Steve Price: Anzac Day ceremonies should be political-free zones

If the distasteful booing and heckling at Melbourne’s Anzac Day Dawn Service does anything, it should allow all sensible Australians to finally have an adult debate about Welcome to Country and where it needs to be observed.

Not since the dangerous anti-Covid demonstrations of September 22 back in 2021 have we seen such an emotional outburst at our sacred Shrine of Remembrance as we saw on Friday.

Back in 2021, Victoria Police aimed tear gas at fellow Victorians and used rubber bullet-like objects to disperse a violent crowd. Police claimed they had been pelted with golf balls, batteries and even tap handles after protestors marched from the CBD to the Shrine.

It was not the place for that protest as today was not the place for any protests or political statements because Friday was Anzac Day.

It was April 25 the most respectful day of the Australian calendar a day when we pay tribute and give our heartfelt thanks for the sacrifice of not just the Anzac troops but all soldiers who have fought for this country in uniform.

As today’s Dawn Service in the soft early light began in front of tens of thousands of people an Indigenous leader Mark Brown was charged with performing a Welcome to Country.

Indigenous leader Mark Brown performs a Welcome to Country.

In Victoria it is rare that any public event doesn’t start with a version of Welcome to Country.

The whole concept of non-aboriginal people being welcomed to a country they have lived in their whole lives — and in my family’s case for five generations – has become a vexed one.

Personally, I believe the process has become over-used, diminishing its impact. It seems to me to be compulsory before every major event, be it the Anzac Day MCG clash, the Formula 1 Grand Prix or the Australian Open tennis or Melbourne Cup. That makes no sense.

There is a time and place and done well it is a moving tribute to the Indigenous history of this county. That said I have zero tolerance for the idiots who thought it a good idea to turn up at the Shrine this morning with the sole purpose of getting a headline – I’m guilty of giving them that – by booing Brown and making the normal people in the crowd including children feel uncomfortable.

They should stay home.

Anzac Day day is a day to remember the incredible bravery of those young men who walked into a Turkish ambush 110 years ago with so many not coming home. Picture: Nadir Kinani

It’s reported in the Herald Sun one of those abusive people was a known neo–Nazi Jacob Hersant who was later spoken to by police and escorted away. His brain-dead mates started shouting about Ned Kelly and “death to pigs.” That’s the sort of people we are dealing with

here.

Luckily there was no violence on Friday and there have been reports that some medal wearing veterans while not supporting these dangerous buffoons agreed that the Dawn Service is not the place for a Welcome to Country on Anzac Day.

Police speak to Jacob Hersant at the Shrine. Picture: Facebook

The day represents a day to remember the incredible bravery of those young men who walked into a Turkish ambush 110 years ago with so many not coming home.

They certainly didn’t need a Welcome to Country — they laid down their lives for Australia.

If today’s distasteful outburst by attention-seeking big noters does do anything it should allow all of us sensible Australians, Indigenous and not, to finally have an adult debate about Welcome to Country and where it needs to be observed.

Anzac Day at the Shrine should be a political-free zone and a sacred one – lest we forget.

Originally published as Steve Price: Anzac Day ceremonies should be political-free zones