What you said about Welcome to Country being used across Australia

Peak woke or progress? That’s up for debate after it was revealed a job applicant was left shocked with a Welcome to Country in the interview. HAVE YOUR SAY

Peak woke or progress?

That’s up for debate after it was revealed a candidate for a customer service position at an insurance company said they were left shocked when the job interview opened with a Welcome to Country.

Posting to Reddit, the candidate explained how the hiring manager “took it upon himself to do a Welcome to Country”, labelling the experience as “weird and unnecessary”.

“I wanted to get others’ opinions on this as I thought it was peak Australian corporate culture,” the Brisbane person wrote.

“At the time I didn’t give it a second thought but in retrospect it’s pretty weird and unnecessary.”

News added to the ongoing debate around the topic, with many readers quick to slam the overuse of Welcome to Country.

Others said it’s fine when used correctly – some, though, insisted we all need to take a good look at the process.

About 98 per cent of more than 10,000 who voted in an online poll claimed Welcome to Country is now being overused.

See what you had to say below and join the conversation >>>

WHAT YOU SAID

Ditch them all!

Gavin

Get rid of it all together. Annoys me when we have this in meetings all the time

Michael

Absolute nonsense. And what about when you fly – within the country!! You don’t leave the country but get a welcome to it! Every damn stop! Cut this woke rubbish out and get on with business. The unfortunate thing is it looked at like some cultural tradition but it is really a made-up farcical quasi ceremony that does nothing but cause divide.

BMA

So sick of Welcome to Country. It’s nauseating virtue signalling, and as someone who was born here I don’t need to be welcomed to my own country

Bob

This stupidity is divisive, unnecessary, & will not end well.

It’s become a joke

Craig

A Welcome to Country can only be done by the Traditional Owners so unless he was indigenous, what he was doing is offensive and poor etiquette.

John

We were recently on a cruise ship for the Anzac Day Dawn Service in the middle the Pacific Ocean, where some peanut decided we needed to hear a welcome to country before the service started. So absurd overuse? Absolutely!

Ken

Stop it. It’s ridiculous virtue-signalling!

Jennifer

Such nonsense! It’s my country too! Who cares who came first to a place? We’re supposed to be joyously multicultural!

Chuck

Peak Woke yet?

Shane

it has no meaning to me and I zone out whenever it occurs.

Chuck

Whoever thought of all this crap to bring a nation closer is doing a fantastic job of dividing it.

Don’t hate the welcome to country and I really like Australia’s love of Vegemite, dish it up every meal, snack etc and I am sure the passion for the spread will wane pretty quickly.

One person commented “Do that s**t and I am walking right back out the door”.

I want change

Paul

Just stop paying for and I can assure you it’ll be gone in a flash

Betty

Genuine reconciliation fine. But gratuitous shambolic ceremonies used by woke movements erode any potential resolution. I now turn my back during these ceremonies while still hoping for a better future for all within our country

Chris

I do not need to be welcomed to my own country. Stop this stupidity!

Jen

There is a time and a place for it, it’s overused, it’s pointless when who you are delivering it to is those who actually live and work there. It’s a political stunt and it’s lost its meaning. I don’t need to be welcomed to my own country, I was born here from generations, it just divides us more it needs to be paired back to what it was originally intended for and not some token, that nobody listens to anyway.

Bryce

What a complete load of garbage and it’s only being pushed by those wanting to take total control of US and our Country

Originally published as What you said about Welcome to Country being used across Australia