Rachel Perkins, daughter of Charles Perkins, urges Launceston to vote 'yes'

The daughter of Indigenous rights campaigner Charles Perkins, a prominent figure during the lead-up to the 1967 referendum, Ms Perkins said there were echoes of that campaign in 2023.

"I think this is the unfinished business of 1967," she said.

"The Commonwealth was given powers to make laws about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people then, but it didn't give us a mechanism to influence or contribute to those laws."

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"This is just putting the final touches on that."

These final touches were "far more modest" than what was being proposed in other nations, according to Ms Perkins.

She said the fact the Voice would be advisory surprised most people she met on the campaign trail, many of whom had heard 'misinformation'.

Ms Perkins said some skepticism of a purely "advisory" body was understandable, given the track record of others, but the Voice would be different as it would take politics out of Indigenous issues.

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"People are right. We've had five different advisory committees in my lifetime," she said.

"The thing is, they keep getting created, and then when they don't like the advice the government shuts them down.

"The difference with this, and why we want it constitutionally enshrined, is so that it has the moral support of the Australian people. That will give our voice the respect it has never had."

She said it would also give communities the chance to influence policy, rather than being governed from afar without local input - a problem she felt was shared by residents of her hometown Alice Springs and Tasmanians alike.

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Ms Perkins' visit to Launceston coincided with the launch of the "Create Yes" campaign.

This encourages people to create their own art projects that feature the word "yes" and share them to social media with their reasons for voting "yes" on October 14.

Designer at Cumulus Studio in Launceston Jess Murphy said communicating to a country as diverse as Australia required diverse messages, and the campaign would inspire "respectful conversations" about the Voice.

"We are all inherently creative," Ms Murphy said.

"We have different ways of responding to different things, so to have a plethora of different takes on what that means for people can inspire different ways to approach the referendum.

"Like the country, it's quite diverse."

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Ms Perkins said the campaign would hopefully reach as many Australians as possible, and it was important to not let "perfect be the enemy of good" on referendum day.

"It's such a big task, to bring 18 million people across is so huge," she said.

"[The Voice] will give us a practical way for Indigenous people to be heard. It may not be what everybody wants that ultimate position of Indigenous people to be, but it's a good step."

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