Australian Human Rights Commission Submission to the Indigenous Voice Co-design Process

The Australian Human Rights Commission welcomes the opportunity to provide this submission to the Indigenous Voice Co-design Groups on the proposals outlined in the Indigenous Voice Interim Report of October 2020.

The Commission acknowledges the significant work undertaken by the Indigenous Voice Co-design groups, led by co-chairs Professor Marcia Langton AM and Professor Tom Calma AO and commends the development of the Interim Report which is informative, considered and transparent, and provides some clear pathways forward.

The Commission does not intend to traverse all of the issues raised in the Interim Report in this submission. Rather, attention will be given to the following five areas:

• Ensuring the independence and sustainability of the Indigenous Voice
• Accountability mechanisms
• Ensuring integrity—composition and role of the proposed ethics council
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls’ representation, participation and decision-making
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s representation, participation and decision-making