[1/2] Voters walk past Vote Yes and Vote No signs at the Old Australian Parliament House during The Voice referendum, in Canberra, Australia, October 14, 2023. At an Oct. 14 referendum, Australians overwhelmingly voted down a proposal to create a constitutionally-protected Indigenous parliamentary advisory body, known as the Voice. Without a political solution, it is now up to the companies themselves to pursue strategies to address entrenched disadvantage in Australia's 3.8% Indigenous population, corporate leaders and political researchers said. Indigenous reconciliation remains largely unresolved in Australia which, unlike New Zealand, Canada and the U.S., never signed a treaty with its first inhabitants after European arrival. The companies could now "take meaningful corporate actions to close the gap, such as by hiring and retaining Indigenous staff and systematically co-designing projects that impact Indigenous Australians," she added.

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Persons: Tracey Nearmy, there's, Rob Scott, Scott, Geraldine Slattery, Ross Piper, it's, Intifar Chowdhury, Estelle Parker, Byron Kaye, Melanie Burton, Sonali Paul Organizations: Old Australian, House, The, REUTERS, Rights, Kmart, Target, Airline Qantas, First Nations, BHP, Australia, Australian, Australian National University, Responsible Investment Association Australasia, Thomson Locations: Canberra, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, U.S, Melbourne