Thousands expected to protest Australia Day

SYDNEY: Tens of thousands of Australians plan to mark Australia Day, today, with mass protests, demanding the date of the national holiday be changed given its links to colonisation and the ill-treatment of indigenous Aborigines.

Australia Day marks the date the British “First Fleet” sailed into Sydney Harbour in 1788 and declared the land unoccupied. Aborigines have occupied the continent for 50 000 years.

Aborigines refer to January 26 as “Invasion Day” and schools and some universities teach both views, as the debate over how to reconcile the country’s past continues.

“We expect at least 10 000 people, twice as many as last year, to call for invasion day to be abolished,” said Aborigine Raymond Weatherall.

Protests will beheld across Australia’s largest cities.

More than half of all Australians support changing the date of the national holiday, a poll by The Australia Institute think tank showed last week. Analysts expect that number to rise as consciousness of the issue continues to increase.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, under pressure from his conservative back bench and populist right-wing politicians, has said he supports celebrating Australia Day on January 26.

The country’s third-largest political party, the Australian Greens, has said it will spearhead a campaign to change the date.

The country’s 700 000 or so indigenous people track near the bottom of its 23 million citizens in almost every economic and social indicator.

Despite millions of dollars of expenditure, the government said last year its plan to improve the lives of its indigenous population was on course for failure.