Peter Dutton slams foreign-owned Australian Venue Co over its Australia Day boycott

The Opposition Leader has slammed Australian Venue Co for trying to profit off Australia Day despite continuing to shun the national day in favour of ‘January Long Weekend’ events.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has slammed controversial pub group Australian Venue Co. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has slammed a foreign-owned pub group’s continued boycott of Australia Day, urging Australians to complain and boycott its 200 plus venues across the country.

After being forced to apologise about its controversial ban on Australia Day celebration last month, the Hong Kong-owned Australian Venue Co has continued to shun the country’s national holiday, instead encouraging Aussies to simply celebrate the “January long weekend” at its 200+ venues.

This is despite it holding events for the Super Bowl, Valentine’s Day and Labour Day and some pubs promoting live Aussie music as well as barbecues and kangaroos in their flyers.

At an event in Worrigee, NSW, Mr Dutton on Thursday said accused the business of profiting from the public holiday, and not honouring the wishes of a “vast majority of Australians”.

Burleigh Town Hotel says Australia Day is the January Long Weekend.

“(Why should a business) reap a huge profit off the back of hard working Australians, when they would shun the wishes of those Australians,” he said.

“Because the vast majority of Australians, particularly patrons going into some of these establishments, want us to celebrate Australia Day.”

He called on patrons to contact Australian Venue Co to make their feelings heard.

“I just say to patrons who know the pubs this company owns, I would encourage them to call the company and express their view and express that they don’t support this abandonment of our national day,” he said.

“What other country, what other Western civilisation, abandons its National Day? We shouldn’t and Australia Day should be a great celebration of an amazing country.”

The country’s largest pub operator Endeavour Group, which has 350 venues in its ALH portfolio, including the Breakfast Creek Hotel in Brisbane, has been promoting Australia Day celebrations on its website.

Australia Day at the Golden Gate Hotel in Melbourne.

How ALH's Breakfast Creek Hotel is celebrating Australia Day this weekend.

It comes as a poll published last week by the Institute of Public Affairs showed that 69 per cent of Australians say Australia Day should be celebrated on January 26, up from 63 per cent 12 months ago, while a majority of all age groups now back the day.

Australian Venue Co faced backlash and community boycott threats in December after it banned Australia Day celebrations at its 200 venues before making a sensational about-face and apologised for offending its customers.

The group, Australia’s second largest pub group, had directed staff “not to specifically celebrate a day that causes hurt for some of our patrons and our team”.

It owns almost 90 venues in Queensland, 60 in Victoria, 20 in South Australia and 10 in Sydney.

After public outrage, the group was quick to walk back its remarks. “We can see that our comments on the weekend have caused both concern and confusion. We sincerely regret that – our purpose is to reinforce community in our venues, not divide it,” a spokesman said.

Mr Dutton has been fiercely backing Australia Day in the lead up to January 26, and has vowed to protect the national day should the Coalition be elected.

The Opposition Leader said Australians should not be “ashamed of” Australia Day, doubling down on a Coalition election vow to overturn a Labor-era rule and force local councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on January 26 – a move he would make within the first 100 days if elected to power.

The Winery in Surry Hills.

The Australian’s DataRoom reported that the Australian Venue Co may soon be palmed off by its Asian private equity fund owners, PAG, over fears that the hospitality giant’s poker machines do not fit into its parent company’s ethical investment strategy. Australian Venue Co did not respond to a request for comment by The Australian.

Corporations including Telstra, Commonwealth Bank and AustralianSuper will also shun Australia Day and allow staff to work on January 26 for another day off – championing the move as a win for employees after flexibility around their time off, despite few taking up the offer.

This year, Australia Day falls on a Sunday, which will see the holiday observed on January 27 in what will mean a long weekend.

Australian Venue Co’s Golden Gate Hotel in South Melbourne will host a happy hour and live music on Australia Day as part of its “January Long Weekend” event, while nearby College Lawn Hotel is instead only hosting a Hottest 100 event on January 25 despite hosting a Labour Day public holiday event in March. Other venues such as the Waterloo Hotel in Brisbane have opted against any marketing for this weekend.

Marketing for the Burleigh Town Hotel on the Gold Coast has a barbecue and a Kangaroo but only refers to Australia as the January Long Weekend.

In Sydney, The Winery in Surry Hills refers to Australia Day as the “Summer Long Weekend” with a bottomless drag brunch on January 26 and a DJ all afternoon. The Parkside Tavern in Adelaide also refers to Australia Day as a long weekend with musical performances and activities for kids.

Originally published as Peter Dutton slams foreign-owned Australian Venue Co over its Australia Day boycott