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Voters continue to turn against an Indigenous voice, with overall support sliding to new lows and every state except Tasmania poised to vote 'no'.

A Resolve Political Monitor survey, published in Nine newspapers on Monday, showed 43 per cent of voters supported a plan to enshrine an Indigenous voice in the constitution, down 20 percentage points from a year ago.

The percentage of Australians in favour of the referendum has dropped for the fifth month in a row.

Victoria has flipped to a majority 'no' state since the previous survey, leaving Tasmania the only jurisdiction left in the 'yes' camp.

A successful referendum will require a 'yes' vote from more than 50 per cent of voters in four of the six states.

Late on Monday, Governor-General David Hurley is expected to issue the referendum writ - the formal legal document to start the campaign in the lead-up to voting day on October 14.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said there were still many undecided voters who could be convinced to support the constitutional amendment.

"We're going to ask them to vote 'yes' because this acknowledges 65,000 years of Australian history," she told Seven's Sunrise on Monday.

"This idea came from Aboriginal people, well over 80 per cent of them support it. This is not a committee that has a veto over parliament. It doesn't stop things happening.

"It is a committee to give advice - it really is a lot less scary than some of the 'no' campaign are making it out to be."

Independent senator Jacqui Lambie said the government had "failed miserably" in its bid to sell the positives of the voice and provide detail.

"Labor's done a really lousy job at selling this, to be brutally honest," she told Sky News.

But she also rejected the opposition's pledge to hold a second referendum on constitutional recognition as a "brain fart".

Nationals leader David Littleproud said the prime minister needed to split the question to avoid dividing the nation, with most people supporting constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

He denied a failed referendum would send a negative message to Indigenous Australians.

"The message is that Australian people have come and they've decided that the proposition the prime minister has put forward to us isn't the proper way to unite our country or to actually close the gap," Mr Littleproud told reporters in Canberra.

"Many Indigenous Australians feel that view now and that's why I think it's wrong for Indigenous leaders who support 'yes' to ... make generalised statements about how Indigenous Australians will feel."

Postal vote applications open on Monday and close on October 11.

The electoral roll closes seven days after writs are issued - meaning people have a week to ensure they're enrolled.

Hundreds of early voting centres will be available from October 2, with centres to open in the ACT, NSW, Queensland and South Australia a day later due to a public holiday.

© AAP 2023

The prime minister says Australia will stay the course and head to the polls as scheduled, despite a last-ditch appeal from the opposition to scrap the Indigenous voice referendum.

Anthony Albanese returned from a series of overseas summits on Monday and told parliament the referendum would go ahead on October 14.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton urged the prime minister to scrap the vote to avoid dividing the nation.

"Australians will get to determine their view on that date," Mr Albanese told parliament.

Governor-General David Hurley issued the referendum writ on Monday after a meeting of the executive council in Canberra.

Overall support has slid to new lows with every state except Tasmania set to vote 'no' to a constitutionally-enshrined consultative body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

A Resolve Political Monitor survey, published in Nine newspapers on Monday, showed 43 per cent of voters supported a plan to enshrine an Indigenous voice in the constitution, down 20 percentage points from a year ago.

The percentage of Australians in favour of the plan has dropped for the fifth month in a row and Victoria has flipped to a majority 'no' state since the previous survey.

A successful referendum will require a 'yes' vote from more than 50 per cent of voters in four of the six states.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said there were still many undecided voters who could be convinced to vote 'yes', adding the purely consultative body with no veto power was "a lot less scary than some of the 'no' campaign are making it out to be".

Yes23 spokesman Dean Parkin said the majority of campaigners and volunteers he saw out doorknocking around the national were in the 'yes' camp.

"We knew that we would be in this position in the lead-up to the final vote," he said.

"But it's very clear about what we need to do, we need to get out there and have as many conversations as we possibly can between now and the referendum."

Independent senator Jacqui Lambie said the government had "failed miserably" in its bid to sell the positives of the voice and provide detail.

But she also rejected the opposition's pledge to hold a second referendum on constitutional recognition as a "brain fart".

Nationals leader David Littleproud said the prime minister needed to split the question to avoid dividing the nation, with most people supporting constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

He denied a failed referendum would send a negative message to Indigenous Australians, saying it would be viewed as a rejection of the prime minister's model.

"Many Indigenous Australians feel that view now and that's why I think it's wrong for Indigenous leaders who support 'yes' to ... make generalised statements about how Indigenous Australians will feel," Mr Littleproud told reporters in Canberra.

Postal vote applications close on October 11.

The electoral roll closes seven days after writs are issued, meaning people have a week to ensure they're enrolled.

Hundreds of early voting centres will be available from October 2, with centres to open in the ACT, NSW, Queensland and South Australia a day later due to a public holiday.

© AAP 2023

Survivors of Morocco's deadliest earthquake in more than six decades are struggling to find food, water and shelter as the search for the missing continued in remote villages and the death toll of more than 2100 seemed likely to rise further.

Many people were preparing to spend a third night in the open after the 6.8 magnitude quake hit late on Friday. Relief workers face the challenge of reaching the worst-affected villages in the High Atlas, a rugged mountain range where settlements are often remote and where many houses crumbled.

The death toll climbed to 2122, with 2421 people injured.

The damage done to Morocco's cultural heritage became more evident as local media reported the collapse of a historically important 12th century mosque. The quake also damaged parts of Marrakech old city, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

In Moulay Brahim, a village 40 km south of Marrakech, residents described how they dug the dead from the rubble using their bare hands.

On a hillside overlooking the village, residents buried a 45-year-old woman who had died along with her 18-year-old son, a woman sobbing loudly as the body was lowered into the grave.

As he retrieved possessions from his damaged home, Hussein Adnaie said he believed people were still buried in the rubble nearby.

"They didn't get the rescue they needed so they died. I rescued my children and I'm trying to get covers for them and anything to wear from the house," he said.

Later, sacks of food were unloaded from a truck which local official Mouhamad al-Hayyan said had been organised by the government and civil society organisations.

With many homes built of mud bricks and timber or cement and breeze blocks, structures crumbled easily. It was Morocco's deadliest quake since 1960 when a tremor was estimated to have killed at least 12,000 people.

In the badly hit village of Amizmiz, residents watched as rescuers used a mechanical digger on a collapsed house.

"They are looking for a man and his son. One of them might still be alive," said Hassan Halouch, a retired builder.

The team eventually recovered only bodies.

The army, mobilised to help the rescue effort, set up a camp with tents for the homeless.

The government said on Saturday it was taking urgent measures to address the disaster including reinforcing search and rescue teams, providing drinking water and distributing food, tents and blankets.

France and Turkey have offered assistance and are awaiting formal requests from Morocco.

Meanwhile teams from Spain, the US and Qatar have been deployed.

"The next two to three days will be critical for finding people trapped under the rubble," Caroline Holt, global director of operations for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), told Reuters.

She said the international aid system has been waiting for an invitation from Morocco to assist, adding this was not necessarily unusual as the government assesses needs.

A spokesperson for Morocco's government did not immediately respond to Reuters phone calls seeking comment.

The World Health Organization said more than 300,000 people have been affected by the disaster.

US President Joe Biden expressed his "sadness about the loss of life and devastation" caused by the quake.

Pope Francis offered prayers and solidarity for the victims.

Morocco has declared three days of mourning and King Mohammed VI called for prayers for the dead to be held at mosques across the country.

The quake's epicentre was 72 km southwest of Marrakech, a city beloved of Moroccans and foreign tourists for its medieval mosques, palaces and seminaries richly adorned with vivid mosaic tiling amid a labyrinth of rose-hued alleyways.

© RAW 2023