Greens leader Richard Di Natale plans campaign to change Australia Day date

TONY Abbott has weighed in after Barnaby Joyce criticised the Greens’ new plan to try and change the date of Australia Day tweeting: “There are 364 other days a year for the Greens to be politically correct”. Poll: Have your say

• Barnaby Joyce criticises Greens’ plan to change Australia Day date
• Opinion: Changing Australia Day date won’t change history

FORMER prime minister Tony Abbott has weighed in after Barnaby Joyce criticised the Greens’ new plan to try and change the date of Australia Day.

Mr Abbott took to social media on Monday to urge the Greens to accept January 26 as the best available date to celebrate all that’s good about life in Australia.

“There are 364 other days a year for the Greens to be politically correct,” he tweeted.

There are 364 other days a year for the Greens to be politically correct. Why can’t they just accept that Jan 26 is the best available day to celebrate all that’s good about life in Australia.

— Tony Abbott (@TonyAbbottMHR) January 15, 2018

“All Australians want a day on which we can come together but January 26 is not that day,” says Senator Di Natale.

Former Labor leader Mark Latham has kicked off his own campaign to keep Australia Day on January 26.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale has told more than 100 of the party’s local government councillors that he will provide them with support and resources to launch campaigns to move the date of the celebrations from January 26.

Several NSW councils are already considering whether to change the date – as a number in Melbourne have already done – including in Byron and Bellingen.

“All Australians want a day on which we can come together and to celebrate our wonderfully diverse, open and free society, but January 26 is not that day,” Senator Di Natale told The Australian this morning.

But Mr Joyce hit back, rejecting the push and accusing the party of dwelling on the philosophical.

“We are building the inland rail, they’re talking about Australia Day. We are building the Regional Investment Corporation, they think that Lachlan Macquarie and Captain Cook were bad buggers,” he told reporters in Parkes, NSW.

“They dwell in the philosophical. We build the things that actually make our nation stronger.” Mr Joyce said he was very proud of Australia Day and looked forward to celebrating it this year.

“We have a day to celebrate it, and we call it Australia Day.

“I feel completely at ease with Australia Day. It is what you make of it.

“I am very proud of Australia Day.”

Happy with January 26... Deputy Prime Minister at Peak Hill, NSW, today. Picture: Alex Ellinghausen

In November, Triple J announced it would move its Hottest 100 music countdown from January 26 to the following day after listener feedback.

Former Labor leader Mark Latham has kicked off his own campaign to keep Australia Day on that date.

Assistant Home Affairs Minister Alex Hawke has slammed the moves to change the date for citizenship ceremonies.

Assistant Home Affairs Minister Alex Hawke has slammed the moves to change the date for citizenship ceremonies, stripping the right of some councils including the City of Yarra in Melbourne to hold the ceremonies.

January 26 marks the date the First Fleet landed in Sydney Cove in 1788.