O’Brien: Australia Day date should be changed, but Australian Venue Co should butt out of the debate

The date of Australia Day should be changed, but corporate Australia needs to butt out of the debate. Pubs with no cheer should be boycotted.

Aussies want the right to eat, drink and mark Straya Day any way we damn well please.

We don’t want overseas corporations telling us how to celebrate our national day.

The original decision by Australian Venue Co Australian Venue Co, a Chinese-owned investment company, to not allow Australia Day celebration in their venues was an offensive corporate overreach.

The decision was set to affect some of the most iconic watering holes across the nation, including The Esplanade Hotel, Prince of Wales, Duke of Wellington and Garden State Hotels in Melbourne, the Regatta Hotel in Brisbane, Sydney’s Cargo and Adelaide’s Parkside Hotel.

After an almighty outcry, Australian Venue Co apologised for their comments and admitted:

“It is not for us to tell anyone whether or how to celebrate Australia Day”.

“We acknowledge that and we apologise for our comments.”

I welcome this about-face but resent their original stance.

While I support moving the day to a less contentious date, and acknowledge its recognition as Invasion Day by a growing number of people, I also think there’s nothing wrong with having a beer at the pub on Jan 26.

Australians work hard enough without having a guilt sandwich such as this forced down our throats.

I have no problem with individuals taking their own stand against the day, but there is no justification for a foreign-owned hospitality group doing it on our behalf.

It’s a bit rich coming from a global company who makes billions of dollars a year selling alcohol who’s part of an industry making millions more from pokies. Picture: David Swift

It’s a bit rich for a global company who makes billions of dollars a year selling alcohol, which is also part of an industry making millions more from pokies, to take this stand.

What exactly were they planning to do if someone with an Australian flag came in? Ask them to leave? Where were they going to draw the line? Was there to be a dress code outlawing green and gold thongs or flag T-shirts? A ban on spontaneous outbreaks of “Advance Australia Fair”? Demand to cover up that Southern Cross tattoo?

No doubt their change of heart was only prompted by the threat of a commerical backlash.

They clearly did not learn from the woeful decision of Woolworths and Aldi to stop selling Australia Day merchandise. That piece of corporate virtue-signalling also led to mass outrage and a humbling back down.

Let’s not take any crap from these pubs with no cheer, and choose somewhere else to spend our hard-earned dollars.