26 April 2021
Submission in response to the Interim Report to the Australian Government: Indigenous Voice Co-design Process
We welcome the opportunity to make this submission to the Australian Government in response to the Interim
Report to the Australian Government: Indigenous Voice Co-design Process and to express our strong support for a
referendum to enshrine a First Nations Voice to Parliament in the Australian Constitution.
David Jones and Country Road Group acknowledge First Nations peoples as traditional custodians of Country
throughout Australia, and recognise their continuing cultural connection to the lands and waters of this continent.
As a leading Australian business, we acknowledge that we too play an active role in driving forward the journey
towards reconciliation and equality. We accept the responsibility to promote reconciliation within our workplace
and our sphere of influence, and understand that we, like so many Australian businesses, have much more work to
do.
David Jones and Country Road Group have accepted the generous invitation extended by First Nations peoples in
the Uluru Statement from the Heart to walk with them in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.
We recognise and respect the First Nations peoples who have cared for the lands and waters of this continent for
more than 60,000 years, and walk alongside our First Nations peers on a journey towards reconciliation, equality
and constitutional protection of their right to be heard.
We believe First Nations peoples must have a say in laws and policies that affect them. As such, we stand up and
support the proposal in the Uluru Statement from the Heart for a constitutionally enshrined First Nations Voice to
Parliament.
We respectfully urge the Australian Government to honour its election commitment to hold a referendum once a
model for the Voice has been settled and to pass enabling legislation for the Voice after a referendum has been held
in the next term of Parliament.
We also urge the government to ensure the membership model for the Voice supports previously unheard Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander peoples in having an equal chance at being selected as representatives as established
leadership figures.
We also support the two additional key elements for reform in the Uluru Statement from the Heart; a Makarrata
Commission to oversee agreement-making between the Australian Government and First Nations peoples, and a
formal truth-telling process, each critical steps towards reconciliation.
We stand proudly alongside our First Nations peers to champion their rightful place within our nation so that we can
move forward, together.
Regards,
Scott Fyfe – CEO, David Jones | Elle Roseby - Simon Schofield - Rosetta D’Amico – CRG Leadership Team
