Hooly dooly.
The topic of changing the date of Australia Day seemingly grows in size and tenacity each year, and 2017 shows even louder debate over the issue.
One side argues that January 26th wrongly celebrates a tragic day of invasion, and is a sombre day of mourning for Aboriginal people and therefore excludes them from being a part of the national holiday. The other side argues that the First Nation Peoples should get over it, forget about years of trauma created by colonisation, and deal with the fact that January 26th *JUST IS* Australia Day and it must remain the public holiday it has always been (despite the fact that it’s only been a national public holiday since 1994).
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has today appeared as a guest on Sydney radio station 2GB, and said some very condescending and insensitive malarky about the groups who are peacefully campaigning to change the date:
“[I get] sick of these people who every time, every time there’s something on, they just want to make you feel guilty.They don’t like Christmas, they don’t like Australia Day, they’re just miserable gutted people and I wish they would crawl under a rock and hide for a little bit.[Stop] weeping and gnashing your teeth at me about the terrible evils we have done”.
He finished,
“This is Australia Day and if you don’t like it, I don’t know mate, go to work, do something else.”
The Deputy PM said that the idea of changing the date in order to make sure all Australians can celebrate the national day together is “political correctness gone mad”.
Joyce‘s outburst comes just after former Industry, Resources and Science minister Ian Macfarlane (a one-time Cabinet colleague of Barnaby’s) announced his newfound support for changing the date from January 26.
He said his view on the national holiday had changed since leaving Parliament:
“I want to play a part in the push to changing the date of Australia Day. I believe it is an important way to prevent a potential schism in Australia’s society and to remove a potential roadblock to reconciliation and a greater Australia.”
Source: SMH.
Photo: Stefan Postles / Getty.
