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First Nations
Dominic Giannini

Labor to rally party faithful over Indigenous voice

Anthony Albanese will give a keynote address at the start of Labor's conference's next week. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)

Labor will use the final day of a contentious national conference to project unity on the Indigenous voice referendum and as a springboard into its 'yes' campaign.

The party's national conference will take place in Brisbane next week and bring together federal and state leaders, MPs, unionists and rank and file members to hash out policy on a range of issues.

Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney will head the "bringing people together" debate on the final day in the hopes of rallying the party faithful ahead of the referendum.

It is expected the vote to enshrine the voice and recognise Australia's First Peoples in the constitution will be held in October.

Within the more contentious policy debates, there are fights to stave off internal rumbles against Australia's plan to acquire nuclear-propelled submarines as well as efforts to quell divisions over Palestinian statehood.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong this week announced the government would strengthen its position against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and affirmed they were illegal under international law. 

The decision is in line with key diplomatic partners like the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the European Union.

But the timing has drawn criticism from the opposition who accused Labor of throwing its left faction a bone ahead of the national conference in order to quell ructions over the AUKUS alliance and submarines.

"The Labor Party has said one thing before the last election - reassured Australian’s Jewish communities that there would be no change and that they were in lockstep in terms of policy positions on Israel - and now we're seeing multiple changes," Liberal frontbencher Simon Birmingham said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will give a keynote address at the start of the conference's first day on Thursday before various ministers lead debates in their portfolio areas.

Policy adopted at the conference is binding but it remains up to the parliamentary caucus about how and when decisions are implemented.

There are almost 400 voting delegates including from the federal parliamentary leadership, state and territory leaders, the trade union movement and the rank and file.

All can move amendments to the policy platform or put forward resolutions they would like the conference to consider.

The conference will wrap up on August 19.

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