Big W pulls Indigenous voice to parliament plugs from in-store messages

Big W has pulled public address announcements about the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the voice, citing feedback from customers and staff.

Big W had been broadcasting an acknowledgment of country in its stores for more than a year and will revert to those. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

Big W has pulled public address announcements about the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the Indigenous voice to parliament from all its stores, citing feedback from customers and staff.

The retail chain, owned by Woolworths Group, had been broadcasting an acknowledgment of country in Big W stores for more than a year and will revert to those, The Australian has confirmed.

However, this month, to coincide with the NAIDOC Week annual celebration of Indigenous culture, Big W launched a new acknowledgment of country that included a reference to the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart and its call for a voice. The Woolworths Group was one of the first big corporates to support the Uluru Statement and its call for an Indigenous voice to parliament.

“Last year we began playing an acknowledgment of country across our store network,” a Big W spokesperson said.

“As a part of NAIDOC Week, a new acknowledgment of country was launched in Big W stores that referenced the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

“Based on customer and store team feedback, we will be reverting to the previous acknowledgment of country in-store message. We recognise and respect our team and customers have varying views and perspectives.”

The Australian found one complaint about the announcements on Woolworths’ Facebook page on Thursday.

An account under the name Tony Hinton posted: “I object strongly to BigW making in-store announcements supporting the Uluru Statement from the Heart and telling customers how important it is for the company that you vote ‘Yes’ in The Voice referendum.”

While the abandoned version of the acknowledgment of country made it clear Big W supports the Indigenous voice, the announcements did not explicitly tell customers to vote yes.

The words of the previous messages were:

“Hi, my name is XXX, proud XXX man / woman and I am a Big W XXX (position – team leader, team member, etc).

“We acknowledge the many traditional owners of the lands on which we operate, and pay our respects to their elders past and present. We recognise their strengths and enduring connection to lands, waters and skies as the custodians of the oldest continuing cultures on the planet.

“We remain committed to actively contributing to Australia’s reconciliation journey through listening and learning, empowering more diverse voices and working together for a better tomorrow. We reaffirm our support for the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and its calls for a First Nations voice to parliament enshrined in the Constitution.”

Woolworths Group was criticised for not listening to Indigenous communities over its push to establish a Dan Murphy’s in Darwin within a short distance of three dry Indigenous communities. After a five-year legal and political battle, the company abandoned its plan in 2021. It has since established a First Nations Advisory Board “to improve engagement with Indigenous communities and continue to make a meaningful contribution towards Closing the Gap and Reconciliation within Australia”.

The advisory board’s founding members included Sean Gordon – a member of Anthony Albanese’s referendum working group – and AFL champion Adam Goodes, who co-founded the Indigenous Defence and Infrastructure Consortium that provides education, skill training and employment opportunities for Indigenous Australians to support large defence and infrastructure projects.

The board counsels the Woolworths Group on matters including internal policies, advocacy positions, informing commercial and partnering decisions and Indigenous community engagement and empowerment.