Queensland public servants asked to take off shoes and wiggle their toes during Welcome to Country
A Welcome to Country during an event for public servants has raised eyebrows after staff were asked to take part in an unusual way.
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Public servants in Queensland have reportedly been left scratching their heads after being asked to take part in a Welcome to Country ceremony in an unusual way.
Staff with the Department of Justice and Attorney-General attending a recent awards ceremony “were asked to take their shoes off, wiggle their toes and close their eyes so they would feel more connected to the Earth”, The Courier-Mail reported on Sunday.
According to the newspaper, the request “raised eyebrows among some staff, who questioned whether it would become a regular occurrence”.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice and Attorney-General confirmed on Tuesday that “an Acknowledgment of Country was conducted at the event”.
“A Welcome to Country or Acknowledgement of Country is conducted at appropriate government-organised events, including awards ceremonies and conferences,” he said.
“They can take many forms and often differ, according to the nature of the event and the presenter. For example, a Welcome to Country can encompass singing, dancing or smoking ceremonies.”
It comes after a social media user last week claimed they had been left shocked at a Welcome to Country during a job interview.
Posting on Reddit about the “weird” experience, the person said they had been applying for a customer service role at a Brisbane-based insurance company when the hiring manager “took it upon himself” to perform the Welcome to Country at the start of a “very small” group interview with fewer than five candidates.
“I wanted to get others’ opinions on this as I thought it was peak Australian corporate culture,” they wrote. “At the time I didn’t give it a second thought but retrospect it’s pretty weird and unnecessary. I understand companies doing these for big/important meetings with higher-ups, but at a job interview it just felt pointless.”
Speaking to Sky News on Monday about the reports, Shadow Indigenous Australians Minister Jacinta Nampijinpa Price said the overuse of the Welcome to Country could actually make people feel unwelcome in their own country.
“I get the sense that’s what many people feel about that,” Senator Price said.
“You know, I was born here, I belong to this country just like anybody else so why should we have to be continually welcomed to the nation that we’re born in? Again, I think reserve these things for special occasions, if there’s foreign dignitaries or something like that.”
Senator Price said Australians should not be “confronted with it at every single opportunity”
“I feel ridiculous when actually people will say, I want to acknowledge and pay our respects to all the Indigenous people in the room, and you look around the place, and sometimes you’re the only one in the room,” she said.
“And it’s like, OK, can we just get on with thing? Why are we being singled out here? Let’s just move forward, let’s just get on with the job, let’s do things in practical terms to produce outcomes on the ground and just stop with the waffle and the nonsense.”
Last year, a council in South Australia sparked a wave of backlash after voting to stop reading an Acknowledgement of Country at meetings.
The Northern Areas Council passed a motion in November without notice “that council delete the Acknowledgement of Country and banner on correspondence”.
“It’s a democracy,” Mayor Sue Scarman told The Advertiser. “This was a motion of council and it was carried, so I support it. My personal take is now null and void.”
The decision sparked anger from the local Indigenous community, with one labelling it “outrageous”. Ngadjuri elder Parry Agius said he was disappointed in the council’s decision.
“(I’m) feeling that Ngadjuri people are not wanted in that place, in that region,” Mr Agius told the ABC. “The reason behind an Acknowledgement is really about acknowledging that there were Aboriginal people before the area was colonised, and there are Aboriginal people who are now wanting to come back into the region for work, for play, for pleasure, for reconciliation, and now it’s dampened that approach.”
That came after the Presbyterian Church of Australia banned its congregations from conducting Acknowledgements of Country at services, deeming them “inappropriate” for worship.
“The church has a long tradition of saying what we should do in Sunday worship — that should just be what’s in the Bible and shouldn’t add other things,” church spokesman John McClean said at the time.
“When you want to worship, our focus is on God and who He is and praising and celebrating Him. And it was decided an Acknowledgement of Country or welcome to country would not be appropriate.”
— with Georgina Noack
Originally published as Queensland public servants asked to take off shoes and wiggle their toes during Welcome to Country
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