Australia Day 2021: ABC removes the term ‘Invasion Day’ from online guide
An ABC staff memo mentioning the phrase “Invasion Day” has been corrected after public pressure from Communications Minister Paul Fletcher and others.
NSW
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The ABC has removed references to “Invasion Day” from the heading of an online guide to events happening across the country tomorrow.
The piece, which was originally titled as an “Australia Day/Invasion Day 2021 events guide” sparked outrage from state and federal government ministers.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian declared she was “very disappointed” with the terminology used by the national broadcaster.
The wording of the article was changed on Monday afternoon to read: “Australia Day is a contentious day for many. Here are the events being held on January 26”.
Following the change, a spokesman for Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said the Minister is “aware of the ABC correction and welcomes it as a sensible outcome”.
Mr Fletcher had earlier called for the ABC to “correct” the “inaccurate article,” saying the national broadcaster had “clearly got this one wrong”.
The Premier also criticised the ABC on Monday.
“Australia Day is Australia Day, it’s a day where we should all come together, and I’m very disappointed that that’s the way the national broadcaster expressed what’s occurring tomorrow,” she said.
“Our strong preference is that people stay home or use other methods to demonstrate their strength of feeling on issues,” Ms Berejiklian said.
She said anyone in breach of public health orders could cop a fine.
“If you break the rules, if you don’t respect the health orders, there are penalties in place. And I don’t want to see that happen,” she said.
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Originally published as Australia Day 2021: ABC removes the term ‘Invasion Day’ from online guide
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