Public has their say on the Voice to Parliament referendum

The room was filled with different views- many had made up their minds on how they would vote while some attended to seek more information on what the Voice would mean for Australia.

The talk featured federal minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney, federal member for Bass Bridget Archer MP, local Indigenous leader Nick Cameron and former Tasmanian premier Peter Gutwein.

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Among the 'yes' voters was Greg Lehman, who said the Voice was the only tangible proposal that represented a step forward.

"The No campaign seem to be predominantly fear mongering and preying on people's paranoias, without offering anything progressive," Mr Lehman said.

"I think most people would agree that things can't stay the same as they have been for the last 200 years."

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He said he believed a Voice would benefit the Launceston community, but was unsure how the representative structure would work at a local level.

"But the government understands that it needs to provide local representation as well as regional and state, so I'm assuming that there will be networked processes that will allow local voices to be able to feed through into into the Voice," he said.

Mr Lehman said he felt the government had tried hard to educate people on the Voice.

"The problem is that people's attention tends to be distracted by the 'fear mongers,' as we'll call them," Mr Lehman said.

"I think the government's got a really difficult job on his hands of getting quiet, reliable information across in comparison to all of the fear mongering... it's a big challenge."

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Also in the crowd was Andy Goodacre, who was interested in hearing different politicians speaking to the Voice.

"Generally I think it's important that we find what reconciliation between First Nations Australians and all the rest of us can look like, so I'm wanting to understand the dynamics and be well informed," Mr Goodacre said.

"I'm certainly leaning towards voting yes, but I haven't made a decision."

Attendee Julie Maule said she was voting yes as she felt it was the right thing to do.

"I actually wanted to learn more about what it means to the people it most affects, that's why I'm here," Ms Maule said.

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She felt the government had not done enough to educate people on the Voice.

"That's why I'm sitting here," she said.

UTAS Vice chancellor Rufus Black said it was a privilege to MC the event and bring together a range of voices on the Voice.

"It's really important we hear a range of perspectives from both sides of politics about how they're seeing the Voice," Dr Black said.

"I think the Voice would make a difference in every community in Australia... our need to ensure that Aboriginal perspectives are integral to the way we make our policies for the nation is a really important step for the country."

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