Dutton puts pressure on PM with support for Australia Day law

Peter Dutton has backed a push by conservative Coalition MPs to legislate January 26 as the date of Australia Day.

Engineering firm Jacobs has offered its employees an Australia Day public holiday exchange. Picture: Supplied

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has backed a push by conservative Coalition MPs to legislate January 26 as the date of Australia Day, putting pressure on Scott Morrison to adopt the proposal as government policy.

The leading conservative who unsuccessfully challenged Malcolm Turnbull for the prime ministership said yesterday he had “no problem” with the proposal led by Liberal senator Dean Smith and supported by Coalition MPs including Barnaby Joyce, Michelle Landry, Jason Wood and Craig Kelly.

Liberal senator and former army major general Jim Molan also came out in support of the idea, along with Victorian MP ­Michael Sukkar and Queensland MP George Christensen.

Speaking on Sydney’s 2GB radio, Mr Dutton said: “Australia Day is a significant national day for our country. People come to our country to flee violence, to have their kids educated, to grow up in a civil society and we shouldn’t be afraid to celebrate it.”

The Australian revealed yesterday that Senator Smith was willing to draft a private member’s bill to enshrine January 26 as the nat­ional day. He said Anzac Day and the national flag were already protected in legislation.

Bill Shorten ridiculed the “straw man” proposal and declared there were more urgent matters the government needed to address in the parliament.

The Opposition Leader said he “loved” Australia Day and was “getting a bit over the Australia Day debates”.

“It is not going to change. There might be a few sort of green councils that want to change the day they administer citizenship ceremonies. The public holiday is not going to change,” he said

“I do find it a bit odd that the government gets so obsessed by what I call straw man issues — straw man issues being something that isn’t really going to happen.”

Grassroots protests against the national day are encroaching on the workplace, with staff at engineering firm Jacobs being told they can come into work on Monday’s public holiday. In an email to staff obtained by The Australian, Jacobs executive director Ross Jones said staff could protest against Australia Day by working next Monday and taking an alternate day off.

“To acknowledge Australia Day has different meanings and connotations for different people, we are going to trial a public holiday exchange initiative for the upcoming Australia Day public holiday,” Mr Jones said in the email.

One staff member, who did not want to be identified, described it as the “most absurd corporate email I have ever received”.