A parliamentary committee in the Northern Territory will explore whether to establish a statutory body to advise the NT government on issues faced by Indigenous Territorians.
Independent MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) Yingiya Guyula characterised it as providing "independent First Nations Voices" to government.
It comes just months after South Australia implemented its own state-based Voice to Parliament, and six local First Nations Voices to advise communities.
And it's ahead of the federal referendum to enshrine a Voice to Parliament in the Australian constitution, which will be voted on later this year.
Here's what we know about the state-based Voices to Parliament.
The NT Voice could be a while away
Mr Guyula brought the motion to establish a statutory body, to review the impact of legislation on First Nations Territorians, to a vote in parliament on Wednesday.
"There must be a way to ensure no more damage is done to First Nations communities, that our right to self-determination is not intentionally overridden," he said.
"This motion is not a big bold call for treaty, it is a smaller movement to making parliament more accountable for the bills that pass through this chamber."
The government used its numbers to support the push, handing the motion over to the legal and constitutional affairs committee for further consideration and exploration.
That committee would only report back to parliament by May 2024.
But this means any model for a Territory Voice to Parliament will likely take a while, with the government needing to draft legislation and pass it through parliament.
Labor supports the idea, but the opposition is mixed
Attorney-General Chansey Paech, speaking after Mr Guyula in parliament, said he supported the motion before parliament.
Territory Labor has already declared its support for the Yes campaign of the federal referendum
Mr Paech said the abolition of previous Indigenous organisations such as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission showed the need for constitutional recognition.
The Country Liberal Party supported the motion, but with Shadow Attorney-General Steve Edgington warning the process of formulating the report would need to be more transparent.
The NT Voice likely won't be enshrined in the constitution
Unlike the federal model, which requires a referendum to make modifications to the Australian Constitution, the South Australian Voice was passed into law through parliament.
If the federal version is supported by voters later this year, the only way governments can then undo it is through another referendum.
In the NT, Mr Guyula spoke about a "statutory body", which again would not require it to be put to a broader public vote.
Rather, it would be established through the passing of legislation in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly.
That means if a local Voice is implemented, it could potentially be undone by another government in the future through just a simple repeal bill in parliament.
It's not the only effort underway on Indigenous representation
While the push for a local Voice is now getting underway, another government initiative – local decision-making — has already been the focus of a parliamentary inquiry.
That inquiry is expected to hand down its findings in coming weeks, well before any NT-based Voice could come into effect.
Begun in 2018, formal local decision-making agreements are in place in five regions in the Territory.
In the final report of the Indigenous Voice Co-Design process, the Northern Territory's local decision-making agreements were identified among a range of national initiatives to improve community input into service delivery.
It concluded any potential local and regional Voices would need to accommodate "existing and future models and arrangements", such as local decision-making.
Local governments feel 'side-stepped'
While the NT government is behind the federal push to establish a national Voice and looks set to also support local and regional Voices, the Local Government Association of the Northern Territory (LGANT) is expressing concern.
Its chief executive, Sean Holden, says he holds concerns over the encroachment of local decision-making and the Voice to Parliament into the functions of local government.
"There is great confusion in anyone clearly understanding how Closing the Gap, local decision-making, Treaty and the Voice to Parliament work together," he said.
"LGANT feels that local government councils are the epitome of local decision-making by their very existence, but they are being side-stepped by the NT Government's local decision-making policy when it need not.
"The answer is clearer delineation and communication of who does what, when, how and why," he said.
