Australians are set to find out exactly what they will vote on as the government pushes to enshrine an Indigenous voice to parliament in the constitution.
Cabinet is meeting to discuss the final question on Thursday morning after the prime minister, attorney-general and Indigenous Australians minister met with the referendum working group on Wednesday night.
How the referendum will play out has also been decided after the government and opposition came to an agreement to pass the machinery bill.
The bill passed the Senate with multi-party support but independent senator Lidia Thorpe abstained from the vote.
The Indigenous senator said her abstention wasn't a reflection of her views on the voice but a protest to the government shooting down her amendments.
Senator Thorpe had pushed to increase polling access through phone voting and on-the-day enrolment with provisional voting.
"The government is effectively suppressing First Nations votes," she said.
"I cannot give my vote for something intentionally excluding my people."
Voters will receive a physical pamphlet outlining both the "yes" and "no" cases.
Neither campaign will be publicly funded, with taxpayers only picking up the bill for a neutral education campaign to inform voters about the voice and the referendum.
But donations made to both campaigns will be tax deductible.
The mobile polling period for remote communities has been extended to 19 days and a greater number of identification methods will be accepted to enrol or update enrolment.
But the opposition says it remains concerned about foreign interference, with senator James Paterson saying he isn't satisfied with the government's prevention efforts.
"I am genuinely flabbergasted by the government's apparent total lack of interest and concern about the risk of foreign interference in the upcoming referendum campaign," he told AAP.
It followed a tense exchange between Senator Paterson and minister Don Farrell in the Senate, where the Labor frontbencher said he hadn't had any advice suggesting foreign interference was a problem.
Senator Farrell said he had confidence in Australian authorities to take the appropriate action to prevent foreign interference and prohibit foreign donations.
He said the safest way to proceed was to apply the foreign donations provisions for general elections to the referendum as well.
"I have not received any advice which would lead me to believe we currently have an issue with respect to foreign donations," he said when asked if he had been briefed on the risks.
The referendum is due to be held between October and December.
© AAP 2023