By Dominic Giannini and Cassandra Morgan in Canberra

A FAILED referendum on an indigenous Voice to parliament will be a win for the black sovereign movement, independent senator Lidia Thorpe says.

Indigenous Australians who resisted colonisation and constitutional recognition would be able to start “a real healing… and truth telling journey” in the course of a successful “no” vote, she said.

“Most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people want truth telling in this country that after all, was part of the Uluru statement that we’re not hearing anymore as part of this debate,” she told ABC Radio on Thursday.

“We’re also not talking about treaty… so I think that there is lots to look forward to and rather than think that we’ve been defeated, see this as a victory.”

Senator Thorpe said the government should still move to legislate a Voice to parliament in the event of a referendum defeat – something the prime minister has ruled out.

She said her opposition was not against the Voice itself, but using it as a form of constitutional recognition would be “window dressing”.

“We don’t want to go into the constitution on the government’s terms or on 97 per cent of this population’s term,” she said.

The indigenous senator said the referendum had given a platform to racists and her life was in danger after being targeted by neo-Nazi propaganda.

One Liberal MP encouraging voters to support the referendum has made a last-ditch plea ahead of Australians hitting the booths on Saturday to lift up their eyes and see the challenges their indigenous brothers and sisters face.

Former shadow attorney-general Julian Leeser, who stood down from the front bench to support the Voice and oppose the Liberals’ “no” stance, reflected on perceptions of the referendum debate as “divisive”.

He called on Australians to consider difference as an integral part of democracy and urged them to approach change with hope rather than fear.

“I know there are great pressures on Australians. This is not an easy time with financial pressures, stagnant wages, and wars and conflict in the world,” Mr Leeser said in a speech at the Australian Catholic University on Wednesday.

“In such a time, the temptation is to say no more change.

“But this is a time when we need Australians need to lift up their eyes and see the challenges that our indigenous brothers and sisters face.”

Saturday’s referendum was a “moment of consequence” after far too long of Australia failing its first peoples, Mr Leeser said.

Labor senator Pat Dodson – who is known as the father of reconciliation for his prolonged advocacy – made a rare public appearance as he battles cancer to urge Australians to vote “yes”.

“You can’t live in your own country and not be recognised,” Senator Dodson told the National Press Club on Wednesday.

“Are the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people going to be at the table or pick up the crumbs as we have been for the last 200 years?”

“No” campaigner Warren Mundine told ABC Radio he rejected suggestions reconciliation with indigenous Australians would not be possible should the referendum fail.