By Neve Brissenden in Darwin

AUSTRALIAN has exposed its soul and inflicted great pain on indigenous people during the Voice referendum, former ABC host and foreign correspondent Stan Grant has declared.

“There was more to this than just putting a question to the Australian people,” he said before delivering a speech in Darwin.

“You are asking the nation to bare its soul, that was never going to be something that was not going to come at great pain or cost to people.”

Grant quit the national broadcaster in July, citing racial abuse of him and his family and blasting the ABC over its lack of support.

The Wiradjuri man delivered the Vincent Lingiari Memorial Lecture on Friday night, arguing Australia had a chance to achieve real democracy on October 14.

On polling day, Australians will be asked whether to alter the constitution to recognise First Nations people by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice.

The Voice would be chosen by indigenous people and provide advice to parliament and the executive government.

“There is not enough justice in the world equal to the crimes that we have committed against one another,” he said in his speech.

“There may well be just enough love.”

Grant has been critical of Australian media since leaving the ABC and argued journalism had  failed in its responsibility during the referendum.

“Under the guise of political debate, we’ve seen the amplification of racist voices that have always been there and now have legitimacy,” he told AAP.

During his speech, the high-profile journalist said he had to leave the country after receiving an onslaught of racism throughout his career.

“I needed to get away to escape the crush of my history, and the banality of politics that reduces our complexity to caricature,” he said.

“I know the media. I know that it long ago lost the language or the love for the fragility of our lives.”

Grant relocated to Europe earlier this year.

While living aboard, Grant wondered if he could recognise his own country.

“I thought there was a moment here to finally have the sort of mature discussion that we need to have and yet I’ve been proved wrong,” he said.

Grant’s speech was delivered to a sold-out crowd at Charles Darwin University.