Sarah Hanson-Young repeats Australia Day gaffe

Sarah Hanson-Young re-issued her inaccurate Australia Day statement, but the error remained in her new press release.

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

Sarah Hanson-Young claims she did not check a statement her office sent out which inaccurately claimed that Australia Day marked the date Captain James Cook sailed into Botany Bay.

In a press release accusing Communications Minister Mitch Fifield of ignorance for being unable to name the traditional owners of Botany Bay, Senator Hanson-Young incorrectly linked Australia Day with Captain Cook’s arrival on April 29, 1770.

Government is spending almost $50m on a statue and commemorations of 250 years since Captain Cook, but they couldn’t tell me in #estimates which aboriginal land the statue will be placed. 😳

— Sarah Hanson-Young💚 (@sarahinthesen8) May 23, 2018

Australia Day commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Port Jackson in 1788, and the raising of the British flag by Governor Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove.

“Despite an important national debate about changing the date of Australia Day away from Captain Cook’s landing at Botany Bay, the government has decided to spend taxpayer money it is stripping from the ABC on yet another monument to Captain Cook on the land of the Dharawal people,” Senator Hanson-Young said.

“The Liberal government is waging a culture war against not only the ABC, but both the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in our community who speak out against the divisive commemoration of the colonialism that caused the 200 years of displacement and pain to our First Peoples.”

In response to media reports, Senator Hanson-Young re-issued the statement and allowed one of her staff members to take the blame for the blunder.

“Despite an important national debate about changing the date of Australia Day away from the First Fleet’s landing, the Government has decided to strip funding from the ABC to spend it on yet another monument to colonialism, on the land of the Dharawal people,” the new statement said.

A spokeswoman for Senator Hanson-Young confirmed that the Senator had not read the press release before it was sent out, taking full responsibility for the mistake.

The re-issued statement repeated the error which appeared in Senator Hanson-Young’s first press release.

“This Government is out of touch with the Australian people — taking money from our most trusted news service which will no doubt lead to further job cuts, and ignoring why our First Australians find the celebration of the arrival of Captain Cook so painful in one fell swoop,” the new statement said.

Liberal backbencher Eric Abetz said Senator Hanson-Young had placed her intellectual prowess on full display once again.

“For months, we’ve been lectured about how Australia Day is supposedly all sorts of things yet we now discover that the Greens don’t even know what they’re opposing,” Senator Abetz said.

“The tragic thing is that this is the best that the Australian Greens have to offer up to voters.

“It’s easy to have a black arm band view of Australian history if you don’t even know the basic facts.”

Senator Fifield also weighed in, saying Senator Hanson-Young’s comments “highlight the importance of teaching and commemorating Australian history.”

SARAH HANSON-YOUNG’ HISTORY OF GAFFES

2014: POP CULTURE

Thought television drama Sea Patrol was a documentary series.

2016: SUPERANNUATION

Said earnings within superannuation funds should be taxed at a person’s marginal income tax rate (they are currently taxed at a maximum of 15 per cent) when the Greens’ policy was to change the tax rate on contributions for people on incomes of more than $100,000 a year, but not at their marginal income tax rate.

2018: HISTORY

Referred to Australia Day as commemorating the arrival of Captain Cook at Botany Bay, rather than the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove.