The Collingwood Football Club has been on a journey for a number of years now to better understand its past in order to be better for the future and the Board’s support for a First Nations Voice to Parliament is a natural progression of its commitment to doing and being better.

Over the course of recent months, the Club has engaged and provided safe spaces for our players and staff to more deeply understand the conversation ahead of each Australian being asked to participate in a Referendum later this year to enshrine a First Nations Voice in the Australian Constitution.

The Board acknowledges and understands that to be better as a country and to enact meaningful change, we need to hear from First Nations peoples; their needs and aspirations.  In doing so, it has been important for the Club to facilitate discussions from both sides of the ‘YES and ’NO’ campaigns to help inform individual decision-making. The Club has engaged First Nations experts to present on both the YES and NO campaigns to its people.

The Club will continue to listen and learn to understand the experiences of First Nations people.

To be informed.

And to listen, learn and engage in a matter that is important to all of us.

Through this process, the Club has made clear to all its athletes, staff, Members and supporters that everyone has an individual democratic right to vote however they wish.

The Club wants to be clear, we are not instructing anyone on how to vote but rather state that as a Board, we believe supporting a First Nations Voice to Parliament is the right thing to do.

Further information can be found here: https://ulurustatement.org/