Royal SNUB! Australia’s Labour opposition calls to ABOLISH Queen’s birthday public holiday
AUSTRALIA’s opposition Labour government in New South Wales has called for the Queen’s Birthday public holiday to be replaced by one which celebrates the country’s “60,000 years of Indigenous history”.
Trooping the Colour: The Queen arrives for parade in 2018
NSW opposition leader Luke Foley said he would alter the June public holiday to “honour the First Peoples of the State” if he is elected to Government in the NSW state elections due to be held in March 2019.
He said: “The second Tuesday of June isn’t Her Majesty’s real birthday - the day would be better used as one to acknowledge the First Peoples.
“We must acknowledge the special place the First Peoples occupy in the story of our state and nation.
“NSW should have a public holiday which recognises and celebrates 60,000 years of Indigenous history here.”
The second Tuesday of June isn’t Her Majesty’s real birthday - the day would be better used as one to acknowledge the First Peoples
He added the Aboriginal flag would fly above the Sydney Harbour Bridge throughout the year as a “symbol of respect and pride for the First Peoples”.
Mr Foley’s party would likely wait until the end of the Queen’s reign before formalising the new public holiday, and would consult the local population regarding the precise timing of the change.
The British Royal Family is nevertheless still strongly committed to Australia, and Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall visited the country in April for the opening of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are also due to visit the country, along with Fiji, New Zealand and Tonga, in October for the opening of the Invictus Games.
Shadow Minister for Aboriginal Affairs David Harris said changing the focus of the public holiday would provide the next step towards reconciliation and offer vital recognition of indigenous populations.
He said: “Creating an Indigenous public holiday in NSW is a small step we can take to acknowledge the past but more importantly create a meaningful way forward.
“It’s important for us to build on the existing relationship with the NSW Aboriginal community to empower them to achieve lasting generational change.”
Mr Foley also announced he is committed to negotiating a treaty between the Government and NSW’s Aboriginal population.
The lower house of Victoria’s state Government also voted just last week in favour of negotiating an Aboriginal treaty.
There is growing concern that Australia Day on January 26 is not inclusive of indigenous Australians, but rather acts as a reminder of the day they lost their land and culture through colonisation.
ANTaR website commented on the issue, stating: “Celebrating it ignores the truths of our shared history and is akin to asking Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to celebrate their own invasion and dispossession.
"At the heart of reconciliation is an acceptance of the history of past injustices to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people."