A major central Australian Aboriginal organisation has delivered a stinging rebuke to new opposition spokeswoman for Indigenous Australians, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.
Senator Price appeared in a new advertisement backing the 'no' campaign against an Indigenous voice to parliament, prompting the NT Central Land Council to assert the senator does not speak for or listen to them.
"She needs to stop pretending we are her people," Central Land Council deputy chair Warren Williams, from Yuendumu, said in a statement.
"We are tired of her playing politics with the grassroots organisations our old people have built to advocate for our rights and interests."
In the nine-minute ad filmed in her hometown Alice Springs, Senator Price shares her experience growing up in a blended family with an Indigenous mother and a white father.
"What's important to me is that we don't divide ourselves along the lines of race in this country," she says.
"I don't want to see my family divided along the lines of race because we are a family of human beings and that's the bottom line."
Mr Williams said the council was well aware of the scale of the challenges its members and their families face.
"We have many good men and women who are trying hard to make our communities better places, who are desperate to be heard, and Senator Price's divisive approach isn't helping," he said.
Senator Price has claimed NT authorities were returning fostered Aboriginal children to abusive homes.
National Children's Commissioner Anne Hollonds said there was no evidence to support such a claim.
Mr Williams said by generalising about Aboriginal people without any evidence and authority, Senator Price was hurting Aboriginal people.
Lajamanu community leader Valerie Patterson said the senator was misrepresenting the support for the voice in remote communities.
"I am a Warlpiri woman and I will vote 'yes' because I believe that having the right to be heard by the parliament and the government will open a door for our children," Ms Patterson said.
"Senator Price should support us, not tell lies about us."
On Wednesday, Torres Strait Islanders and far north Queenslanders addressed a parliamentary inquiry examining the wording of the proposed constitutional change.
Torres Strait Island Regional Council Mayor Phillemon Mosby said the people of the Torres Strait see the voice as unfinished business.
"We stand with our Aboriginal brothers and sisters of this country, as Torres Strait Islanders, we support the voice to parliament," he said.
The advertisement featuring Senator Price was released on Wednesday by the campaign group Fair Australia, which is funded by conservative lobby group Advance.
Senator Price appears in the ad alongside her husband Colin Lillie, who was born in Scotland and recently became an Australian citizen.
In the ad, Mr Lillie said he wouldn't stand for a racial line being put through his family.
"Later this year politicians will be asking us to vote on a major change to our constitution. They want to establish a so-called voice to parliament. This is a really big deal," Senator Price added.
"The constitution is the rule book for governing the country and they want the rules to change.
"I'll be voting 'no' because this will not unite us, this will divide us."
However, the Central Land Council's Mr Williams said the voice was a big opportunity.
"The voice comes from the people," he said.
"We want to go ahead with it. We will probably never have that chance again."
The proposed voice would recognise Indigenous Australians in the constitution and establish a body that would advise government on matters that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Australians will vote in the referendum on the voice between October and December.
