‘Woke’ firms giving ‘only Yes side of Indigenous voice debate’, say critics

Indigenous voice critics have blasted criticism at progressive Australian corporates for educating their employees on only ‘one side’ of the referendum debate.

Indigenous voice opponent Nyunggai Warren Mundine. Picture: John Feder

Critics of the Indigenous voice are demanding “woke” Australian companies also advise their staff of reasons a referendum should not pass and not just “only explain one side of the debate”.

Some of Australia’s largest corporations, including KPMG and Ernst & Young, have thrown support behind the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and subsequently the voice, promising to “educate” their employees ahead of the referendum in the form of seminars, bespoke web pages and forums.

But businessman and voice opponent Nyunggai Warren Mundine has attacked companies for running “biased education programs” that favoured the Yes camp and pushed their corporate agenda.

Mr Mundine claimed he and Country Liberal senator Jacinta Price were initially engaged by KPMG to speak to their employees about the voice, but the company cancelled on him at the last minute to “go a different way”.

“These big corporations, they’ve all gone woke and they’ve been sucking on the Kool-Aid,” he said. “They are running biased education programs.”

Mr Mundine urged workers to think carefully before they voted at the referendum.

“The good news (for workers) is that these big corporations will not be able to go into the polling booth with you,” he said. “So you can vote any way you like.”

KPMG will likely host optional seminars during work hours, committing to work with pro-voice organisations to “educate our own people”, a company spokeswoman said.

“We are official supporters of the From the Heart campaign and of Uluru Dialogue at the UNSW Indigenous Law Centre,” the spokeswoman said. “We’ll be working with both organisations to support their work, including educating our own people, in the lead-up to the referendum to enshrine an Indigenous voice to parliament in the Constitution.”

At Lendlease, chief executive Dale Connor said: “Corporate Australia has a leadership role to play in raising awareness of what the voice, treat and truth means to us all.” The company will upload information about the voice to the staff intranet, and share online forums arranged by business and industry associations and peak bodies.

Lendlease Australian chief executive Dale Connor supports the Indigenous voice to parliament. Picture: John Feder

EY Oceania chief executive and managing partner David Larocca said the company “fully supports a constitutionally enshrined voice” and was in the process of setting up an internal Indigenous council to “foster Indigenous voices at EY” and “ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are heard and respected”.

Deloitte, which “supports the spirit and the word of the Uluru Statement”, will offer staff non-compulsory webinars during work hours to “provide opportunities for our people to hear relevant perspectives on this topic”.

“Our focus is providing opportunities for our people to learn more about Indigenous culture and history so they have the right context for making a decision, rather than focusing narrowly on the Yes or No campaigns themselves,” Deloitte Australia chief executive Adam Powick said.

Senator Jacinta Price has criticised ‘woke’ companies for omitting arguments against the voice when educating their staff. Picture: Chris Pavlich

Former prime minister and anti-voice advocate Tony Abbott echoed Mr Mundine’s sentiments, raising concerns of “censorship” for the No campaign.

“I fear that the government is counting on politically correct public companies and woke billionaires to create a climate where people are frightened to vote ‘no’ lest they be accused of being disrespectful to Indigenous people or even racist,” he said.

“Unless an information package can be devised that both sides think is fair, the risk is that companies’ information to staff will be one-sided propaganda designed to make staff feel that their jobs depend on having politically correct views.”

Mr Abbott added: “It’s not the companies’ job to give their staff politics lessons, especially on constitutional change of this importance that is for keeps.

“They should let staff make up their own minds free of corporate pressure.”

Senator Price said she was hopeful voters would be able to ignore one-sided ideology pushed by their employer. “Australians are not stupid and will have access to all views,” she said.

“I encourage people to actively go out and speak to Aboriginal people and the broader Australian community to understand what their concerns are with a constitutionalised national voice and to ask the question why there is not a balanced presentation in their workplace of differing views in a non-biased fashion.”