For decades, Welcome to Country ceremonies have been an established custom in Australia, performed by Indigenous elders at the beginning of public or significant events as a gesture of respect towards the traditional lands and owners where the event is being held.
But in the final week leading up to the federal election, it has become the divisive issue upon which the two major political party leaders have set their axes to grind.
The resurgence of the debate started on Anzac Day last week, when Banerong elder Mark Brown was booed and jeered at while performing the ceremony in Melbourne by a group of people, including a “known neo-Nazi”. The hecklers also booed and shouted while Victoria’s governor, Margaret Gardner, delivered an acknowledgment of country.
Later that night, a planned Welcome to Country ceremony was cancelled at the last minute for the NRL Anzac Day clash between Melbourne Storm and the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy Murphy had been scheduled to perform the ceremony before the match kick off — only to be told by the Melbourne Storm club that her services were no longer required.
Murphy later revealed that the club quickly reversed its decision, apologised and asked her to undertake the ceremony as initially planned. Performances by First Nations groups had also been planned, but after the confusion, they all decided to cancel their appearance.
“We were all just dumbfounded,” Aunty Joy told Nine papers. “We would dearly love to be out there, but they’ve broken our hearts. We want to rebuild our relationship. We want to make them [realise] that this was wrong, hurtful, deceitful and tokenistic.”
Storm chairman Matt Tripp has since come out to attribute the confusion to an internal miscommunication, telling the Herald: “It has disappointed me beyond words.”
“I am acutely aware of the many different cultures and races we have involved in our football club and our supporter base,” Tripp said.
“Like I do with anything within the club, I guard that with my life and I want to protect that at all costs. To have a miscommunication deem us as non-sensitive to Welcome to Country and beyond that, a part of Australian customs, that has upset me greatly.”
He added that the club would “continue to work with Indigenous leaders to make sure there are no miscommunications moving forward, and we look forward to Indigenous round in August”.
On Sunday night, during the fourth and final leaders debate, both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton were asked about the legitimacy of the ceremony.
Albanese said, “We have a great privilege, from my perspective, of sharing this continent with the oldest continuous culture on earth. It’s up to people to determine whether they have a welcome to country or not. But from my perspective, for major events, it is, of course, a sign of respect.”
Dutton countered, saying, “I think at the opening of Parliament, it’s appropriate, and I think at other very signifiant events of that nature, yes. But I do think that the most important thing we can do is provide practical reconciliation.”
“For the start of every meeting at work, or the start of a football game, I think a lot of Australians think it’s overdone, and it cheapens the significance of what it was meant to do. It divides the country.”
Dutton has since doubled down on his rhetoric, saying during a press conference on Monday that the ceremonies should only be conducted at significant events and that he doesn’t consider Anzac Day to be one of those events.
“It’s ultimately a decision for the individual organisers of the events but listening to a lot of veterans in this space, and Anzac Day is about our veterans, it’s about the 103,000 Australians who’ve died in service of our country,” he said. “I think if you’re listening to their sentiment it would be that they don’t want it on that day.”
He added, “I think it is an individual decision for the RSLs.”
Representatives of Returned and Services League bodies have not publicly released a statement in response to the ongoing drama, but noted that on their official website, an Acknowledgement of Country or Welcome is suggested for any Anzac services.
This is not the first time Dutton’s party has taken aim at Welcome to Country ceremonies — earlier this year, Indigenous Australians spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price pledged to cut Commonwealth funding for Welcome to Country ceremonies, which has cost federal departments roughly $550,000 over the last two years.
On Monday night, Albanese told the ABC in an interview that Welcome to Country ceremonies were “uplifting and a matter of good manners”.
“I don’t want to engage in fighting culture wars,” he said. “This is a complete distraction by Peter Dutton, who wants to talk about anything but cost of living.”
Yesterday, the Herald’s federal politics reporter Natassia Chrysanthos spoke to The Morning Edition, saying that the debate about welcome to country has been raised in the past by conservative or right wing senators — many of them towing the same line — that they’re overdone and tokenistic.
“What we saw on Friday [Anzac Day] was this debate being hijacked by the far right,” she explained. “And that is a common tactic in those circles, particularly in Australia, is to kind of latch on to these culture war debates and position themselves as the anti-woke. It is a kind of outward expression of what is a much more right wing ideology.”
On Monday morning, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek told Sunrise: “Anyone who boos anyone on Anzac Day, as that guy did in Melbourne, is just a scumbag.”
She agreed with the Prime Minister’s sentiments, adding, “What [he] said is right, it’s up to individual organisations. But as someone who attends a lot of these events, I really like learning about the history and culture of the area that I’m visiting. And so I’d say I enjoy it and I really, I son’t see any skin off anybody’s nose to show that respect.”
Later that night, she appeared on ABC’s Q+A alongside Liberal MP Paul Fletcher and Greens leader Adam Bandt, when a question from a member of the audience asked the panel how the debate could be resolved “amicably”.
Fletcher reiterated Dutton’s line of argument, saying, “I think a sentiment across many in the community [is] that we are having too many welcome to country ceremonies. And so I think that can tend to reduce their significance.”
Plibersek’s response invited applause from the audience, as she began saying she was “really proud of the fact that we’ve got 65,000 years of history and culture to celebrate in this country.”
She acknowledged that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians have been serving in the country’s Defence Forces since the Boar War, and in every conflict since, mentioning Former Air Force warrant officer and Aboriginal Elder Harry Allie, who delivered the ceremony at Martin Place in Sydney last Friday.
“Acknowledging that on Anzac Day is perfectly appropriate,” Plibersek argued. “And just, by the way, when I travel to other parts of Australia, I love hearing about the history and culture of that place. I enjoy it, and I celebrate it.”
Fletcher countered by saying, “I think it’s a matter for the organisers of events, but I think we need to respect the views of veterans because Anzac Day is about acknowledging the sacrifices that have been made by generations, and particularly servicemen and women. So I think we need to give weight to the views of veterans. I think that’s very important. It is up to any individual organisation.”
Plibersek retorted: “[You are] speaking as though we don’t have Indigenous veterans,” before the Liberal MP made his own counterattack: “That is a real piece of strawman rhetoric, if I may say so.”
“I never suggested that for a second, and I can tell you that the role of Indigenous people in defending Australia over many conflicts has been very significant,” he said. “Nobody’s contesting that for a second.”
Greens leader Adam Bandt interjected, accusing Fletcher’s defence as: “gutter politics from an opposition leader whose campaign is in freewill.”
Image credit: Shutterstock
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