NFAW acknowledges that this edition of newsletter edition to you during National NAIDOC Week 2023.

With this year’s theme “For Our Elders”, NFAW salutes Indigenous Elders who have played, and continue to play, an important role and hold a prominent place in communities and families across Australia.

Through work NFAW has undertaken, including the Gender Lens on the Budget, we have advocated for and with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and their families.

NFAW was, and continues to be, a signatory to the Uluru Statement from the Heart as we recognise it as a call by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for real and practical change in Australia through the establishment of constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament.  The Uluru Statement from the Heart is an invitation to all Australians to walk alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in a movement for a better future.

The Foundation is pleased to provide a submission to the Inquiry into the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice Referendum.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The National Foundation for Australian Women makes the following recommendations:

1.The Bill – as presented to Parliament and supported by the First Nations Referendum Working Group-be passed.

2.The Parliament should proceed as planned with the design principles of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament, as agreed by the First Nations Referendum Working Group.