Changing the date of Australia Day and how it is tearing Qld apart
To change or not to change – that is the question surrounding the date of Australia Day. Go inside the battle.
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To change or not to change – that is the question surrounding the date of Australia Day.
The increasingly hot topic continues to divide opinion, with some regions shifting events, supermarket giants boycotting related items, while even sporting bodies have taken a stance.
In December 2024 it was revealed that 90 Queensland pubs would not celebrate the day, sparking a war of words.
These are some of the recent battles over the Australia Day debate >>>
■ 1500+ photos: Good, bad and ugly of Aus Day through the years
How one city is solving Aus Day debate
A dawn service on the Gold Coast could hold the key to easing Australia Day debate, argued columnist Ann Wason Moore on January 23.
“Don’t get me wrong, no matter its flaws, I love this country,” she wrote.
“And I believe that coming together as Australians to celebrate what we have in common – a love of the land, a love of the lifestyle – is integral to our national identity and the belief that we are all one family.
“I just don’t want to do that on a day that is so painful to so many of our mates.
“Which is why I am grateful for, and inspired by, the dawn service being held at Mudgeeraba this January 26.
“Organised by Ngarang-Wal Gold Coast Aboriginal Association Incorporated secretary and Kombumerri traditional owner Justine Dillon, granddaughter of the late Graham Dillon OAM, and supported by Councillor Glenn Tozer and the City of Gold Coast, this event is neither protest nor celebration.”
Cairns council strips ‘Australia Day’ title
Cairns Regional Council shocked its own councillors by stripping the words “Australia Day” from January 26 events as well as moving a traditional ceremony to a later date.
On January 20 the council removed the title “Australia Day” from its Citizen of the Year award ceremony, and moved the event to February 1.
In 2022 and 2023, the event was titled “Australia Day Awards”.
Majella Fallon, who was awarded citizen of the year in 2023, said she disagreed with council’s decision.
“January 26 is still heralded as Australia Day. So until that changes, why should celebrations change?,” she said.
Businesses adopt ‘woke’ Australia Day stance
The number of companies giving the staff the option to take an alternative day off instead of Australia Day continued to grow, as debate raged about the increasingly controversial public holiday.
Banking giant ANZ and software innovator Atlassian this year joined a raft of large Aussie corporates making the change.
Other large firms that allow staff to swap the holiday for a different day include Commonwealth Bank, Telstra, Qantas, CSL, consultants Deloitte, KPMG, PwC and EY, law firm King & Wood Mallesons and miner Woodside, according to a list compiled by The Australian.
“Based on experience, we expect the vast majority of our people will take advantage of the Australia Day public holiday,” a Deloitte spokesperson told The Australian.
“If staff have to work on Australia Day due to client commitments they are entitled to take an additional day off in lieu of their choosing.”
CA’s controversial decision
Cricket Australia decided to walk a delicate tightrope when it gently acknowledges the polarities of emotion around Australia Day during the Gabba Test.
Men’s international cricket returns to the public holiday on Friday, which coincides with day two of the second Test between Australia and the West Indies in Brisbane.
The move to schedule the Test over the Australia Day holiday was itself controversial.
Star Australian women’s all-rounder Ash Gardner criticised the decision to play on the day.
Australia Day itself will be marked in passing by a ground announcer, and CA is set to acknowledge that the day means vastly different things to different people.
CA is keen to promote inclusivity and respect from patrons regardless of their view on the date itself, which is widely viewed as a day of mourning by First Nations people.
The term “Australia Day” will not be used.
Queensland Premier Steven Miles later refused to be drawn on the outrage.
‘We’ve got bigger picture stuff down here’
A regional North Queensland mayor denied there ever being an invasion, and took a swing at southern inner-city populations pressuring to change the date of Australia Day.
Richmond mayor John Wharton said federal politicians should stop catering to city-centric residents that had never visited the regions, so that they could concentrate on more important issues for Australian interests.
He said he did not care either way if the Federal Government decided to change the date of national celebration.
“Those people down in southern Australia are getting very fat and placid and comfortable and they pick on the small things in life,” Cr Wharton said.
“We’ve got bigger picture stuff down here, we’ve got jobs to create, we’ve got health issues up here with all our people in rural and remote Australia.”
‘Why people bring in their hatred of others?’
Mike O’Connor weighed in on Woolworths’ decision to stop selling Australia Day merchandise.
“We’re smart enough to make up our own minds without any urging or sermonising from the boardroom,” he wrote.
“There’s my dislike of hypocrisy like that displayed by people who say they can’t possibly take a holiday on Australia Day because that would be celebrating an invasion, but who’ll happily take another day off instead.
“If they were told that there were no other days off on offer and it was a case of take it or lose it, how many would turn up for work?
“Not many, I suspect, their faux outrage collapsing along with their bodies on to the couch as they reach for the TV remote.
“I’ve no time for people who are accepted into this country and then repay our generosity of spirit in welcoming them by bringing their narrow-minded hatred of others and divisiveness with them.”
Qld councils under fire over move
Queensland councils that won’t hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day dismissed widespread backlash, insisting the decision was unrelated to growing hostility towards January 26 and its significance for Indigenous Australians.
It was reported in December 2023 that more than 80 local governments across the country will move the date of the traditional ceremonies.
These included eight in Queensland – Bundaberg, Cassowary, Charters Towers, Gladstone, Ipswich, Isaac, Rockhampton, and Toowoomba councils.
Burdekin Shire Council and Whitsunday Regional Council were also originally on the list, but both have since clarified they will still hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day.
The shift away from January 26 prompted federal opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan to accuse the Albanese government of “laying the groundwork” for the national day’s abolition.
Awards replaced on the Sunshine Coast
A decision to replace the annual Australia Day Awards ceremony on the Sunshine Coast drew swift criticism from the region’s MPs.
The Sunshine Coast Council replaced its Australia Day Awards ceremony with a community awards ceremony dubbed the “Biosphere Community Awards”, which will be held in mid-June.
A council spokesman said the change “provided an opportunity to align with and promote our unique global Biosphere status”.
“Sunshine Coast Council continues to support Australia Day and is a proud host of the Australia Day Citizenship Ceremony, attended by more than 250 recipients and their guests annually,” the spokesman said.
A Noosa Council spokesman said their annual citizenship ceremony will still go ahead on January 26, as planned.
Federal Member for Fairfax Ted O’Brien MP was outraged over the Sunshine Coast rebrand and claimed there was no community consultation.
“I stand against any attempt to cancel or silence Australian patriotism,” he said.
Hospo giant sorry for Australia Day ban
Australian Venue Co apologised on December 3, a day after it announced it was banning Australia Day celebrations at more than 200 pubs and bars nationwide – nearly half in Queensland – because “the day causes sadness and hurt for some patrons”.
The nation’s second-biggest pubs group, Australian Venue Co, had informed managers there would be no celebrating or acknowledging of the day at their premises in 2025.
The business issued an apology for its comments, saying it wasn’t meant to offend and that the remarks had created “concern and confusion”.
“We sincerely regret that – our purpose is to reinforce community in our venues, not divide it,” the company said in a statement on Monday.
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