Rita Panahi: Darebin council Australia Day ban divides Aussies
DAREBIN council’s ban on Australia Day divides us when we should be looking to a future embracing unity, writes Rita Panahi.
Rita Panahi
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THE SMALL, miserable minority has again imposed its will on the increasingly fed-up majority. This time it’s the fringe-dwellers of Darebin council who have followed the reckless lead of the City of Yarra by dumping Australia Day.
If you listen to the smug yet vacuous arguments put forward by Darebin mayor Kim Le Cerf, the only reason Australians overwhelmingly support our national day is lack of education.
Darebin’s Greens mayor argued that we would “feel ashamed to be celebrating Australia Day on January 26” if only we weren’t so hopelessly ignorant. That’s a convenient way for an elected official to justify a move that appals the majority of the country, including many of Darebin’s long-suffering constituents.
It’s disingenuous to suggest that a significant majority of indigenous Australians feel negatively towards the national holiday. Research shows that despite years of “invasion day” rhetoric whipped up by segments of the media, only 31 per cent of indigenous people feel negatively towards Australia Day while 53 per cent support changing the date, according to polling conducted earlier this year.
Listening to Le Cerf, you’d think every indigenous person was vehemently against Australia Day.
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The 2017 national poll commissioned by The Guardian and conducted by McNair yellowSquares revealed that only 6 per cent of the population feel negatively towards Australia Day.
Only 15 per cent want to change the date — that number is even lower for migrants, with 87 per cent against changing the date from January 26. And yet it’s the 6 per cent that not only receive a disproportionate amount of coverage but have increasingly been allowed to push the politics of division and grievance. The desire to paint a cohesive, tolerant country as a hotbed of racism born out of genocide is one that afflicts many on the far Left, particularly government-funded activists.
In the past 24 hours it has been edifying to hear from Aboriginal leaders fed up with Australia Day being used as a “smokescreen” by those who lack the courage to face the serious issues afflicting indigenous communities.
It’s time we listened to a broader range of indigenous voices rather than the loudest activists in inner-city Melbourne and Sydney.
Community leaders Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Dr Anthony Dillon have little time for Australia Day histrionics, which they see as counter-productive. Dr Dillon, from the Australian Catholic University, accused Darebin of “jumping on the ‘invasion day’ bandwagon because it’s easier than addressing the real issues”.
“Dumping Australia Day is a bad idea firstly because it’s a distraction from more serious issues like child abuse, violence, homelessness and unemployment, and secondly, it promotes the myth that Aboriginal people are upset by a date,” Dr Dillon told the Herald Sun. “If you really want to help Aboriginal people, do something practical. People celebrate that day because Australia is a great place to live ... no one is celebrating genocide.”
Ms Price also challenges the notion that dumping Australia Day will benefit the indigenous community.
“I keep hearing that Aboriginal people want to change the date of Australia Day. Well, what about the Aboriginal people who do not want to change the date? Do we not count because our opinions differ?” she wrote earlier this year.
“And why aren’t these people who protest about changing the date as concerned about the Aboriginal people affected by domestic violence, alcohol and drug abuse? Why aren’t the marches for murdered Aboriginal women as big as the marches on Australia Day?
“Us Aboriginal people have become professional mourners … I want to pull my people out of the crippling state of mourning and I don’t want anyone to feel guilty or bad for feeling joy and celebrating a country we love.
“The future is far more important to me than our past.”
Darebin didn’t consult Dr Dillon or Ms Price, nor did it seek the opinion of Wurundjeri elder Ian Hunter who performs indigenous ceremonies for the council. Labelling the decision a “fiasco”, Mr Hunter was appalled by the council’s acrimonious antics and lack of consultation.
“I do a lot of work for that council and they didn’t even ring me and ask me ‘what do you think about this?’,” he said. “Who did they consult? We are all Australians. We put our differences aside and go forward as one.
“I’m celebrating because I’m still here. What would have happened if the Japanese had come here (during WWII)? Would we still be celebrating Australia Day?”
Darebin council, like Yarra council, has managed to unite against it the great majority of Australians, including Premier Dan Andrews and Opposition Leader Matthew Guy.
Aboriginal elder Uncle Gordon Workman joined the chorus of criticism. “As far as I’m concerned it’s not going to change the day whatsoever, it’s part of history,” he said. “This will create a divide; it’s a further nail in the coffin. Instead of bringing everybody together it’s just pulling everybody apart again.”
Abandoning Australia Day will not stop one child from being sexually abused, it won’t stop one woman from being bashed and it won’t create a single job.
All it does is divide us when we should be coming together.
Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist
DAREBIN COUNCIL VOTES TO DUMP AUSTRALIA DAY, LOSES RIGHT TO HOLD CITIZENSHIP CEREMONIES
YARRA COUNCIL STRIPPED OF CITIZENSHIP POWERS
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