Labor slams Peter Dutton for creating ‘fake fight’ over Australia Day

Education Minister Jason Clare says Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is stoking a “fake fight” over Australia Day after polling revealed that a majority of Australians are now against changing the date.

Meanwhile, Dutton restated his position that people should shun companies who boycott the public holiday as he declared national pride needed to be returned to Australia Day.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.Credit: Janie Barrett

An exclusive survey conducted for this masthead revealed support for January 26 to be kept as Australia Day leapt from 47 to 61 per cent over the past two years. It also found that 52 per cent of voters backed the idea of passing a federal law to make January 26 the official day, a key proposal from Dutton before the election.

“I think [the poll findings are] a fantastic result. I just think it says that our national pride can be something that we celebrate again. Be respectful to everybody, but these companies who are boycotting Australia Day, boycott them,” Dutton told Nine’s Today program on Friday, adding further comments at a press conference in South Australia later in the morning.

“Our country needs to re-establish our sense of pride. We don’t have the patriotism of the United States, but we need to be prouder of who we are,” he said. “We’ve got university lecturers and some teachers who are telling children they should be ashamed of their history and who we are as a country.”

Dutton’s use of the poll result shows how a contest on national identity could become crucial to the federal election, similar to last year’s US election, as voter frustration with the cost-of-living crisis fuels discontent.

Earlier this month, Dutton said one of his first acts as prime minister if he wins the election would be to enshrine January 26 in law so that local councils would have to hold events on the day.

Education Minister Jason Clare has accused Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of creating a fake fight.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Clare said this was a distraction from Dutton’s “stinker” policy pledging tax deductions of up to $20,000 for meal and entertainment expenses for companies with an annual turnover of less than $10 million.

“There is a smelly flower in Sydney today, the real stinker here is this idea that taxpayers should pay for their boss’s lunch and still won’t tell us how much it’s going to cost,” Clare told Seven’s Sunrise.

Asked if the Albanese government would adopt Dutton’s promise to enshrine January 26 into law, Clare rubbished the suggestion.

“It’s already in employment law … that’s what I’m saying, it is a fake fight to distract from the mess of Peter Dutton’s crazy policies,” he said.

The poll results show support for changing the date fell after the failed 2023 Voice referendum, as 39 per cent of voters wanted to change the date when asked in January 2023 but that dropped to 33 per cent in January 2024, months after the national vote. Just 24 per cent of voters were in favour of changing the date in this month’s poll.

Defence Minister Richard Marles disagreed that the results had anything to do with the Voice failure.

“You’ll see the numbers [supporting Australia Day] wax and wane from year to year. At the end of the day, ours is a country worth celebrating,” Marles told ABC Breakfast.

In late 2022, the government changed laws allowing local councils to conduct citizenship ceremonies three days before or after Australia Day. Last year, more than 80 local councils changed ceremony dates.

Deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley said this is an unwanted change: “Labor tried to give councils the option of moving the date to celebrate citizenship ceremonies and then the prime minister and Jason Clare worked out that Australians don’t want this at all.”

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