Mark Latham: Leave Australia Day alone!
THE absurd alternatives to January 26 show why we should never swerve from the only logical choice, writes Mark Latham.
Opinion
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In the category of out-of-touch elites, no one beats the Greens.
As each year millions of Australians rally around Australia Day on 26 January as a chance to feel good about our country and its remarkable achievements, the Greens’ leader Richard Di Natale has announced that one of his top priorities for 2018 is to “change the date”.
The ABC had a go at this recently when Radio Triple J moved its Hottest 100 Hits to Saturday January 27.
That happens to be International Holocaust Remembrance Day — proof that given a choice between common sense and ham-fisted virtue signalling, the national broadcaster always goes for the latter.
In trying not to cause offence to Indigenous Australians, it has decided to offend Jewish Australians instead. In wanting to change the date, Di Natale and his allies on Green-dominated local Councils are incapable of finding a logical alternative to 26 January. Federation Day, on 1 January, can be ruled out for the obvious reason the nation would have had its big party the night before.
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Australia Day would be reduced to Hangover Recovery Day. Instead of lamb and prawns on the barbie, it would be Panadol and Beroccas from the medicine drawer.
Many special Indigenous dates have been proposed, such as Mabo Day on June 3, but it’s hard to see how a majority of Australians would find these legalistic events inspiring. High court decisions rarely prove to be nationally unifying moments.
In running a Save Australia Day campaign for Mark Latham’s Outsiders, I have challenged the inner-city elites to specify what they are proposing to change the date to.
Most of the responses have been comical, such as May 8 (which, if you say it slowly enough, sounds like “mate”).
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When John Howard tried to write the values of “mateship” into a constitutional preamble in 1999, he was condemned by Left-feminists for favouring a “sexist” word.
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In truth, the Left’s grievance industry is now so comprehensive, so all-encompassing, they are triggered by every significant date on the calendar, from 26 January to Christmas Day.
They want every day of our lives to be a safe space-protected snowflake’s sanctuary, where no one takes offence and no one finds any meaning or significance in anything that’s said.
Which means they will never agree on an alternative to 26 January.
The Fairfax writer Ben Pobjie has suggested March 15, the anniversary of the first Australia-England cricket Test in 1877.
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But this is also the Ides of March, a freak out for Lefties of South European descent.
In any case, it was an all-male cricket match, which will have the feminazis sending down bouncers and beam-balls at its in-built patriarchal misogyny.
January 26 is the only logical date for marking Australia Day. It has been celebrated every year since the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, initially as Foundation Day and then a public holiday under Governor Macquarie in 1818 (its 30th anniversary).
It came of age in modern Australia when it was the focus for our Bicentennial celebrations in 1988.
Like Anzac Day, it has gathered strength and numbers over the past decade.
In a world of change and uncertainty, people look forward to these special national days, when we can feel unambiguously proud to be Australian.
In a media landscape of doom and gloom, people want to enjoy Australia Day on 26 January, free from the burden of having to apologise to UN committees and Tim Soutphommasane for who we are.
This doesn’t mean it’s a day that ignores the past.
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I know in my family, we make a special point of discussing Indigenous history on Australia Day, of putting January 26 in its proper perspective.
Some terrible things happened to Aboriginal Australians in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
But as hard as the Left try, no one can rewrite history. We can only learn from it. We need to find new and smarter ways of ensuring each Indigenous Australian benefits from the unique advantages of the Western civilisation that arrived here in 1788 — the economic development, advanced health services, education, housing, democracy and the rule of law.
These technologies and values have made Australia the best nation on Earth. If that’s not worth celebrating as a national day, what is?
It’s a case of the famous line from Monty Python’s Life of Brian: “What have the Romans ever done for us?”
What has Western civilisation ever done for Australia?
The answer is to look around you.
It hasn’t been perfect, our history hasn’t been flawless, but who would want to live anywhere else?
Maybe that’s the solution for Di Natale: to find a place without a national day. The Greens have had so many dual citizens in their ranks it shouldn’t be hard.
Ultimately, the activists opposed to our great national day don’t like the idea of nations at all. The Greens want a borderless world, with the free movement of people, a world of fluid identities and allegiances.
For a party that spends most of its time sneering at Australia, why do they even care about Australia Day?
International Tree-Hugging-Windmill-Blowing-People-Smuggling-Sex-Changing-LGBTIQWTF Day is more their thing.