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Conservative politicians stoking Australia Day debate online with paid ads, analysis finds (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

11 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Conservative politicians are dominating Facebook advertising about changing the date of Australia Day, analysis shows.

After Woolworths announced last week that it would no longer stock Australia Day merchandise due to declining demand, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, condemned the move as an “outrage” born from the retailer’s “woke agenda” and said most Australians likely thought the same.

Now several conservative politicians are paying for advertisements on social media platforms lobbying against changing the date.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Every year without fail, there's all this noise about Jan 26th in the two weeks leading up to the date, then the conversation fizzles out again until next year. And then we do it again next year.

What even is the debate? Polls have repeatedly shown that while we absolutely want a day to celebrate the country, we aren't particularly attached to January 26th. There is no real significance to Australia for the date, it's the day the English arrived in Sydney. At best, it could be called "Sydney Day".

We can't have it on Foundation day, that's already a public holiday (yes, the holiday matters to us). Personally, I'd vote for a date in Winter. There's presently a big gap between June and September where we would welcome a public holiday. First Friday in August would work nicely. I like the idea of it always being a Friday because some people already have Mondays off and they miss most of the long long weekend bonuses.

[+] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

But go a day earlier for m8

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This is quite literally the only date that isn’t already a public holiday that I would argue against. It’s such a dumb basis for a holiday. I’d rather have a day chosen at random than be picked because of a bad pun.

While we’re at it, Star Wars Day is 25th May, the anniversary of the original film’s debut in theatres. It’s not "may the fourth be with you".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

Fair call I guess. I don't really care one way or another. But if you wanted to move the existing date rather than making a second it seems like a choice that might prove popular with people who don't want the date to move currently.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Agreed. I don't see how or why "we" are attached to the date. Australia Day was made an official public holiday in 1994, not that long ago in retrospect. So why not change it? (I know the various states and territories were celebrating the day before 1994, but still).

I'd be in favour of having Australia Day always on a Monday or Friday, guarantees a long weekend, and is there anything more Australian than celebrating on a long weekend?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I'm very happy for them to change the date, as long as they don't remove it altogether.

Public holidays give me something to look forward to when I'm feeling burnt out with work.

It should probably be kept in summer because Aussies love a BBQ, but personally I wouldn't mind winter as I love the cold.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I’ve got a few dates I came up with a few years ago around this time:

3 March as the day of commencement of the Australia Act (1986), which saw the last vestiges of Australia's status as a British dominion ended.
3 September as the day Australia adopted the Statute of Westminster with the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942, which removed the United Kingdom's ability to legislate over the Commonwealth of Australia and making Australia truly a legally independent nation in a de jure sense.
9 July as the date the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 became law, enabling the constitution to actually take effect on 1 January 1901.