Voice could 'streamline' healthcare in Orange: OAMS' Alisha Agland

Speaking alongside assistant minister for regional health and suicide prevention Emma McBride on Tuesday, representatives for Orange Aboriginal Medical Service (OAMS) said a "Yes" vote will improve outcomes, reduce waste, and allow successful models to be scaled nationally.

"In terms of doing things better, we spoke today about how funding is currently achieved," chair Alisha Agland said.

"One of the biggest things is ... funding is coming from multiple different sources. To be able to promise the services to a community which we know desperately need it, we hope through a Voice we can streamline funding so we can just do our job and we're not fighting neck-and-neck with mainstream providers.

"Many [Indigenous] community organisations do struggle to get the ears of Canberra."

Assistant minister McBride told media her morning in Orange had reinforced her belief a Voice is the best path to closing the gap in regional communities.

"listening to people makes a real difference ... informed service provision can see real results in communities and so I think OAMS is one of those ... shining examples of success," she said.

"Through a voice we will be able to see the scaled up and rolled out nationally, so that the success that we see you through ohms would be then seen in other parts of Australia."

The referendum has elicited strong views in Orange. In July shadow minister for Indigenous Australians Jacinta Price said the town would not benefit from a Voice to Parliament in any way.

Polling by ACM suggests the Colour City will likely vote "no" by a significant margin. In June about one third of respondents indicated support for the proposal, with more than half against.

If successful, the vote would enshrine constitutional recognition for Indigenous Australians and establish a body to advise the federal parliament on Aboriginal affairs.

Proponents say this will advance national reconciliation and improve efforts to tackle indigenous issues by providing a direct line of communication between communities and legislators.

Sceptics primarily argue the Voice would be a top-heavy bureaucratic body unable to effectively represent people "on the ground." Its potential influence over executive government has also been flagged.

Reading this on mobile web? Download our news app. It's faster, easier to read and we'll send you alerts for breaking news as it happens.

Download in the Apple Store or Google Play.