The Australian Electoral Commission is yet to decide if the householder guide for the upcoming Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum will be translated into Indigenous languages, a public hearing into referendum legislation heard this week.

The Electoral Matters Committee examined the proposed machinery provision amendments to the Referendum Act handed down in Parliament earlier this month.

The changes, as flagged by Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister Patrick Gorman, are intended to modernise the legislation which "has not kept pace" with those surrounding federal elections.

"Referendums are an integral part of our democracy; however, the last referendum was held over 22 years ago," Mr Gorman said earlier this month.

"The bill makes amendments to replicate current electoral machinery provisions into the referendum context to ensure the voting process and experience is similar to that of a federal election.

On Monday, the committee posed questions to the Department of Finance, AEC and an academic roundtable of experts regarding the provisions of the bill.

Remote polling periods and voting accessibility, financial and donation disclosure and the Government's decision against funding 'yes' or 'no' campaigns and their transparency as past examples were central to discussion.

Greens Senator Larissa Walters was "baffled" to hear the AEC had not landed on a decision to the extent of householder guides being translated into Indigenous language.

The AEC positted the same 20 Indigenous languages, in addition to 32 culturally and linguistically diverse languages, made available in the last election will be reflected in the handout.

"There are far more than 20 First Nations languages in this country," Senator Walters said.

"How are people going to understand what it is that they're voting on and the vote if you're not going to be able to do the translation of at least the householder guide?

"Surely you would just ask for more funding from government so that you could do the translation so that people understand."

AEC deputy commissioner Jeff Pope said resources and a question of necessity drawn from ABS data play a hand in the outcome.

"Some of the data that I've seen indicates that it gets to a point where you're spending a huge amount of money for an audience of potentially 1,500 people," Mr Pope said.

"The data also indicates that the levels of English proficiency in those 1,500 people is already quite high.

"Accredited translators may not be available at that time for some of those languages which are less common."

Mr Pope said the AEC would "consider" translating into additional "appropriate" languages.

AEC commissioner Tom Rogers stated "clearly, there's a limit due to the sheer number of languages that we can translate to" with links and information on where further translation to be made available would be included within the guide.

He highlighted that consultation with First Nations groups contribute to the scope of inclusion and would continue evaluation as with rising enrolment percentage and voters identifying at Indigenous Australians.

Radio in remote communities and inlfux of online services since the last referendum are considered more effeicent methods for delivery of information.

The AEC were steadfast in stating the role of the AEC operated with a neutral stance on the referendum.

"The householder booklet will tell electors where to vote and how to cast a formal vote," Mr Pope said.

"It will have nothing at all to do with the subject matter of the referendum."

During the hearing Mr Rodgers said the rollout, "if we get it right", could be a replicated campaign for referendums in the future.

The vote on enshired Indigenous Voice to Parliament is due to circle the country in the coming year.