A prominent Aboriginal senator has urged the nation to "stay strong" as damning research reveals the staggering rates of workplace discrimination Indigenous people experience.
The latest data from Diversity Council Australia released on Thursday shows 59 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees faced discrimination or harassment in the workplace this year.
That represented a nine percentage point increase since the last inclusion at work survey completed in 2021.
In response to the statistics, Assistant Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy offered words of encouragement in light of the inflamed debate around the voice referendum.
"I would say to all Australians, but in particular First Nations people, you stay strong," she told ABC TV on Thursday.
"We are going to get through this, it will be a much better Australia and I am confident ... that ordinary Australians can see through all of the rubbish that's being said that hurts and discriminates against people."
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney on Wednesday accused Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of being a "bully boy" for criticising big businesses supporting a 'yes' vote on the voice.
Ms Burney also said the 'no' campaign was using Trump-style politics.
Nationals leader David Littleproud labelled Ms Burney's comments "disappointing".
"As political leaders, we've got a responsibility to set the tone and it's important that the minister had an opportunity to in fact put any mistruths to bed, but in fact couldn't," he told the ABC.
"She couldn't answer the questions around the details and the mechanics of the voice, about how this would actually shift the dial particularly those in regional remote areas."
