Local Aboriginal groups will be a part of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, aiming to amplify regional voices.
The Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Ken Wyatt, appointed Aboriginal leaders Marcia Langton and Tom Calma to lead design options for an Indigenous advisory board.
The advisory board is different from another voice to Parliament which was part of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and includes calls for a treaty.
Regional communities across Australia have been giving feedback on what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people want from the process.
Professor Calma said up to 35 regional and local groups would be created under the plan to address issues on the ground.
"We need to have a mechanism where a local voice could influence the state voice," he said.
"You'd break up Australia into between 25 to 35 regions, and within each region there'd be a little infrastructure to support people to express a view and pass it up to the state level."
Professor Calma said both the local and national voices were about giving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people power to help make decisions.
"It's an investment in working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through designing programs and policies and legislation."