FURORE ASIDE, WE SALUTE HEROES

AUSTRALIA Day 2021 is still three days away, yet is already mired in controversy. Debates about the merits of award recipients and calls to “change the date” now seem almost as traditional as the day itself.

When it emerged this week that Cricket Australia had decided to stop promoting its January 26 games as “Australia Day” matches, Prime Minister Scott Morrison weighed in.

“When those 12 ships turned up in Sydney, all those years ago, it wasn’t a particularly flash day for the people on those vessels either,” he told the press.

“What that day, to this, demonstrates is how far we’ve come as a country, and I think that’s why it’s important to mark it in that way.”

Overlooking the historical inaccuracy — there were 11 (not 12) ships in the First Fleet — the PM was accused of dismissing the concerns of the growing number of Australians who don’t want to celebrate anything on January 26, let alone national pride and unity.

To them, the date represents “Invasion Day”, a reminder of the genocide carried out against the First Australians after the fleet landed.

It’s impossible to compare the atrocities committed against Indigenous people to the hardships endured by the convicts, and it’s certainly not a strong basis on which to defend Australia’s supposed day of national pride and celebration.

The Uluru Statement of 2017 makes the case and sets the course for a meaningful process of reconciliation in Australia.

To understand the Australia/ Invasion Day debate, one needs to study it and consider whether Australia really has reconciled the impact of its colonisation on those who were here first.

Without a treaty or constitutional recognition of their remarkable, 60,000-year heritage on this island, many Indigenous Australians feel disenfranchised by a nation that celebrates its patriotism on the day of their deepest sorrow.

Australia’s Indigenous history should be at the forefront of Australia Day celebrations, but, as every year passes, that seems less possible on January 26.

Meanwhile, honours for Margaret Court (this year), Prince Philip (2015) and Bettina Arndt (2020) have provoked widespread criticism that has further diminished the sense of celebration hoped for on Australia Day.

The real shame in that is that the debate and furore draws attention away from hundreds of community heroes — doctors, emergency service people, educators, volunteers and others — who will be awarded gongs on Tuesday.