Logo explanation
Our logo combines original artwork by Rhiannon Glasser and graphic design by Helen Ferguson (artspirit).
The overall image is a flower. This relates to our vision for the nurture of life to be at the heart of all important decisions. We also want women’s voices to bloom, for individuals to cultivate their strengths, and for conversations and connections to grow in the rich soil of communities.
At the heart of the logo flower is the globe – our precious planet Earth. The natural world is threatened by the changing climate, and the vast weight of scientific opinion tells us we humans are bringing about this change. Our congress of women wishes to protect the planet by bringing the climate back into balance. We advocate for nurture of life and care for the Earth to lie at the heart of all important decisions so that today’s children and future generations have the opportunity to wonder at the beauty of the world and marvel at its diversity and complexity.
The petals of the flower are women. They are of different shapes, sizes and colours. They face in different directions but they are all standing on the Earth. This reflects the diversity that we aspire to in our membership, our common grounding, and our joint responsibility to protect the natural environment for future generations.
We acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands where we meet, noting that sovereignty has never been ceded. We pay our respects to First Peoples Elders past, present and emerging.
'This land is the song of Indigenous peoples,
All those who walked here and all their descendants,
Song of the creatures and spirits of dreaming,
Song of the children and culture they lost.
This land holds the lines of its earliest owners,
Custodians who respected the Earth,
Lines of their knowledge and wisdom of Elders,
We ask to walk with you in concord and peace.'
'Acknowledgement of Country' by Hazel Hall
Music by Glenda Cloughley, sung by A Chorus of Women
Image: Peter Creaser, Namadgi National Park
The Women’s Climate Congress (WCC) Steering Circle has considered deeply how to publicly address the forthcoming referendum on altering the Constitution to "recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.” We are committed to the WCC Charter for Change, which urges us to seek unity and inclusion, and to listen to and learn from First Nations’ voices (see Action 4 ‘Listen and learn from First Nations knowledge’).
While there is strong support for the Voice to Parliament Referendum in the Steering Circle, we encourage our members to do their own research and have many conversations, to inform themselves fully of the issues involved. We acknowledge that not all First Nations individuals and communities support the referendum.
WCC statement on the Voice Referendum 2023
We offer the following statement in support of First Nations’ self-determination:
The Women's Climate Congress (WCC) acknowledges the ongoing stewardship of Cultural Custodians past, present and emerging for this place on which we stay, meet and work. We recognise that First Nations stewardship of this land, seas and waters has been held and practised sustainably for over 60,000 years - since time immemorial - and acknowledge that First Nations’ sovereignty was never ceded. We respect the First Law, cultural protocols, beliefs and customs of all First Nations Cultural Custodians. We see our role as building respectful relationships with our First Nations colleagues, and promoting to non-indigenous people respect for First Nations rights to self-determination. Poor environmental stewardship by successive governments over the last two centuries has led us to the brink of ecological collapse and our current systems of governance cannot be maintained if we wish to sustain life on this planet. Under these same governments, First Nations people have endured what the Uluru Statement from the Heart describes as ‘the torment of our powerlessness’.
We respectfully embrace and support First Nations’ constitutional reform efforts to provide a voice for First Nations people and communities. We recognise that ‘The Voice’ that is proposed in the current referendum is one of the diverse ways that they have chosen to effect change for their peoples and that this process is at its heart an invitation for togetherness. We also recognise that First Nations are not a single entity and express support for First Nations people and communities who are pursuing alternate objectives to achieve the independence of their nations, the return of their homelands and self-determination of their people. We support First Nations people involved in the development of the proposed constitutional reforms and their intention that it will advance efforts to achieve a fairer and more inclusive law for everyone.
We believe that the proposed constitutional reforms will set us on a better pathway and open the door to deeper and more significant reform to allow First Nations’ stewardship, leadership and custodianship of this land to flourish.This statement is the WCC's commitment to walk alongside our First Nations sisters and brothers, and to continue to bring women together for two-ways national conversations towards a future of inclusion, abundance and togetherness. This always was, and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.
Statement endorsed by the WCC Steering Circle ( Board) on 22 August 2023
Resources
What is the Voice Referendum and what are we voting for? | The Voice Explained | ABC News:Episode 1 in a series of podcasts about the Referendum.
It's Not Just the Vibe, It's the Constitution, podcast series by Kim Rubenstein and James Blackwell
Australian Electoral Commission - information about the Referendum and how to vote.
The Uluru Statement - information of the Uluru Dialogues and the Statement from the Heart and the preceding history of the activism.
Australian Human Rights Commission - information on referendums and constitutional change
The Voice to Parliament Handbook | Webinar with Thomas Mayo & Kerry O’Brien (also check out the book)