High Commissioner to the UK’s Australia Day decision sparks major question

A high-ranking Australian’s decision to skip a gala dinner commemorating the national day has highlighted increased debate over its relevance.

The decision this week of a high-ranking official to skip an Australia Day gala dinner in London has highlighted the steady move away from people celebrating our national holiday.

Australia’s High Commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith, initially intended to skip the black-tie event on January 25, which is held annually by the Australia Day Foundation to celebrate the relationship between our two countries.

The move was swiftly deemed “disappointing” by both organisers and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who put Mr Smith on blast for being “ashamed” of the national holiday.

“The Prime Minister owns this, as the UK High Commissioner was his captain’s pick,” Mr Dutton said.

“And the PM should pick up the phone and sort this out today. What other developed country refuses to acknowledge its national day? If Stephen Smith is ashamed of Australia Day, he should be on the next flight home.”

It comes as a new poll from the Institute of Public Affairs reveals that the majority of Australians polled in each age group now believe that the national day should remain on January 26.

According to The Daily Telegraph, Mr Smith will now attend the event at the Peninsula Hotel.

For an growing number of Australians, however, the attitude of a high-ranking official or celebrity toward January 26 has far less sway – with many turning away from commemorating it.

Australian High Commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith. Picture: Euan Cherry/Parsons Media

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton accused Mr Smith of being ‘ashamed’ of our national day. Picture: NewsWire/John Gass

Some Aussies are shunning First Fleet re-enactments and raucous parties, instead turning out in their thousands for local Invasion Day rallies or using the public holiday as an opportunity to reckon with Australia’s history.

Even for those who do choose to embrace the occasion – proudly decking themselves out in flags and other regalia and heading to sporting events, BBQs and the beach – the date is seen as a chance to come together and celebrate modern Australia and the many cultures it’s comprised of, rather than the events of 1788.

Both the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader have previously said they have no intention of changing the date, which Mr Dutton has said should be one of pride.

“I think I speak for the majority of Australians here who are proud of our country, recognise that we’ve got a history of Indigenous heritage, white settlement in our country and all of that is to be celebrated,” he said last January.

“We have the institutions here in our country that make us a great democracy, freedom of speech, we have the ability to contribute in an egalitarian way and that is to be celebrated.”

Speaking to The Guardian at last year’s Invasion Day rally in Brisbane, Wakka Wakka descendant and Indigenous Christian leader, Brooke Prentis, said she held no ill-will towards those enjoying the day.

“I love the lamington, I love the barbie, I love the lamb chop,” she said.

“But the date needs to be thought about as a day of mourning, so that we can mature as a nation.

“I’m not telling anyone to change what they do on Australia Day, but maybe just think about the First Nations people.”

‘I’m not telling anyone to change what they do on Australia Day, but maybe just think about the First Nations people.’ Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Multiple local councils will this year hold citizenship ceremonies outside of January 26, with some flagging Indigenous sensitivities for the move.

Major retailers have also reported a decreased appetite for Australia Day merchandise.

Citing “steeply declining sales”, Woolworths announced last year it wouldn’t be stocking the products – spectacularly reversing the move following fury from the broader community and across the political spectrum.

The company confirmed on Wednesday that both the major supermarket and Big W stores will have a “Perfect for Australia Day” section in 2025, primarily focusing on food.

Australian flags will also be available in-store, though customers will have to head online to buy flag-branded items from Woolworths’ marketplace sellers My Deal, Big W Market and Everyday Market.

Major retailers have reported a decreased appetite for Australia Day merchandise. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

As in previous years, Coles will “continue to stock a range of summer entertaining merchandise throughout January”, while Kmart has not stocked Australia Day merchandise since 2022.

“(The date) is not the issue,” Wesfarmers’ Kmart Group managing director, Ian Bailey, told news.com.au at the US National Retail Foundation’s 2024 Retail Big Show event in New York.

He added that the number of shoppers wanting January 26 paper plates, bunting, clothes and other memorabilia was “less than it used to be”.

“There’s not enough demand in that one day to justify bringing products back,” he said.

“We carry (Australia-themed products) 365 days a year anyway.”

An Invasion Day rally at Belmore Park in Sydney last January. Picture: Roni Bintang/Getty Images

A new poll revealed in the Daily Telegraph on Monday showed that 69 per cent of those polled agreed that “Australia Day should be celebrated on January 26”.

This is a six point increase from last year, with a huge swing in young Aussies aged 18-24.

While a 2024 Ipsos poll also found that 48 per cent of participants felt the date should not be changed (compared to 27 per cent who did), two historians last week said that moving our national holiday away from January 26 is the only solution to resolve the day’s tensions.

“There won’t ultimately be any resolution between people who have fundamentally different concepts of January 26,” CQUniversity historian, Dr Benjamin Jones, told NewsWire on Friday.

“There is a greater sense of awareness that there are at least conflicted views.”

The now-annual blast of controversy, ANU historian, Professor Angela Woollacott, agreed, has developed alongside a “growing awareness” of Australia’s disputed history.

“I’m old enough to remember when Australia wasn’t controversial,” she told NewsWire.

“I think it has become controversial in the last couple of decades because of growing awareness around the suffering of Indigenous people and the symbolism of calling it Invasion Day, having that date stand for everything that British settlement or invasion of Australia represents.”

A new date was the only way to “clear the deck”, Professor Woollacott said, lest the debate around January 26 “go on forever”.

Originally published as High Commissioner to the UK’s Australia Day decision sparks major question