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A prominent human rights advocate has told federal MPs she wants every Australian to understand that the heart of the voice proposal will empower Indigenous people to have a say on matters that affect them.

Uluru Dialogues co-chair Pat Anderson said the message from Indigenous people across the country had been consistent in the dozens of dialogues she had joined on constitutional recognition.

"The voice is about getting grassroots voices amplified and feeding into Canberra, representing the views and voices of their communities," she told the parliamentary committee on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice referendum in Canberra on Friday.

"The really important message from the dialogues was that there is no voice that exists now that represents who we are and what we want.

"That's a really powerful message."

Professors Megan Davis, Marcia Langton and Tom Calma also addressed the committee, as did Uluru statement campaigner Thomas Mayor and retired journalist Kerry O'Brien, who have co-written a book about the voice

And while their areas of expertise are different, they all agreed on one point.

The status quo for Indigenous people in this country is not acceptable.

Prof Davis, co-chair of the Uluru Dialogues, said the bill was the culmination of a 16-year national discussion of constitutional recognition.

"This bill has deep roots in generations of advocacy by First Nations people concerned about Indigenous disempowerment, structural powerlessness and a constitution that makes no reference to the polities that have occupied Australia for more than 60,000 years," she said.

"The dialogues advocated for substantive constitutional change that would alter the status quo. They called for empowerment through voice that could speak to both parliament and the government but one that could also evolve and change over the decades to come."

The inquiry is only looking at the legislation needed for a referendum and will also hold public hearings in Orange on Monday and Cairns on Wednesday.

Committee member, South Australian Liberal senator and Arrernte woman Kerrynne Liddle told AAP she had "strong reservations" about the voice but was looking forward to interrogating the detail in the proposed legislation.

"What the impact of those words are, because in the constitution, as in legislation, words matter," she said.

"This is a really important decision from them and if they vote because they feel like they should because they're on the right side of history, or they feel guilty about voting any other way, then that will be a real disappointment to everyone."

© AAP 2023

While the mayor of Alice Springs may have pleaded for voice campaigners, for and against, to refrain from using his town as a political football, it's a request that's been kicked well and truly into touch.

Visiting the Alice with Northern Territory senator Jacinta Price on Thursday, Opposition leader Peter Dutton took aim at Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney and warned that the central Australian community would be overlooked by the initiative.

However the next step in the political process begins with the first public hearing by the joint select committee on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice referendum in Canberra on Friday.

The inquiry is only looking at the legislation needed for a referendum and will also hold public hearings in Orange on Monday and Cairns on Wednesday.

Committee member, South Australian Liberal senator and Arrernte woman Kerrynne Liddle told AAP she has "strong reservations" about the voice but is looking forward to interrogating the detail in the proposed legislation.

"What the impact of those words are, because in the constitution, as in legislation, words matter," she said.

The inquiry is expected to hear from constitutional law experts and other academics.

"I want to understand it from a range of experts," Senator Liddle said.

"Because ultimately, it's the Australian people that will actually decide and it's the 96 per cent of the Australian population that is not Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander that will be determining what will happen."

To do so, they will need to have "the very best information that they can possibly have", she said.

"This is a really important decision from them and if they vote because they feel like they should because they're on the right side of history, or they feel guilty about voting any other way, then that will be a real disappointment to everyone."

Meanwhile, Alice Springs mayor Matt Paterson says the community needs help, regardless of the refrendum outcome.

"My fear is if people are linking (the town's plight) with the voice, as soon as the referendum is over they're going to forget about Alice Springs," Mr Paterson said on Thursday.

"We're asking for help because we need a change and we're going to need to change a lot longer than when the referendum is held later this year."

© AAP 2023

Jarryd Hayne will find out if the NSW Supreme Court thinks he should be locked up before sentencing on two rape counts, after a lower court ruled he was too famous to be detained before then.

The 35-year-old disgraced former NRL star was found guilty on two counts of sexual intercourse without consent earlier in April.

Hayne walked out of court escorted by sheriffs into a waiting Audi when he faced a bail review in the District Court two days later.

Crown prosecutors have launched another bid to have Hayne detained before sentencing, taking him to the NSW Supreme Court for a bail hearing before Justice Richard Button on Friday.

It comes after he faced a third trial and spent nine months in custody following an earlier guilty verdict that was overturned on appeal due to "profoundly wrong" legal directions given to the jury before it deliberated.

The jury in the first trial was discharged without reaching a verdict.

Hayne was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman with his hands and mouth after attending her home on the night of the 2018 NRL grand final.

She cannot be identified.

A taxi Hayne paid $550 to drive him to Sydney following a bucks weekend waited outside the suburban Newcastle home while he played the woman songs on a laptop and watched the end of the grand final as her mother sat in the living room.

Following the assault, the pair cleaned blood off of themselves in the woman's ensuite and Hayne continued to Sydney, the trial heard.

District Court Judge Graham Turnbull was reluctant to jail Hayne prior to a sentencing hearing in May.

"He's going to jail," Judge Turnbull said.

"My problem at the moment is he's not going in as a sentenced prisoner, he's going in as a remand prisoner."

He could be "vulnerable" around other prisoners awaiting their sentence, and would require protection "because he's Jarryd Hayne".

The bail review heard Hayne quickly became a target last time he was in custody, before he was moved to a more protected facility.

© AAP 2023