News Corp invites debate around Indigenous Voice to parliament

News Corp Australia has thrown its support behind a debate surrounding enshrining an Indigenous voice to the Australian parliament, with Australasian executive chairman Michael Miller announcing full page ads  across all of the company’s mastheads. 

As it stands, Australia is one of only a handful of Commonwealth nations that do not have a treaty or treaties with its Indigenous people.

First released in 2017, The Uluru Statement from the Heart is a call made by Australian Aboriginal leaders to change the constitution to improve the representation of Indigenous Australians. 

The Statement also calls for a Makarrata Commission, which will "supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history".

The debate has been brought back to the forefront of the national conversation after the recent election results – one of Labor’s key policies was the promise to “move quickly” on a referendum if elected. As the dust settles on Anthony Albanese’s new Prime Ministership, Australians are preparing to have their say at the voting booth.

The move works to prove the separation between the corporate voice and the editorial voices of News Corp Australia – however, News Corp editorial has already taken a dive into multiple positions on the demands of The Uluru Statement from the Heart.

The Oz runs an explainer on their site that explains that “it’s not as simple as Conservative vs. Progressive,” in The Australian Chris Kenny writes that an Indigenous voice to parliament embodies a “fair go,” – however some letters to the paper disagree – and Dean Parkin, director of From the Heart, writes an article in the Courier Mail describing how the voice is “a win for all Australians.”

See More: “We’re only just beginning”: Elyse Popplewell on launching The Oz

On the flip side of the coin, Sky News's Peta Credlin says that the voice "isn’t needed", James Campbell writes in The Sunday Telegraph that history is "not on the side" of the vote, and Rita Panahi warns against "toxic identity politics" in an article throwing her support behind Peter Dutton.