Triple J’s Hottest 100 moved from Australia Day sparks ongoing debate of the public holiday
DESPITE the annual countdown being a mainstay of Australia Day barbecues for a generation, ABC station Triple J has bowed to activists and moved the Hottest 100 to the day after our national celebration.
NSW
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DESPITE the annual countdown being a mainstay of Australia Day barbecues for a generation, ABC station Triple J has bowed to activists and moved the Hottest 100 to the day after our national celebration.
From next year the Hottest 100 will take place on the fourth weekend of January, ending a tradition that began in 1998.
Triple J yesterday announced the outcome of a review that it launched last year after a push to have it move the Hottest 100 broadcast. It said the Hottest 100 hadn’t always been broadcast on Australia Day and the countdown had “become a symbol in the debate about Australia Day”.
“The Hottest 100 wasn’t created as an Australia Day celebration,” it said in a statement.
Triple J said 60 per cent of those surveyed supported a change.
It is the latest in a string of changes to stop celebrations on January 26, which activists say should mark the displacement of indigenous Australians.
A number of local councils have already bowed to activist pressure and dropped citizenship ceremonies from the day.
Communications Minister Mitch Fifield slammed the decision to move the Hottest 100 to January 27 as “bewildering”.
“The ABC shouldn’t be buying into this debate. Australia is our national day,” Senator Fifield said. “The ABC should honour it and not mess with the Hottest 100.”
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His comments were echoed by Assistant Immigration Minister Alex Hawke, who stripped two Melbourne councils of the right to hold citizenship ceremonies after they boycotted Australia Day earlier this year. Mr Hawke said the decision was “disappointing”.
“The constant push to politicise and delegitimise Australia Day being held on January 26 is pathetic and out of step with most Australians’ views,” Mr Hawke said.
“The government’s firm position is that Australia Day, January 26, will remain our national day.”
Labor leader Bill Shorten said it “doesn’t matter to me what day it’s on” while the Greens backed the move.
“It is fantastic news that everyone in Australia can now enjoy the countdown on a date that doesn’t cause ... hurt to our First Peoples,” Greens senator Rachel Siewart said.
But Liberal senator Eric Abetz said the ABC was the “political correctness brigade”, and was “wasting money on “selective research ”.
“The ABC should focus on reporting on actual news rather than continuing to waste money on ramming their political correctness routine down people’s throats,” he said.