Raising our voice for reconciliation
By Nick Stone, Acting CEO, Bupa Asia Pacific.
Bupa’s purpose is to help people live longer, healthier, happier lives, and make a better world. It is therefore consistent with our purpose to seek an Australia where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people enjoy equity and equality. Our commitment to this ambition was first supported in 2018 through our endorsement of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and Voice to Parliament. We acknowledge that a mechanism for how we can better support our First Nations people is currently being debated as Australia prepares for the referendum on enshrining an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice in our Constitution.
Bupa’s own journey towards reconciliation reached a significant milestone earlier this year when we launched our third Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), our second “Stretch” RAP, which sets out how we will deepen our commitments to help improve health outcomes, employment, business opportunities for First Nations Peoples and to improve our own people’s cultural learning.
We are proud of the work our RAP Working Group and First Nations Employee Network have undertaken with us to frame these commitments and embedded resulting actions across our business in recognition of their importance. We acknowledge Bupa’s support of The Voice to Parliament is an important step towards improving the long-term health and wellbeing of First Nations people.
While our support is clear, we acknowledge there are a diverse set of views amongst our people and within our communities. As such, of course, it is not our position to tell any individual how to vote. The role we have committed to is to provide our people with balanced information, opportunities to learn and respectfully share ideas so that they can continue to form their own opinions and vote accordingly.
During National Reconciliation Week, we will be holding a range of panels and events for our people to engage on The Voice to Parliament and the broader concept of reconciliation as we collectively build relationships and communities that value First Nations peoples, histories, cultures, and futures.
