Graeme Orr, Dani Larkin and Laurel Fox writes for The Conversation. | Follow Graeme on Twitter
The Voice is a simple idea. The proposed amendment to Australia's Constitution is short and sweet.
Yet the referendum debate is at risk of inundation, and too often misses the point. While there are many things the Voice cannot do, there is one thing it can do.
It offers a permanent, public and culturally distinct way forward for Indigenous consensuses to develop and find their rightful place in national politics.
The past as prologue to the present
The Voice is rehearsed rather than radical. National Indigenous representative bodies have been on and off the agenda for 50 years. Australia has had three formalised national Indigenous representative bodies between 1973 and 2005. The history of this is significant.
