1 week Ago By The Herald's View
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has hardly landed a blow on any policy, but has chosen the last week of the federal campaign to beat up big time on Welcome to Country ceremonies. Liberal antagonism towards the tradition has been bubbling away with former prime minister Tony Abbott and frontbencher Jacinta Nampijinpa Price both claiming people were “sick of it”. But the issue received a transfusion when a neo-Nazi demonstrator mocked the Anzac Day dawn service at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance and booed Bunurong elder Uncle Mark Brown delivering the traditional welcome to country.
The neo-Nazis’ crassness triggered condemnation across the political spectrum, with Dutton joining the fray, saying they were “an important part of official ceremonies, and it should be respected”. Later that day, a Welcome to Country ceremony at a Melbourne Storm match was called off, distressing Indigenous groups . News Limited followed up on Saturday with a poll claiming 65 per cent of Australians wanted ceremonies stopped immediately.
A Wadawurrung Welcome to Country and smoke ceremony. Credit: Justin McManus Come Sunday, Dutton had changed his tune . During the fourth leaders’ debate, Dutton and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese were asked if the Anzac Day booing showed people were uncomfortable with the ceremonies.
Dutton thought it “fair enough” to have a Welcome to Country for the opening of parliament as a mark of respect, but said there was a sense across the community that it was overdone. “To do it for the start of every meeting at work, or the start of a football game, I think other Australians think it is overdone and cheapens the significance of what it was meant to do,” he said. “It’s dividing the country, not dissimilar to what the prime minister did with the Voice.
” Albanese did not play the man. Instead, he said it was up to individual organisations to decide whether to open their event with a Welcome to Country but noted the ceremonies were a “matter of respect”. He also cited Anzac Day in New Zealand and the central place of Maori language in their events, emphasising the importance of First Nations people and multiculturalism in Australia.
Dutton is difficult to follow on First Nation issues. Twenty-four months ago, he stood up in parliament to express regret for not saying sorry in 2008 because he failed to grasp the significance of the then-prime minister Kevin Rudd’s apology to the Stolen Generations, only to spend the rest of 2023 leading the campaign against the Voice to Parliament referendum. Now he will not stand in front of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags at official press conferences.
It is curious that Dutton is denigrating Welcome to Country ceremonies. Such concerns usually only infuriate Hansonites and the outer fringes of the Liberal Party – hardly the voters he needs to win government. Perhaps internal polling shows policy promises are not working, and Dutton needs a cut-through issue.
But turning on minority members of our community is not leadership. Embracing Welcome to Country costs nothing and is the least we can all do. Bevan Shields sends an exclusive newsletter to subscribers each week.
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