Rita Panahi: Pandering to woke wooden heads destroys joyous national holiday

Attacks against Australia Day are highly divisive, anti-migrant and in no way representative of the views of the nation.

Australia Day is again under attack, this time from the woke wooden heads in Ballarat and Whittlesea councils.

Here we go again. Not even a worldwide pandemic will stop the self-loathing grievance mongers in local councils from trying to destroy what should be a joyous celebration of the country we are all lucky to call home.

Australia Day is again under attack, this time from the woke wooden heads in Ballarat and Whittlesea councils who have declined to celebrate the national holiday in the name of “inclusion” ie pandering to a tiny but loud band of perpetually aggrieved activists.

Far from being inclusive, the assault against Australia Day is highly divisive, anti-migrant and in no way representative of the views of the wider population. Indeed, polls have shown the overwhelming majority of Australians feel positively about the day, with only 6 per cent holding negative feelings about the national holiday.

The assault against Australia Day is highly divisive, anti-migrant and in no way representative of the views of the wider population.

Among Indigenous Australians 31 per cent felt negatively towards Australia Day, according to a poll commissioned by the Guardian in 2017, which is remarkably low given the incessant indoctrination we’ve seen in the past 20 years painting the day as some shameful celebration of genocide and colonialism. Only 15 per cent of those polled were in favour of changing the date. Among migrants the number was even lower.

The Guardian-commissioned poll is backed by one commissioned this year by the conservative Institute of Public Affairs, which showed only 11 per cent of Australians favour changing the date. That didn’t stop Ballarat council cancelling its 2021 Australia Day fireworks last week. Labor mayor Daniel Moloney made the imbecilic comparison that celebrating on January 26 is akin to “celebrating on Anzac Day or Remembrance Day”.

This week Whittlesea council cancelled its Australia Day celebrations, with CEO Craig Lloyd claiming the day does not include all Australians. It follows the Yarra, Darebin and Moreland councils cancelling their celebrations in recent years, with one particularly dimwitted Socialist Alliance councillor comparing Australia Day to “celebrating the Holocaust”.

Local government attracts the dregs of the political world. The reality is no country in the world has a past free of wrongdoing. However, modern Australia is a wonderfully tolerant and welcoming country; a democracy that is peaceful, prosperous and free. The black-armband view of the country does not engender unity, nor is it an accurate reflection of who we are and all we’ve achieved.

Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist

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