The corner of corporate Australia keeping quiet on the Voice
While many of the nation's biggest companies have swung firmly behind the Voice, the corporate media sector has been conspicuously silent.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese raised eyebrows when he appeared alongside Seven West chairman Kerry Stokes in Sydney in late August, just days before announcing the official date for the Voice referendum.
He was there to cut the ribbon at Seven’s new studios in the city. The grip-and-grin, however, is yet to yield a political return. So far, Stokes’ Seven Network has moved in lockstep with the rest of the country's TV networks and big media businesses in abstaining from offering a show of public support to either side of the referendum campaign.
Corporate Australia has swung strongly behind the Yes campaign — with some of the nation's biggest companies including Qantas, CBA, BHP, Rio Tinto, Telstra, NAB, Woolworths and Wesfarmers all openly backing the Voice.
So its striking then, that our largest media companies have remained silent, although they do face a far more complicated calculus when it comes to the issue. Taking a side at a corporate level could expose a media company's news outlets to accusations of political bias and also risks raising advertiser anxieties over the increasingly contentious issue.
