The Public Interest Advocacy Centre supports changing the date of Australia’s national day from 26 January.
Our national day should be one that is truly inclusive. It should reflect and respect our social and cultural diversity and promote reconciliation.
Unfortunately, 26 January is a day that inevitably marks the beginning of the dispossession of our First Peoples. This is a source of great distress to many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and it is not a day that all Australians can celebrate. The National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples has said that the current date of Australia Day is ‘not compatible with reconciliation’.
There are many things about our nation that we might rightly celebrate. Another day will provide a better opportunity to do so.