Woolworths reverses decision to stop selling Australia Day merchandise

Woolworths will be proudly celebrating Australia Day after its decision to ditch celebratory merchandise such as flags and thongs triggered protests.

Woolworths will once again make room for flags and other paraphernalia in its stores.

Woolworths will be proudly celebrating Australia Day in January after its decision to ditch celebratory merchandise such as flags and thongs triggered a tsunami of protests, eventually leading its chief executive to resign.

Learning the lessons of last Australia Day – which triggered a call from Opposition Leader Peter Dutton to boycott the supermarket giant – Woolworths will once again make room for flags and other paraphernalia in its stores as well as heavily advertise the event to shoppers as they walk through the doors.

There will also be specific “Perfect for Australia Day” sections within stores, at both Woolworths supermarkets and Big W stores, as well as an expanded range of Australia Day-themed merchandise online to highlight the retailer’s newly embraced celebration of the holiday after the 2024 crisis.

“We will be celebrating Australia Day as a team, and with our customers,” a Woolworths spokesman told The Australian on Tuesday.

Woolworths stores withdrew the sale of Australia Day merchandise sold by other shops. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

The supermarket giant had acknowledged the mistake when the retailer said it would no longer stock Australia Day merchandise due to a “gradual decline” in sales.

Many saw the decision as a sop to activists who have long called for January 26 to be dumped as Australia Day, as it represented the “invasion” by British colonists of a land inhabited by Indigenous people.

“While we did make changes to our merchandise range last Australia Day due to decline in demand in our stores, we listened and recognised that many customers and teams wanted us to do more to help them celebrate the day,” the spokesman said on Tuesday.

“In our supermarkets we will do this through the lens of great Australian food that is perfect for the day, while Big W will also showcase products perfect for family and friends coming together over the Australia Day long weekend.

“Our store team members are also welcome to celebrate the day in-store. We respect everyone’s choices in how they choose to spend the day.”

Even Woolworths’ Australia flags will be made in Australia instead of China.

The 2024 debacle ignited a storm around not only the celebration of Australia Day but also the continued intrusion of corporate Australia and leaders into politics and social campaigns.

At the time Mr Dutton strongly criticised the actions of then Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci for stripping out Australia Day merchandise from stores, two months after the defeat of the Indigenous voice referendum. During the lead-up to the vote, many corporate leaders lectured the public to vote Yes and many large businesses donated heavily to the Yes campaign.

Then Woolworths Group chief executive Brad Banducci released a full-page advertisement insisting the supermarket giant was not anti-Australia Day after some customers complained. Picture: NCA NewsWire

“I think it’s up to customers whether they want to go in and buy the product or not,” Mr Dutton said amid the furore last January in a radio interview.

“If they don’t want to celebrate Australia Day, well, that’s a ­decision for them, but I think ­people should boycott Woolworths.”

Anthony Albanese said at the time that Mr Dutton had his priorities wrong with his call for a boycott, with the Prime Minister adding it wasn’t the place of governments to tell businesses what to do and he was more concerned with supermarket prices than what they sold.

Mr Banducci announced his resignation one month later, with many seeing the Australia Day controversy as a contributing factor to his planned departure.

Only this month Australian Venue Co, which owns 200 pubs and bars across Victoria, NSW, Queensland and South Australia, was forced to apologise and back down on an earlier edict for its pub managers not to allow ­flagwavers and Australia Day ­celebrators to display patriotic fervour in their establishments. “Australia Day is a day that ­causes sadness for some members of our community, so we have ­decided not to specifically celebrate a day that causes hurt for some of our patrons and our team,” an Australian Venue Co spokeswoman said at the time.

That was rescinded, after pub boycotts spread across social media, with the pub owner admitting the decision had caused “concern and confusion”.

Woolworths has highlighted that in July, it began selling Australian-made Australian flags in all Woolworths supermarkets.

In November, it also introduced Australian-made ­Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags to its range. Rival Coles has always sold Australia Day merchandise and will continue to do so.

“We will continue to stock a range of summer entertaining merchandise throughout January, as we have done previously,” a Coles spokesman said.

Originally published as Woolworths reverses decision to stop selling Australia Day merchandise