Aussies overwhelmingly reject Welcome to Country in staggering poll

Tens of thousands of Aussies have made their opinion clear on Welcome to Country ceremonies following the Anzac Day booing controversy.

Tens of thousands of Aussies have made their opinion clear on Welcome to Country ceremonies, with two thirds saying they want them to stop altogether.

As controversy continues to swirl around the booing of Bunurong elder Uncle Mark Brown during Friday’s Anzac Day Dawn Service at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance, both sides of politics have condemned the actions of neo-Nazis who led the heckling.

But the Liberal Party has previously vowed to scale back the ceremonies, with frontbencher Jacinta Nampijinpa Price warning people are “sick if it”.

A news.com.au poll on Saturday with nearly 50,000 responses found readers overwhelmingly agree.

Asked, “How do you feel about Welcome to Country ceremonies?”, 65 per cent said “they should stop completely”.

Twenty-three per cent said “there should be less” and 8 per cent said “there is the right amount”.

Just 4 per cent said “there should be more”.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, federal opposition leader Peter Dutton and National Party leader David Littleproud have all indicated support for a winding back of the tradition.

Speaking at a Voice to Parliament No campaign event in 2023, Mr Abbott said he is “getting a little bit sick of Welcomes to Country because it belongs to all of us, not just to some of us”.

Bunurong elder Uncle Mark Brown. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

“And I’m getting a little bit tired of seeing the flag of some of us flown equally with the flag of all of us,” he said.

“And I just think that the longer this goes on, the more divisive and the more difficult and the more dangerous that it’s getting now.”

Mr Dutton has also expressed some reservations over Acknowledgement of Country and Welcome to Country ceremonies.

“It’s a respectful way to acknowledge the Indigenous heritage of our country,” he told 2GB radio.

“But I do get the point that when you go to a function and there’s an MC who I think appropriately can do recognition, you then get the next five or 10 speakers who each do their own Acknowledgement to Country, and frankly, I think it detracts from the significance of the statement that’s being made.”

A Welcome to Country at Optus Stadium. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Senator Price has described the tradition as “divisive”.

“There is no problem with acknowledging our history, but rolling out these performances before every sporting event or public gathering is definitely divisive,” she said.

“It’s not welcoming, it’s telling non-Indigenous Australians ‘this isn’t your country’ and that’s wrong. We are all Australians and we share this great land.”

She said “around the country” there were some people whose “only role, their only source of income, is delivering Welcome to Country”.

“Everyone’s getting sick of Welcome to Country,” she said.

Victoria Police have confirmed the man who led the booing in Melbourne expected to be charged on summons with offensive behaviour.

“There is no place in Australia for what occurred in Melbourne,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement.

“A neo-Nazi disrupting Anzac Day is abhorrent, un-Australian, and disgraceful. The people responsible must face the full force of the law.”

— with Samantha Maiden

Originally published as Aussies overwhelmingly reject Welcome to Country in staggering poll