Michael McGuire: National day on date of colonisation is ‘genuinely astonishing’

Indigenous Australians who are calling for a change of date are speaking common sense, writes Michael McGuire.

At some point the diminishing numbers of people opposed to changing the date of Australia Day need to stop and listen to Indigenous people and actually pay attention to what they are saying.

Because what they are telling them should be entirely uncontroversial. What they are saying is perfectly logical. Common sense really.

Those who believe January 26 is the best day to celebrate all that is best about Australia should listen to people such as Indigenous cricketer Ashleigh Gardner when she says: “As a proud Muruwari woman and reflecting on what Jan 26 means to me and my people it is a day of hurt and a day of mourning,” she wrote. “For those who don’t have a good understanding of what that day means it was the beginning of genocide, massacres and dispossession.’’

None of that is remotely up for debate. That is what the creation of the colony of Australia brought to the people living on this continent.

That Australia chooses to have its celebration of a nation on January 26, the day when Arthur Phillip arrived with a bunch of convicts in 1788 to create NSW, is genuinely astonishing.

What’s the argument in favour of January 26 as our national day? And it would be appreciated if the argument could be framed without using words such as “un-Australian’’ and “woke.”

🖤💛❤️ pic.twitter.com/xcXRciCFqU

— Ashleigh Gardner (@akgardner97) January 21, 2023

You know, words that make it automatically look like you have put absolutely no thought into the argument.

It can’t simply be because of the arrival of Phillip. There must be more to it than that.

No other country merges its national day with its date of colonisation.

It’s not even like there is that much history to Australia Day. It wasn’t a national public holiday until 1994. The first Australia Day was held in July. It’s hard to understand what the downside would be in finding another date when we could all celebrate what is best about Australia.

The annual Australia Day debate is merging this year with discussion about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament. If changing the date of Australia Day should be straightforward, the Voice, with the need for a referendum and a constitutional change, is more nuanced.

But what it represents is a chance to improve Australia for the better. A Voice to Parliament simply would enshrine in the constitution a way for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to “provide advice to the parliament on policies and projects that impact their lives’’. The From the Heart website says the Voice is about “self-determination, rather than symbolism’’.

Like changing the date of Australia Day, it seems inarguable that Indigenous people should have a say on the issues that affect them most. The statistics speak for themselves and are shameful.

If you are an Indigenous Australian you can expect to live a shorter life. You will do worse on health, education and employment. You will be poorer.

Your children will die more often. You are more likely to be locked up in jail or taken away from your family. Domestic violence rates are shocking.

For these reasons alone, a Voice to Parliament has to be worth a try. Let’s be frank, the current system isn’t working. In fact, it’s never worked.

Yet, there is a strong risk the referendum will fail. It will almost certainly fail if it becomes a political battlefield between Labor and Liberal. Just another place where political points can be won or lost.

Both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton bear a heavy responsibility here to keep their worst angels, and years of political training, at bay.

Dutton is refusing to say whether he will support the Voice. He is relying on the “details’’ argument. Dutton wants Albanese to release a draft bill before the referendum and sent a list of 15 questions to the PM.

But he asked questions that he already knew the answers to – “Is it purely advisory?” Yes.

Or, questions that requested detail that is irrelevant to the bigger principle – “How many people will make up the body?”

Albanese must do more to sell the benefits of the Voice, but Dutton, who opposed the apology to the Stolen Generations in 2007, needs to make sure he is not opposing a Voice just for short-term political gain.

Many years later he apologised for his stance on the Stolen Generations. He doesn’t want to be in that position again a decade from now.

The place to refine the granular details that Dutton seems so keen on is in parliament. That is when Dutton, and any other MP, can have their say on how they want a final bill to look.

As Australians we have a say in this through the referendum. We all have a vote. Like changing the date of Australia Day, it is an opportunity to build a better Australia.