This is how to have an Australia Day debate

Regardless of what you think about the changing the date debate, the Today show demonstrated it’s possible to have a calm, abuse-free discussion about this fraught issue, writes Katy Hall.

Less than one week into her new reporting gig at Channel 9’s Today Show, Brooke Boney has already proved herself a huge asset to the revamped morning television program.

Joining colleagues Deborah Knight, Georgie Gardner and Tony Jones to weigh into changing the date of Australia Day, Boney, a Gamilaroi Gomeroi woman, brought a perspective to the desk that few mainstream breakfast shows have had before.

“This date comes up every year. I’m not trying to tell anyone else what they should do or how they should be celebrating, but I feel like I have more reason than anyone to love this country as much as I do,” Boney said.

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“I’m the oldest of six kids, (with a) single mum. I get to sit on the Today Show to talk to you guys about this. I get to travel around the world with the Prime Minister and ask him questions about issues. This is the best country in the world, no doubt. But I can’t separate 26 January from the fact that my brothers are more likely to go to jail than school, or that my little sisters and my mum are more likely to be beaten or raped than anyone else’s sisters or mum. And that started from that day.”

On Thursday, Today's entertainment reporter Brooke Boney discussed why she doesn’t celebrate Australia Day on January 26. Picture: Channel 9

“For me it is a difficult day and I don’t want to celebrate it. Any other day of the year I will tie an Australian flag around my neck and run through the streets,” Boney said, later adding, “I think a day that suits more people is probably going to be more uniting.”

Moments later, Jones was challenging Boney’s position, asking, “isn’t it also a situation, and this is where I get, not angry about it, but upset about it in a lot of ways, that why should it be an us versus them? You know, one of the elders there in Christine Ahern’s piece spoke about let’s all celebrate this country. But it seems that we can’t do that, we can’t get our head around that, there’s always got to be this great divide.”

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As to be expected, opinion online and among fans of the show was deeply divided.

But in having this conversation so publicly, Boney and Jones’s discussion wasn’t just about whether you support changing the date or not. It became about Australians being able to tune into a mainstream panel show and see a constructive debate taking place on both sides of the argument.

No one had to raise their voices to be heard, no one had to shout over others to get their views in. And none of the panellists involved in the discussion have set their social media followers on to those who did not share the same views as them.

On Thursday, the Today Show panel discussed changing the date of Australia Day. Picture: Channel 9

At a time when political attacks are becoming more abusive than ever, when prominent people routinely get death threats over views others disagree with, and our ability to hold civilised discussions becoming rarer and rarer, Today’s debate on Thursday shone out as a true win for the new-look television show and the future of public discourse.

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As panellist Deborah Knight pointed out at the end of the segment, “we should be able to [discuss an issue] without people feeling like they can’t voice their views.”

Thursday’s conversation, however controversial in substance some consider it to be, was a good reminder in how to come at an issue so many care about with respect and without resorting to shouting, lobbing abuse, or relentlessly trolling.

Hopefully, it’ll serve as an example next time we find ourselves in Boney or Jones’s position.

Katy Hall is a RendezView writer and producer.

@katyhallway