Australia Day protesters rally at Parliament House in Spring St
Thousands of Australia Day protesters have filled the streets of Melbourne’s CBD, while Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe fired up asking “what do we have to celebrate in this country?”.
Victoria
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Thousands have turned out to Australia Day protests in Melbourne’s CBD, marking a national day of mourning for First Nations people.
Impassioned crowds kicked off Thursday’s rally at Parliament House, with chants of “F--- Australia Day” echoing through a packed Spring St.
A traditional smoking ceremony began the official events as protesters arrived.
Supporters lined the steps of Parliament House bearing signs of First Nations people who have died in police custody. Others wore shirts declaring “Always was, Always Will Be.”
The rally later moved down Bourke and Swanston streets to Flinders St Staion with a highly-visible police presence throughout the CBD.
An estimated 12,000-15,000 people attended demonstrations in the city but no arrests were made, a Victoria Police spokeswoman confirmed.
Lidia Thorpe screams 'this is WAR' at Australia Day protest pic.twitter.com/hzctl9icL7
— DTN NEWS (@DTNNEWUpdates) January 26, 2023
Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe was seen alongside at least eight others lying in the middle of a major CBD intersection.
Senator Thorpe and mass crowds held up traffic at the intersection of Little Collins and Collins streets just before 1pm.
Footage captured by the Herald Sun shows the moment Senator Thorpe lay sprawled over tram tracks in a gesture to signal reclaiming First Nations land.
In seconds she was completely surrounded by cameras.
Earlier, she addressed the crowd to mass applause.
With three children by her side and holding a fighting stick, she declared: “This is a war”.
“A war that was declared on our people over 200 years ago,” she said.
“That war has never, ever ended in this country against my people.
“They are still killing us. They are still stealing our babies. They are killing our men. And they are still raping our women.
“What do we have to celebrate in this country?
Senator Thorpe slammed the discussion of the referendum, asking the crowd if they wished to become advisers to the “colonial system”.
“From the federal parliament – the poisoned chalice that it is — right through the everyday streets that we walk down, we have to rid racism and heal this country, bring everyone together through a sovereign treaty,” she said.
“I sit in that parliament and they say every day that they are sovereigns.
“The Colonial system and the colonisers say they are sovereigns. You don’t go to someone else’s country and say you’re sovereign.”
“We have an opportunity to have a treaty … that could put 10 independent Blak seats in the parliament today. We want real power and we won’t settle for anything less.”
Melbourne CBD right now, scenes that will stay with me forever. #InvasionDay
— Kaitlyn Smith (@kaitlynsmthnews) January 26, 2023
Full coverage: @theheraldsunpic.twitter.com/UXFIDUGn3E
Meanwhile, between speeches, protest MC Lizzie Jarrett said: “Picture the photos behind me, these are just a handful of deaths in custody”.
“This government has blood on their hands.”
Attendees near the stage stood at the same time, raising there hands covered in a red substance.
Keyspeaker and First Nations man Uncle Gary Nulan, absent due to illness, urged the federal government once again to change the date in a written statement.
“A new day and date should be set around a new treaty and all celebrations set around this date,” he said.
Other speeches largely encouraged those asked to decide on the referendum to “vote no”.
Thursday also marks the third consecutive year Melbourne’s Australia Day was abandoned.
Among familiar faces in the crowd were AFL player — and the former boyfriend of Mia Fevola — Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, who declined to comment.
Fellow Western Bulldogs teammates Marcus Bontempelli, Buku Khamis, Aaron Naughton and Arthur Jones were also sighted.
Despite the strong numbers in attendance, protests across the city have this year adopted a different tone from previous marches.
Organisers are this year calling for a treaty between First Nations people and the wider community to be made priority over The Voice to Parliament referendum.
“This referendum got a snowball chance in hell of getting up,” Keyspeaker Uncle Gary Foley told crowds.
Rally organisers also took aim at Premier Daniel Andrews ahead of Thursday’s March.
“Here in so-called Victoria, the Andrews government enjoys the optics of being a progressive state, yet it continues to fail our people, as does every other government in this colony,” organisers said.
“We demanded a treaty, but we now are being forced to enter discussions around a Voice to Parliament.”
“The 26th January is not a day to celebrate,” organisers said.
“It has been 85 years since William Cooper, Jack Patten and other community leaders held the first Day of Mourning at Sydney Town Hall on 26 January 1938. We find ourselves in 2023 making the same demands.”
Meanwhile, Indigenous leader and Nira illim bulluk man Mark Stewart told The Age he would not attend today’s protest over concerns it could harm progress for The Voice to Parliament referendum.
Neo-Nazis storm ‘Invasion Day’ protests
Neo-Nazis performing a Hitler salute have stormed crowded locations in Melbourne’s north amidst Australia Day protests.
The far right extremist group were spotted on St Georges Rd in Thornbury on Thursday morning.
They also gatecrashed an Indigenous mourning ceremony run by Merri-bek City Council at Coburg Town Hall on Bell St.
About 20 men dressed in black clothes and masks, waved Australian flags and held banners that read “White Pride Australia”.
They also performed the offensive Nazi salute.
The incident happened shortly after the smoking ceremony started which was eventually moved inside.
Councillor Oscar Yildiz told the Herald Sun the group “caused a storm”.
“They were yelling and screaming,” he said.
“There were many heated moments, lots of people were in fear … they were trying to cause division.”
It’s understood the neo-Nazis dispersed once police were called to the scene.
Victoria Police said they would review body-worn camera footage to determine whether any offences happened.
First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria called the neo-Nazis “embarrassing and dangerous”.
“It beggars belief in 2023 that it’s possible to see such bigoted, backward people spewing hatred,” they said.
“Not only that they exist, but they’ve gone out of their way to try intimidate First Nations people celebrating our survival.
“They’re embarrassing and dangerous. Shame on them.”
Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam said that she was “disgusted” by the group.
“Far-right extremism has no place in our society,” she wrote on social media.
“These far right extremists are becoming increasingly emboldened, and are a threat to Victoria.”
It comes after a shocking image emerged of neo-Nazis saluting at the Point Ormond lookout in Elwood last week.
About 25 men were pictured in the photo with some holding a red and blue flag, representing the far right European Australia Movement.
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