Port Adelaide joins chorus to have Australia Day date changed

Port Adelaide Football Club is calling for a change to the date of Australia Day – but some Indigenous voices say there is more important work to do. POLL

The Port Adelaide Football Club has called for an Australia Day date change, amid criticism from prominent Indigenous Australians.

“Port Adelaide’s playing group proudly stand with their First Nations teammates, colleagues and supporters in pushing to change the date of Australia Day to a date that all Australians can be proud of,” the club has posted online.

It said it backed a push for the national celebration to be something that makes “everyone feels proud, included and unified”.

“The Port Adelaide Football Club acknowledges that today represents a day of sadness and sorrow for many within our community,” the club said.

“As a club, Port Adelaide values the legacy of its 66 past and current Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players, and contribution of its First Nations staff, directors and volunteers.

“We are committed to reconciliation and to developing relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians built on trust, unity and mutual prosperity.

“Through our Aboriginal programs, we are committed to creating opportunities for young people and working together as Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians towards a better future for everyone.

“We look forward to a time when all Australians can celebrate our nation on a day everyone can feel proud, included and unified.”

The club’s statement was created in consultation with its Aboriginal community programs manager Braedon Talbot, Aboriginal programs officer Christine Glenn, former player and current staff member Shaun Burgoyne and current player Karl Amon.

The club also has long run Aboriginal community programs, including the Power Cup, aimed at helping youngsters finish school and find opportunities beyond that.

Aboriginal programs manager Braedon Talbot and officer Christine Glenn helped to create the club’s statement.

Port Adelaide’s Karl Amon. Picture: Sarah Reed

Port said Amon addressed the playing group during Tuesday’s team meeting and had described the push to change the date as a controversial idea which had gained a lot of momentum.

Amon applauded the club for its strong stance.

“We want to have a strong stance because what we do off the field with our programs and our past with Indigenous players – it’s such a strong history – and this is a movement we as a club want to (be part of),” Amon said.

“Australia Day is something that our people mark as a genocide day. It’s the day the British came into Sydney and raised their flag for the first time.

“They came to Australia knowing that we were already here and they came with this idea of terra nullius, which is that the land belongs to nobody.

“It is a sad day in our history and it’s something we want to change.”

SA Premier Steven Marshall did not back the date being moved, saying instead that he supported a “change of emphasis”.

“I do think that we do it well in South Australia, recognising the incredible history of our First Australians,” Marshall said.

“I think that’s what we’ve been doing in South Australia since first thing this morning and every day.

“There is still so much more to do but I do not think that changing the date is the sole focus.”

Warren Mundine is an Aboriginal leader and politician. Picture: John Feder/The Australian

MUNDINE SLAMS ‘DISTRACTION’

Indigenous leader Warren Mundine said conversations around changing the date of Australia Day were a distraction from serious issues affecting Aboriginal people.

“The real issues of life are getting educated, you get a job, you get a career, you’re able to feed your family and build a roof over your head and move forward,” he said.

“Everything else is a waste of time, quite frankly.

“You can talk about what date we celebrate Australia on until the cows come home but until someone gets a job, until someone gets educated, until someone is able to build a future for themselves and their wife or husband or their family, it’s a total waste of time.”

Mr Mundine urged Port Adelaide Football Club to focus on more tangible ways to make a difference to the lives of Aboriginal People.

“I deal with getting people employed, I am the head of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, we‘ve got 1000 kids going through our program,” he said.

“That’s real meaty stuff. What is Port Adelaide bloody doing in that space?

“We’ve raised $220m over the last 12 years to get Aboriginal people educated. How much has the Port Adelaide Football Club actually raised?

“We need to have real outcomes and real things to happen in order for people to change their lives.”

AFL STANCE

The Brisbane Lions have also issued a plea for Australia Day to be moved.

The Queensland club posted its stance across social media platforms on Wednesday morning along with quotes from Indigenous players detailing why the Aboriginal community was offended by national holiday being celebrated on January 26.

“It’s a very sad for Indigenous people all over the country,” Nakia Cockatoo said, according to the post. And utility Callum Ah Chee said his community “want to celebrate this great country … but we want to do it together”.

“If we could celebrate on another date, we want to be part of that.”

Shaun Burgoyne, former Port player, at the MCG.

The AFL fraternity appears largely in solidarity of the national holiday being moved away from January 26, with the Greater Western Sydney Giants declaring “we stand strongly together with all First Nations communities and to playing our part in Australia’s reconciliation journey”.

But many were infuriated by the clubs’ stance, with the Brisbane social media team forced to delete comments opposing the date being moved.

Recognise. Respect. Educate. #NotADayToCelebratepic.twitter.com/dnGnssybum

— Brisbane Lions (@brisbanelions) January 25, 2022

Don't support the Brisbane Lions ... pic.twitter.com/QabAzJFer0

— Proud Aussie Matt Canavan (@mattjcan) January 25, 2022

In their social media posts on Wednesday, the Crows did specifically not call for a date change but said the day “evokes distress among many people in our community”.

“The Adelaide Football Club stands with First Nations people and it supports and is committed to the journey of reconciliation,” the statement said.

“Together we reflect on the past and look towards a united and better future.”

Country Liberal Party Senate candidate and former Alice Springs deputy mayor Jacinta Price said a “noisy minority” was behind the push to change the date of Australia Day.

“There are a lot of Indigenous Australians out there who, like the rest of the quiet Australians in this nation, want to get on with things and do it together, and celebrate what a wonderful nation we have without trying to disregard history,” she told Sky News.

“We can’t disregard history, we have to understand it all.”

Originally published as Port Adelaide joins chorus to have Australia Day date changed