Australia Day date change

[SuperDan007]

Okay, I don't know how many Aussies there are here, but for those that are, there is this endless debate that happens every year around Australia Day about moving the date of Australia Day because of the sensitivity of the day for Aboriginal People (for you Americans, Australia Day is like Columbus Day, it's the day that the British arrived on Australian soil and colonised it with their convicts and declared Australia Terra Nullius despite Indigenous Australians already occupying the land because the British considered them animals).

Who here agrees that the date should be changed? I personally believe it should be changed because I believe the 3rd of March 1986, when the Australia Act was passed where the British parliament relinquished the right to legislate for Australia was the true birth of our nation. That's when we truly became an independent nation rather than just a subsidiary of Britain.

That said, I am not overly enthusiastic about a change. I wouldn't get out on the streets to see change because it's not a high order issue for me. It won't improve anyone's standard of living at all. It is purely symbolic. Same deal with the Republic issue, we spend way too much time talking about that. I'm a republican, but seriously, there are more important issues.

Mental Health is a much higher order issue than those two issues I mentioned, yet you hardly hear ANYTHING on it. It actually effects people's lives, yet those two issues get all the airtime and mental health gets no airtime.

 

[Silvermoth]

I think it has to be changed. If you need to defend it every year because of its genocidal history than you can't really call it a national day of celebration. And it only goes back to 1994 so it's not like you need to celebrate it because of traditional reasons.

Frankly I think celebrating a day of ethnic cleansing is just gross. Change it to when Australia abolished the white Australia policy. That would be a sign of a country growing up

 

[Pink Ranger]

Frankly I think celebrating a day of ethnic cleansing is just gross. Change it to when Australia abolished the white Australia policy. That would be a sign of a country growing up

My mother told me that the policy you mentioned is 99% of the reason I am Canadian and not Australian.

 

[jmc]

I understand and sympathise for those who feel it symbolises some sort of ethnic cleansing the problem is the date is too ingrained in our culture to change. I'm not one of those people who'll tell something who thinks that way 'just get over it', because I get where they are coming from. However, consideration has to also be given to the fact that people today have no fault in what happened 230 years ago. At a certain point you have to stop trying to guilt people today for the sins of those in charge years ago. Yeah, it sucks what happened with how the indigenous people were treated back then, but the truth is we're stuck with each other now whether we like it or not, and so there's no point trying to shame people for things they had no control over. Ultimately you're not going to please everyone, even if you move the public holiday to another date people will still feel it symbolises invasion.

So my solution is a pretty simple one and that's to treat it more like Anzac Day, being thoughtful of the past, but also treating it as an occasion to move forward together. Maybe that includes dawn ceremonies with aboriginal elders and members of parliament that acknowledge what happen in the past, followed by regular Australia Day activities that promote where we are now and where we hope to go in the future. This IMO is a fair compromise.

 

[Silvermoth]

That could work. Honestly that's how I treat it now. Don't just get pissed up, think about the people who used to be there and still are.

I don't think it's a case of "oh they just have to get over it though" as there are still plenty of issues relating to indigenous people that are far from over

My mother told me that the policy you mentioned is 99% of the reason I am Canadian and not Australian.

I'm afraid that policy was officially abolished but secretly and subtlety restored to modern Australia under a less conspicuous name. The general idea is very much still there

 

[Shikaeshi]

On that: People like Waleed Aly say there is a "white privilege" in Australia: that its fine to be a minority, but don't challenge the status quo.

I live near Fremantle. The City of Fremantle made a big deal about shifting its Australia Day celebrations and got slapped down by the Prime Minister and Fremantle backed down. The day after Australia Day however, Freemantle coordinated a non-Australia Day gathering. Tens of thousands attended. Its a live issue.

 

[bell110]

Okay, I don't know how many Aussies there are here, but for those that are, there is this endless debate that happens every year around Australia Day about moving the date of Australia Day because of the sensitivity of the day for Aboriginal People (for you Americans, Australia Day is like Columbus Day, it's the day that the British arrived on Australian soil and colonised it with their convicts and declared Australia Terra Nullius despite Indigenous Australians already occupying the land because the British considered them animals).

Who here agrees that the date should be changed? I personally believe it should be changed because I believe the 3rd of March 1986, when the Australia Act was passed where the British parliament relinquished the right to legislate for Australia was the true birth of our nation. That's when we truly became an independent nation rather than just a subsidiary of Britain.

That said, I am not overly enthusiastic about a change. I wouldn't get out on the streets to see change because it's not a high order issue for me. It won't improve anyone's standard of living at all. It is purely symbolic. Same deal with the Republic issue, we spend way too much time talking about that. I'm a republican, but seriously, there are more important issues.

Mental Health is a much higher order issue than those two issues I mentioned, yet you hardly hear ANYTHING on it. It actually effects people's lives, yet those two issues get all the airtime and mental health gets no airtime.

Why not have both? We have Columbus Day and Independence Day.

 

[Lighthouse]

Why not have both? We have Columbus Day and Independence Day.

We really should not have Columbus Day.

 

[Shikaeshi]

I have no dog in that particular fight, but I understand the rationale to not celebrate a day which lead to the death by way of disease and invasion of tens of thousands of people (as well as the destruction of numerous cultures and languages).

 

[FunkMiller]

Part-time Australian here. My body is in London where it's 2 degrees, but my soul is on Clifton Beach, where it's 32.

I agree that Australia Day, like Thanksgiving, is a holiday that pretty much celebrates the subjugation of a race by another more powerful race, but, as the OP stated, there are much better places that cash can be spent on, than spending what would probably turn out to be millions on moving a day of national holiday to another date. More money pumped into helping indigenous communities thrive, adapt and integrate would be a much better idea.

 

[Wise]

Honestly as an Australian it doesn't matter to me what date Australia Day is. It's just a day off work to have a bbq and drink beer.

If people are offended by it's historical significance, then I'd say fine just move it.

 

[Shikaeshi]

Honestly as an Australian it doesn't matter to me what date Australia Day is. It's just a day off work to have a bbq and drink beer.

.

You are indeed Australian!

Kind of feel the same away about Labour Day, the Queen's Birthday, and Western Australia Day.