Australia's Race Discrimination Commissioner Chin Tan has warned against creating a racially charged debate over the Indigenous voice to parliament.
The call for civility comes as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese delivers the Lowitja O'Donoghue Oration in Adelaide on Monday night, where he will take aim at opponents of the voice and reaffirm his confidence that the referendum will succeed.
Mr Tan said it was important the debate did not descend into one of race.
"The voice is not about race, it's about participation, equity ... elevating the position of First Nations people," he told the ABC.
"It's about a ... journey we've travelled for a long time in this country, about finding a way out and moving forward to support our Indigenous peoples."
Mr Albanese said "doomsayers" were promoting scare campaigns that underestimated Australians "so radically".
"Australians won't succumb to their appeals to fear and their ever more ludicrous invitations to jump at our own shadows," he says.
"That's because Australians have a healthy scepticism of doomsayers, a scepticism kept in good health by memories of all the predictions offered by the Chicken Littles of the past."
The latest polls show support for the voice has dropped to a slight majority, with the 'no' case on track to win if the trend doesn't change.
The voice legislation is expected to be voted on in the lower house this week, before it heads to the Senate.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who last week described the voice as Orwellian, also called for a respectful debate.
"The prime minister (is) out there name calling people and others suggesting that people are racist because they don't support the voice, it's completely and utterly unacceptable," he told reporters in Victoria.
Indigenous leader and prominent advocate for a 'no' vote, Warren Mundine, said the debate was starting to become "really disgraceful".
"This referendum is dividing Australia and you see it in the polling, and you see it out in the community," he told the ABC.
Prominent 'yes' campaigner Noel Pearson has warned a rejection of the voice would put an end to reconciliation in Australia.
The referendum is expected to be held between October and November this year.
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe said the voice did not have enough power to be effective.
"In 1967, more than 90% of people voted yes in the referendum to include First Nations mob in the constitution, but what difference did it actually make to Blak lives," she wrote on Twitter.
Nationals Leader David Littleproud said his party had a culture of allowing divergent views, and respected Liberal MPs who supported the voice.
© AAP 2023