through the night.

Once everyone was seated, no one else entered the hall. The event was moderated by Albury priest Father Peter MacLeod-Miller.

Speaking were pro-Voice advocates Damien Freeman and Sean Gordon, of Uphold & Recognise which is part of the official 'yes' campaign, Victorian Liberal senator Sarah Henderson and Wesley Aird, of the Centre for Indigenous Training.

Opening the event, Albury priest Father Peter MacLeod-Miller said he believed each one of the speakers was "a deeply committed, fascinating human being - they're open to people's opinions".

"I could almost be struck down by saying that (ex-prime minister) Tony Abbott and (Indi MP) Helen Haines had the same point of view on these things - it's about the integrity of people."

Dr Haines was at the forum as a guest but didn't address the crowd.

"Nelson Mandela said, 'May your choices reflect your hopes not your fears', and that's the spirit of tonight," Father MacLeod-Miller said.

Ms Henderson told the crowd she believed the Voice was "legally risky".

"I say that because I studied constitutional law and Indigenous law," she said.

"There is so much about this voice that is unknown. We don't know the scope. We don't know the cost. We don't know that legislation, which we're looking at. And we don't know how the High Court interpret it.

"What's important is that we're having a respectful debate - but we don't know what the details are until after the referendum - that's an insult.

"We are deeply concerned it won't give Indigenous Australians a voice.

"There are so many agencies that have such deep expenditure into various many, many different Indigenous groups.

"The most important thing, and there are so many voices out there already, is you need a government which will listen.

"Though in my portfolio, I've seen cuts to Indigenous boarding schools, I've seen $40 million announced for the Alice Springs community safety package, which is meant to go to Indigenous kids to keep them off the streets.

"So we are very concerned that this is driven by activism, much more than what we need on the ground, the local and regional voices in remote communities who really matter."

Mr Gordon said he had been focused on improving outcomes for Indigenous people "for a long time".

"The only way to go forward is to reset the relationship between Indigenous people and politicians," he said.

Mr Aird said he was not convinced there was a "large void" that the Voice needed to fill.

"Every state and territory has an Aboriginal affairs department," he said.

Damien Freeman said past policy had "not always worked".

"Surely it's not too much to ask that before the Parliament exercises power it should have regard for what these people think before it makes laws about them - and that's really the basis for this," he said.

"It's not a guarantee that Aboriginal people will get what they want, but it guarantees that they will be heard.

"Basically everything is left up to Parliament ... and Parliament is accountable to the people.

"It's a very serious thing, changing the constitution, a lot of thought's being put into this. I'm confident that that we have thought of an amendment here that takes seriously concerns about changing the constitution and balances those with Indigenous aspirations.

"Then we can be confident that this will, over time, work to the to the benefit of Australia."

The Liberal Party's Indi federal electorate conference chair Tony Schneider, who helped organised the event, said money from ticket sales would go to the Pangerang Community House in Wangaratta.

Mr Schneider said: "We didn't want to brand it as a Liberal event, that's why we got Father MacLeod-Miller to moderate it".

The Anglican minister has previously said he would not be supporting the Voice but remained open to persuasion and has attended Wodonga forums on the issue involving Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney and leading 'no' campaigner Warren Mundine.

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