The federal government has committed millions of dollars to advancing its centrepiece Indigenous Affairs policy, realising the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
A referendum on an Indigenous Voice to parliament will receive $75 million, with the bulk of funds to go to the electoral commission for preparations and increasing the number of First Nations people enrolled to vote.
The money comes on top of $160 million dollars already set aside in the government's contingency reserve to deliver the referendum.
Wamba Wamba man and member of the Uluru Dialogue leadership team Eddie Synot said the funding was welcome.
"It's good to see the government continuing to make those steps that they would need to along the way to prepare for the referendum," he said.
"We're just happy to see that progress is continuing, and that they are actually serious about their promise and that they are going to hold a referendum."
The money won't be used to fund a yes or a no campaign, which Mr Synot says the government should reconsider.
"One of the options in response to that may be that they fund the yes or no campaign and they're able to better regulate what information has been distributed for the Australian people," he said.
"Ultimately, I think the most important thing out of all of that is to ensure Australian people are able to make an informed decision rather than having some of the more nefarious interests trying to skew that decision making."
Currently there is nothing preventing either campaign from sourcing funding from overseas, but the government is looking to tighten those laws.
Mr Synot said there were benefits if the government was responsible for regulating the accuracy of campaign messaging.
"It may be a potentially good thing for the government to be able to regulate and control that through providing funding to yes and no, so that they can kind of curb a lot of the misinformation and things that do happen when it comes to elections," he said.
Minimal funds for Makarrata commission
The government has also committed $5.8 million to a Makarrata commission for a national truth telling process and pathway to treaty between Indigenous people and the government.
Some Indigenous leaders are concerned about the disparity between funding for the Voice and funding for the truth and treaty process.
Tasmanian Land Council chair and palawa man Michael Mansell says it's an indication of where the government priorities lie.
"Now that he's committed $75 million to the voice and talking about a referendum and only $5 million to the treaty, that raises even more doubt about his commitment to treaty and truth telling," he said.
"If he was serious about treaty, he'd be talking to Aboriginal people now.
"I wrote to the Prime Minister, and Pat Dodson, and Minister Linda Burney two months ago, and asked 'how do Aboriginal people become engaged with the federal government about progressing a treaty or a Makarrata?'
"I've never even received an acknowledgement of the letter, let alone a response."
Mr Mansell said he wanted the government to ensure that people who disagreed on the Voice weren't locked out of the Makarrata process.
"If the federal government insisted that the people outside the group who are running the Voice model are the ones who should be in control of the development of a treaty, we would have a change to grab a guernsey," he said.
"I do suspect it will be the same people who will control the treaty and truth telling in the same manner as they'd control the debate about the voice."
