Published by The Australian Financial Review Magazine via Philanthropy Australia
28 April 2023
The Balnaves Foundation has been featured alongside other philanthropic organisations as part of a pledge from members of Philanthropy Australia who support the ‘Yes’ campaign for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum.
A group of Australia’s richest philanthropists and family foundations have pledged $17 million to support the campaign for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, as the Yes and No camps sharpen their plans of attack ahead of the referendum.
More than 20 philanthropists including the Besen Foundation, Jo Horgan’s Mecca M Power, the Nelson Meers Foundation, the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, Geoff Ainsworth’s Oranges and Sardines, the Snow Foundation and The Myer Foundation have signed the pledge.
The total amount includes the Paul Ramsay Foundation’s $5 million donation to Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition (AICR), which was announced in February.
“We have to be bold, and we have to be courageous enough to be public about things that we know are drivers for change,” said Kristy Muir, who officially took over as chief executive of the foundation in September.
Supporters of the Voice plan to ramp up campaigning after legislation for the vote passes parliament in June.
Uluru Dialogue co-chair Megan Davis told The Australian Financial Review Magazine more television ads are also planned for next month, coinciding with the sixth anniversary of the Uluru Statement.
“Getting to Yes in the referendum will be such a powerful thing for our young people. It will be transformative,” she said. “The substance of the reform is to create a culture in which the government, the bureaucracy, the parliament just consult with mob from day one.”
Leading figures from both Yes and No camps spoke at length to AFR Magazine about how their campaigns will take shape.
To read the full article in The Australian Financial Review, click here.