Labor Senator Patrick Dodson is looking at the debate about a Indigenous voice to parliament from a different perspective.
Cancer can do that.
Speaking from his home on Yawuru country in Broome, where he's recuperating from chemo, Senator Dodson told AAP that being away from the political bubble had been valuable and was helping his recovery.
"In some ways it's been a blessing because I think that the debate has degenerated into personalities and individuals when it really should be focusing on what we are trying to do as a nation," he says.
"There are political games being played, which is unfortunate.
"I think it diminishes us as a people.
"It obviously detracts from the significance of the provision, that is the recognition of the First Peoples and the voice and their ability to make representations."
In March Senator Dodson visited Winnunga Nimmityjah, the Aboriginal medical service in Canberra, for a COVID vaccination.
His doctor realised he was very ill and sent him to hospital, where he was diagnosed with a serious infection on his oesophagus and Hodgkins lymphoma and he's been on leave from parliament since.
He hopes to be back on his feet in time to help campaign for the referendum on a First Nations voice to parliament on October 14.
Just over thirty years ago, Senator Dodson travelled around the country for the royal commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody.
His role as a commissioner was to explore the underlying issues, the legal, cultural and social factors that were leading to Aboriginal people being taken into custody at vastly disproportionate rates.
"It became clear that they had very little say in the way in which the social policies of government ought to be delivered and they were disempowered through the process," Senator Dodson says.
"And the poverty, not only the physical poverty of people, but the quality of life that people had in terms of a civil democracy.
"The other thing that struck me, of course, was the police and their power.
"They certainly have a lot of authority and they wield that authority fairly effectively in the lives of Aboriginal people."
During the course of the royal commission Senator Dodson listened to hundreds of Aboriginal people, custodial workers, police, lawyers, academics, held town meetings and spoke to anyone he could find who might have solutions to help keep Indigenous people out of prison.
These conversations supported Senator Dodson's conviction that if you give people a say in matters that affect them, you give them agency and you get better outcomes.
The royal commission made 339 recommendations, many of which have still not been implemented in full.
Senator Dodson said a national First Nations voice, made up of representatives from regions from all over the country, would be able to make representations to policy makers on issues of substance that affect Indigenous people.
"Including deaths in custody and other legacy matters from the royal commission and other inquiries like the Bringing Them Home report about the Stolen Generations," he says.
"The principle is clear and the principle is right that the First People should be recognised and that they should have a body that represents their interest.
"And that body should be able to make representations to the parliament and to the executive."
The voice proposal includes the provision that how the machinery will work will be legislated by the parliament.
"So the argument about detail is really spurious at this point because the detail will come when we get to dealing with legislation and that'll be in the open forum of parliament," Senator Dodson says.
He is still optimistic about the referendum's success.
"Australians are very generous, generally, when we respond to challenges," he said.
"And I would say to the Australian people, there's nothing to fear, there's no hidden agenda. There's no risk in what we're being asked to do.
"In fact, if we were able to support the referendum, it would bring us great honour, and it would help us shift the basis of our relationship with Aboriginal people and enable us to deal with the more complex issues that we know will confront us the day after the referendum anyway."
