A Liberal backer of the Indigenous voice says he fears the proposal could be “lost to history”.

Senator Andrew Bragg, who has indicated his support for the constitutional proposal, has hit out at the government for not being willing to find a greater middle ground with the coalition in order to ensure the referendum’s success.

It comes as debate on the form of the referendum will continue in the Senate on Wednesday, ahead of a vote next week to finalise the proposed question and constitutional change.

Senator Bragg said the parliamentary committee process that examined the referendum bill was rushed.

“The reality is now we face a referendum with a very small centre ground,” he told parliament.

“I regret that this opportunity has been lost in history.

“I think we’ll look back on this report and this committee process and think, ‘Well, that was the last chance we had to try and build out some centre ground’, which I think is going to be essential if this is going to be a successful referendum.” The committee process, which ran for several weeks, recommended parliament pass the laws to set up the referendum without any changes.

However, Senator Bragg said the question that will be put to the public at the referendum could have been strengthened to ensure its success.

“The idea that there’s no way that this wording could have been improved, I think, is fundamentally untrue,” he said. Greens senator Dorinda Cox, who is Indigenous, told parliament on Tuesday the voice was needed to improve outcomes for Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders.

Senator Cox said while there was a record number of Indigenous parliamentarians, representation was still not enough.

“There are more of us sitting in parliament than ever before, but we are still only 11 of 227 members of this parliament,” she told the Senate on Tuesday.

“Our 11 voices are not enough to tackle the challenges that our people face, no matter how hard we work.

“This is why we need a voice to parliament.”

The referendum is due to be held between October and December.

Source: AAP