Saturday, 14 October will be Referendum Day.

St George Community Housing (SGCH) supports an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament as an important mechanism for self-determination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

SGCH is strongly committed to practical action through our role as a community housing provider to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to build physical, cultural, spiritual and family wellbeing with the foundation of a safe and affordable home. We know that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will remain at a structural disadvantage to non-Indigenous Australians without tailored reforms to the nation’s housing system. We believe a representative advisory body to speak directly to the nation’s parliament and government can guide the necessary reforms.

The artwork pictured is ‘Thriving Together’, created by Samsep artist Alysha Menzel and commissioned by SGCH.

SGCH Statement on The Voice

The Uluru Statement From the Heart offered a generous invitation to walk in a movement of the Australian people for a better future. In this spirit, St George Community Housing (SGCH) supports the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament as an important mechanism for self-determination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, as the world’s oldest living, continuous culture with unique languages and spiritual relationships to the land and seas. We acknowledge and pay our respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders past, present, and emerging.

SGCH is strongly committed to practical action through our role as a community housing provider to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to build physical, cultural, spiritual, and family wellbeing with the foundation of a safe and affordable home.  We know that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will remain at a structural disadvantage to non-Indigenous Australians without tailored reforms to the nation’s housing system. We believe a representative advisory body to speak directly to the nation’s parliament and government can guide these necessary reforms.

We accept that we have much to learn, more actions to take, and we are committed to listen to and learn from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. SGCH recognises the important contribution Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make, and the need to deliver responsive services that reflect and improve the diversity and needs of their communities. We are commencing our Reconciliation Action Plan journey to take further positive steps to support closing the gaps.

We respect individual’s rights to develop their own view and encourage our teams, customers, partners, and stakeholders to inform themselves ahead of the Referendum.