Voice, Australia Day not top of mind in Alice Springs

A protest against Australia Day in Brisbane in 2022. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Daniel Andrews has cancelled the Australia Day parade for the third year in a row in Victoria. Senator Lidia Thorpe was quoted as saying the move is a sign of progress. On an SBS page, co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, Marcus Stewart, was reported as saying the parade axing was a positive step forward for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Really? What am I missing here?

I cannot help but think opposition to Australia Day, along with the debate about the proposed enshrined voice to parliament, are convenient distractions to addressing the more serious problems facing Aboriginal Australians.

I read in this newspaper on Monday about the dysfunction affecting the people of Alice Springs. This story is just the latest in several stories that have focused on crime waves in Alice Springs in the past couple of months. Back in November, there were media reports about how Alice Springs elders were pleading with the Northern Territory government to work with them on solutions to youth crime.

For those Aboriginal Australians in Alice Springs impacted by crime, both as perpetrators and victims, I do not think protesting against Australia Day celebrations is top of mind. Their priorities are likely finding a safe place to dwell in and fresh food to eat. These should also be the priorities, along with jobs and education, of political leaders, proponents of the parliamentary voice and the government departments dedicated to closing the gap.

So why aren’t they? First, I don’t believe it’s because Aboriginal Australians are without a voice. Federal member for Lingiari Marion Scrymgour, a strong Aboriginal woman, was reported in Monday’s article as saying that she is seeing a level of violence she had never encountered. She is further quoted as saying: “I just find it unacceptable in this day and age that the violence against Aboriginal women in this town raises very little urgency from anyone – it’s appalling.” If it’s Aboriginal voices from the coalface the government is waiting for, you’ve already got them.

The reason these problems are not priorities can be found in the words spoken by the Mayor of Alice Springs, Matt Paterson, as reported in this paper: “We are all too scared to have the difficult conversations.” Again, it’s so much easier to talk about Australia Day celebrations and the lack of a parliamentary voice as the big culprits holding Aboriginal people back.

Australia Day has special appeal because activists describe it using highly emotive language. For example, they love to tell us that the day is a celebration of genocide, theft and murder. For more than a decade I have been asking activists to show me anyone who celebrates any of these things and, thus far, they have not shown me anyone.

They can’t because no Australian celebrates any of those things on Australia Day, or any other day. Those who do celebrate, typically celebrate that Australia, although not perfect, is a great place to live.

Another emotive word activists use to describe Australia Day is that it is divisive. Being seen as divisive, Australia Day should therefore be scrapped. Actually, it’s just a day and so can’t be divisive. People are divisive, not dates. The voice is also considered divisive; should we therefore scrap the idea? No, reasoned debate is needed instead.

For those who want to mourn on January 26, please do so. But please, on that day, take some time to think about those Aboriginal people who are genuinely suffering because they are hungry, live in unclean environments, share a mattress with three others, and are so accustomed to violence that they no longer bother to avoid it. For those who will be protesting against Australia Day, ask yourself if your self-pity party is helping the people who are really suffering.

I’ll be with friends thinking about what a great country we are and the great achievements of both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal citizens. I will laugh when I see the protesters out on the streets with their slogans of “no pride in genocide”. It’s that time of the year when it’s likely going to be hot. Some of these protesters, claiming oppression, may get sunburnt. If they do, it will probably be the only trauma they’ve ever experienced.

The choice is yours: you can either mourn and protest, or celebrate what a great country we live in. But whatever you do, Happy Australia Day, mate.

Anthony Dillon is a research fellow in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Australian Catholic University and identifies as a part-Indigenous Australian.