'Invasion day' protests amid Australia Day debate
Posted
Updated
As debate rages over whether January 26 should be Australia Day, some Indigenous leaders are protesting against what they call 'invasion day'.
The new Australian of the Year, Mick Dodson, says the use of January 26 as Australia Day alienates Indigenous Australians because it commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet, and he has urged national debate on whether or not to change the date.
But Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has emphatically ruled out any change with a "simple, respectful, but straightforward no".
Mr Rudd said there have always been controversies about national days but that Australia is a nation for all Australians.
"A nation which has apologised for the mistakes of the past, and there have been many. But a nation now resolved to close the gap. A nation now resolved to close the gap in education, in health, and employment, and those things which matter in people's daily and practical lives," he said.
Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull also says he does not think there is a need to change the date, which he describes as "very appropriate".
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and New South Wales Premier Nathan Rees say Australia Day may be controversial but it should still be celebrated.
But the organiser of an Indigenous rally in Brisbane, Aboriginal activist Sam Watson, says Australia Day should be moved to another date if Indigenous Australians are to deal with the emotional turmoil that the day represents.
Mr Watson was speaking prior to leading a march from State Parliament to Musgrave Park in inner Brisbane, in protest over Queensland's long-running stolen wages dispute, and the Northern Territory intervention.
"January 26 is only the day in 1788 when the First Fleet arrived to set up the colony of New South Wales," he said.
"It's got nothing to do with Aboriginal people, it's got nothing to do with the nation of Australia as it stands today.
Protesters say celebrating January 26 as Australia Day is racist. (ABC News)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/26/2474568.htm