A successful referendum on a voice to parliament will be difficult without bipartisan support, but the prime minister has told his colleagues it won't be impossible.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is expected to introduce a bill to alter the constitution on Thursday, setting the wheels in motion for a referendum to enshrine an Indigenous voice to parliament later this year.
The proposed words to be put to the Australian people were released by Anthony Albanese alongside members of the referendum working group last week.
In a caucus meeting on Tuesday, the prime minister told his colleagues a pre-condition for success was being on the same page as the referendum working group.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has not yet revealed whether the Liberal Party would support the voice.
He has called on the government to release advice from the solicitor-general on changing the wording of the alteration to allow the voice to make representations to executive government.
The Liberals are not expected to state their position on the voice until after a parliamentary committee scrutinising the proposed wording has completed its work.
Asked by his caucus colleagues how to engage Liberal MPs to support the voice, Mr Albanese said he had met with Mr Dutton several times and he had not proposed changes to the wording.
Mr Albanese said while history showed it would be difficult to have a successful referendum without bipartisan support, it was not impossible.
He warned colleagues there was not a certain outcome but likened it to losing the match if you don't run onto the field.
The question proposed by the working group and released by the prime minister is: "A Proposed Law: to alter the constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?"
In a poll published by The West Australian using the exact question to be asked of voters in the referendum, 60 per cent of people surveyed said they would answer 'yes'.
The poll of 1052 people found support fell away as the respondent's age increased, with people over 55 years more likely to oppose it in comparison with younger voters.
