AccessHC Voice to Parliament position statement

Access Health and Community’s position on the Voice to Parliament is one of support.

June 2023

Read our position statement below:

Access Health and Community supports the call for Voice, Treaty, Truth and sees the Indigenous Voice to Parliament as an important first step towards Reconciliation in Australia. We commit to listening to our local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, our people, clients and partners about how we can further Reconciliation. We respect the right of all of our staff, partners and stakeholders, including land-owners, to speak freely and respectfully about their views on The Voice. It is our hope that everyone will participate in the forthcoming referendum.

Access Health and Community believe that providing for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament within Australia’s Constitution, as called for by the Uluru Statement from the Heart, is strongly aligned with our purpose of Building Healthier Lives Together, and our values of Equity, Collaboration and Respect.

Access Health and Community operates on the land of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung People. We recognise that these lands were never ceded and pay our respects to the traditional owners of these lands. We acknowledge the impact colonisation has had on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, as the First Peoples of Australia. We support truth telling as a way that we can achieve historical acceptance where Australians recognise, understand, and accept the wrongs of the past and the impact of these wrongs on First Peoples.

AccessHC recognises that for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, health is more than the absence of disease and disability and encompasses connection to country and the opportunity for self-determination, and recognition of the negative impact colonisation has had on health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.