Scott Morrison says Australians ‘have risen above our brutal beginnings’
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that for “better and worse”, today was “the moment where the journey to our modern nation began”.
Scott Morrison has urged Australians to “believe in hope” on Australia Day and continue to rise above our “brutal beginnings”, rather than being defined solely by race, gender and religion.
As controversy rages over Australia Day and the call to change the date, the Prime Minister said the nation must learn the “lessons of history”, noting the “dispossession and colonisation” that marked the arrival of the First Fleet and white settlement.
But the Prime Minister insisted that we are also “more than any and all of these things”.
“We have risen above our brutal beginnings,’’ he said. “We have overcome, survived and thrived. As Australians, our fates have always been bound together.
“We do this, because in Australia we believe in the unique value of each Australian as individuals, rather than seeing or indeed allowing ourselves to be defined solely through the identity prism of our age, race, gender, ethnicity or religion.”
Writing in the Herald Sun newspaper, Mr Morrison said for “better and worse” Australia Day marked the arrival of white settlers.
“There is no escaping or cancelling this fact. For better and worse, it was the moment where the journey to our modern nation began,’’ he said.
“Whether it is the story of our first nation peoples’ strong, ancient and proud culture and their survival in the face of dispossession and colonisation.
“Or the forsaken souls who came as convicts, not to start a new world, but because they had been banished from the old one. Condemned and outcast by empire, they too overcame.”
Mr Morrison’s remarks follow controversy over his claim that Australia Day, which marks the arrival of the European colonists in 1788 “wasn’t a particularly flash day” for the convicts either.
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“When those 12 ships turned up in Sydney all those years ago, it wasn’t a particularly flash day for the people on those vessels either,” he said last week.
The Prime Minister said resilience and recovery after adversity, qualities seen across the country during the pandemic, was very much part of the Australian character.
“Today, on Australia Day we reflect on that journey, the price that has been paid for our freedom, the lessons of our history and the privilege of being able to call ourselves Australians,’’ he said.
“These stories do not compete with each other, they simply coexist. They weave together.”
The Prime Minister said in a year where the world has struggled under the strain of the global pandemic, “Australians, together, have prevailed, in our own Australian way.”
He continued: “Australians, patiently doing the right thing.
“Health workers collecting samples and tracing the virus; nurses, aged and disability care workers tending to our elderly and vulnerable; medical teams, our ADF and police running our quarantine facilities; farmers, truck drivers, wholesale and retail workers keeping our supermarket shelves stocked and all those working to produce our vaccine.
“And, of course, the many business owners of Australia, small and large, struggling with the uncertainty that a pandemic brings, keeping their show together and Australians in work.”
“We have learned and are still learning. Happy Australia Day.”
The Prime Minister’s message came as a Labor senator slammed Australia Day as a celebration of “white supremacy”.
WA Senator Sue Lines, the deputy president of the senate, said the day was wrapped up in “racism.”
“Australia Day celebrates white supremacy and the legacy of colonisation that is directly linked to the various ways we continue to fail First Nations people,” she wrote.
“It’s wrapped up in modern racist policies like the cashless debit card, with deaths in custody and our failure to close the gap.
“It is time to end the formal celebration of Australia Day on the 26th of January. This isn’t about guilt or shame, it is about being honest about our past and respecting our First nations people.”
Ken Wyatt, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, said “we should come together as one this Australia Day and reach out to better understand the Australian story of others.”
In an opinion piece first published in The West Australian, Mr Wyatt said that while Australians could celebrate and feel pride, “you can take some time on Australia Day to reflect upon the sacrifices many have made, the challenges we have faced, losses felt and the adversity we have overcome to stand as Australians, one and free.”
He said we must acknowledge that “too many Indigenous Australians continue to live in disadvantage and face barriers to success.”
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