‘Completely inappropriate’ AFLW Welcome to Country comes under fire
A Welcome to Country ceremony ahead of an AFLW final has come under fire after an elder held up her own business card to promote her company.
The Welcome to Country prior to the AFLW preliminary final between Brisbane and Carlton on Saturday night has come under fire.
Ahead of Saturday’s showdown between the Lions and Blues, Aboriginal elder Louisa Bonner delivered the ceremony that was labelled as “completely inappropriate”.
Former Indigenous politician Warren Mundine took aim at Bonner for turning the ceremony into a political agenda and for promoting her own business in a speech that lasted around two and a half minutes.
The former national president of the Australian Labor Party appeared on Ben Fordham’s 2GB radio show and said the messaging wasn’t at all welcoming.
You can watch Bonner’s Welcome to Country in the video player above
“Why don’t they go and look at the Macquarie Dictionary or whatever, and look up the word welcome,” Mundine said.
“It is not about giving a personal lecture, it is not about running off in a promotion for your business, or to look at the politics of the day.
“It is, we want you to be here, we love you to be here. I’ve seen some beautiful Welcome to Countries. But these things are driving people mad.”
Mundine said additional agendas had no place being intertwined into the middle of a Welcome to Country.
“You can have such a thing as a Welcome to Country and it can be a beautiful thing. It’s like welcoming somebody into your house,” he said.
“It’s like saying, all you migrants and all you people who have come to this country over the last 50-100 years, we’re proud to have you here, we’re building a beautiful nation, and all this type of stuff.
“That (Bonner’s speech) was three things. One, it started out as a Welcome to Country. Then it lost its way and went into a political statement and then it went into an advertisement for her business.
“This drives me mad, this stuff.
“As I have said when I was the deputy mayor of Dubbo and acting mayor, when we did the citizenship programs, at the finish of it we did the formalities.
“I said then, ‘I’m really proud that you have chosen Australia to come and live here and contribute to this country’.
“That is a Welcome to Country.”
3AW’s Tom Elliott echoed a similar sentiment and labelled Bonner’s delivery of the Welcome to Country as “completely inappropriate”.
“It was extraordinary. It was a diatribe about Indigenous children in custody and colonisation and structural racism and all these sort of touch points,” he said.
“Completely inappropriate before a football game.
“In fact, the woman who gave the so-called Welcome to Country even offered people her business card if they wanted to take the discussion further.
“It was wrong, and the AFL needs to have a good, long, hard look at itself.”
Bonner held up her business card during the ceremony as she promoted her business Ngaran Goori Ltd.
“Ngaran Limited’s programs align with this responsibility by prioritising care, respect and cultural authority across all generations,” Bonner said.
“I would also like to say that every time I’m invited here by the Lions to do a Welcome to Country, that they’re also supporting me to run those programs.
“If you wish to discuss us, catch up with me afterwards. Here’s my business card.
“But to all the teams here today, I extend my best wishes. A good game upholds fairness, sportsmanship and respect, allowing athletes to demonstrate their skills and true character.
“May the spirit of goodwill guide both teams and I wish you all the very best.”
You can read Bonner’s full speech in full at the end of this article.
Bonner responded to the backlash on Monday by defending her comments and stating the issue needed to be pushed into the spotlight.
“I just want the Australian public to know that everything is not what it seems or sounds to be like. We have all this government structure out there, and they think blackfellas are getting everything,” Bonner said to The Age.
“Most white, mainstream communities think we get everything. As long as they are prepared to open their mouths, I don’t care. I will set them on the right path and tell them the truth about what’s really happening. I just want to see some action.”
Louisa Bonner’s Welcome to Country in full
“Good afternoon, I join you today as a guest on behalf of the First Nations traditional owners and as a member of the Ugarapul, Jagera clans, Turrbal and Darumbal people. Yuggera-language people of south-east Queensland,” she said.
“Springfield sits within Yuggera country which extends from the Port of Brisbane to the Esk border, the base of the Toowoomba Range, south (to) Mount Barney east to Rathdowney and north back along the Logan River to the Port of Brisbane.
“Before proceeding with today’s formalities, I wish to briefly address a national crisis affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island children and young people in youth detention.
“Our children remain disproportionately represented in these systems and are often treated not as children or young people deserving care, protection and opportunity, but as a number within the structures that serve their political and economic interests rather than community well
being.
“The drivers of this crisis are well known, the ongoing impacts of colonisation and systemic racism, limited recognition of sovereignty, resistance to Indigenous leadership and continued land and economic dispossession.
“These issues are a matter of social justice, human rights and legal responsibility.
“There are other countries such as New Zealand and American Native Indians that are leading in these areas and addressing issues in their own country.
“Australia has already committed to frameworks that uphold rights to self determination including the Anti Discrimination Act 1991, international human rights covenant recognised by the Australian Human Rights Commission, United Nations declaration of the rights of Indigenous peoples, particularly articles three and four on self determination and self government.
“The Closing The Gap framework also requires governments to strengthen Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island families, communities and cultures.”
Originally published as ‘Completely inappropriate’ AFLW Welcome to Country comes under fire
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