AEC Commissioner Tom Rogers gives details on the 'yes' and 'no' pamphlets for the Voice to Parliament referendum

The pamphlets will be prepared by parliamentarians supporting the "yes" and "no" cases on the Voice to Parliament, and can be up to 2000 words in length.

The referendum is expected to be held between October and December this year, and will ask Australians whether they approve of a proposed alteration to the Constitution "to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice".

The Voice would advise Federal Parliament on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Appearing at a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday, Mr Rogers detailed the "large scale, complex" operation which will see the pamphlets delivered to every household, and then translated into more than 50 languages.

Mr Rogers also detailed stringent requirements around the provision of text for the pamphlets, which could leave the electoral commission unable to print both cases, if camps don't comply.

Once legislation triggering the referendum passes Parliament, "yes" and "no" camps will have 28 days to provide their pamphlets,

"If one of those cases doesn't arrive in time, we'll be publishing a 'yes'/'no' pamphlet with one of those cases and not the other," he told senators.

"And additionally if one of those cases arrives outside the legislative framework that's been mandated including any words over 2000 words, we'll need to reject that case in its entirety," he said. "And again, it might mean that we're distributing a booklet with only one case."

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The commission will need to work at "rapid pace" to prepare the document unaltered, and won't even be allowed to correct spelling mistakes in the text.

"You said that there are no alterations whatsoever from the versions that you are given by the Parliament. Does that include even something as basic as a spelling mistake?" Liberal senator Jane Hume asked.

"Presuming that won't happen but that is my understanding senator," Mr Rogers responded. "Even a spelling check or a grammatical error, whatever is provided by Parliament will be exactly what's sent out."

Mr Rogers also issued a plea to parliamentarians to maintain the "simplicity of the argument" for both cases, so that information could be translated effectively.

"Translation is a really difficult thing, and some of the concepts, if they're very complex, they're very difficult to translate accurately and so simplicity of messaging is actually critical here to ensure that people understand what's occurring," Mr Rogers said.

"And I mean that quite sincerely. Particularly translated information, there are some concepts that just don't translate across many languages.

"So if there was a plea: that the simplicity of the argument in those cases is very important."

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