CHANGE THE DATE: Read This If You Want To Know

Why Australia Day Is So Offensive To Aboriginal

People
By Chris Graham on January 26, 2016Aboriginal Affairs

To understand why Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

people find Australia Day so offensive, you only need to
ask yourself this one, simple question.
1.If your ancestors were dispossessed, slaughtered and
had their land and their children stolen, would you
celebrate the date on which that all began?
Obviously, you wouldnt. Its simply insane that anyone
could expect Aboriginal people to embrace January 26 as
the national day, given what it means to them.
2. The most common refrain against this is, Its time to
move on. Heres the problem with that statement.
If you apply the same logic to non-Aboriginal Australia,
then we should stop commemorating Anzac Day. Its time
to move on. The wars were years ago.
Obviously, wed never treat our veterans with so much
disrespect, living or dead. The simple truth is we shouldnt
treat Aboriginal people that way either. If we think its
important to still mark the sacrifice of our ancestors for
something that happened 100 years ago, why would we
expect Aboriginal people to react any differently?
3. Another common refrain directed at Aboriginal people
is: I didnt do it, it was previous generations.
Thats probably true if youre a young Australian, aged
23 or under, then the laws which dispossessed Aboriginal
people were not created by a government in your lifetime
(the Mabo High Court decision, which found Aboriginal
people owned the land prior to invasion, was handed
down in 1992).
But heres the problem: All Australians, regardless of their
age, have directly benefitted from the dispossession of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. You enjoy the
privileges of everything Australia has to offer directly at

the expense of Aboriginal people. Thats something worth

acknowledging.
4.And heres another problem: the policies that flowed
from the arrival of the British are still being enforced on
Aboriginal people today contrary to our claims,
Aboriginal people do not have the same rights as nonAboriginal people (Google NT intervention) in Australia
for example, child removal rates are higher today than at
any point during the Stolen Generations era.
The debate among Aboriginal people to #changethedate
is not a new one its been raging, for a long, long time.
5.Perhaps the most important occasion in recent history
occurred in 2009, after Kevin Rudd came In Opposition,
Labor had promised Aboriginal people if it was elected it
would change the date of Australia Day to one that is
more inclusive. The promise was contained in the ALPs
2007 National Platform, which guaranteed the
implementation of the Roadmap For Reconciliation, a
series of policies produced by the Council for Aboriginal
Reconciliation in 2000.
Rudd won the election, but in the lead-up to Australia
Day, the story broke of his promise. Rudd did what so
many politicians before him have done he lied, and then
back-tracked.
After denying the promise was even made (startling,
given it was freely available to download from the ALP
website) Rudd tried to quell the media storm with this
one-liner: To our Indigenous leaders, and those who call
for a change to our national day, let me say a
simple, respectful, but straightforward no.
It was neither simple, nor respectful. It was a broken
promise, but non-Aboriginal Australians were either
uninterested, or quickly moved on. Every year since, the
debate has still raged (and it raged for many, many years
before as well).
Aboriginal Australia has been asking non-Aboriginal
Australia to consider their feelings on this matter for
generations. Theyve been largely ignored.

Unfortunately, there really is only one way forward if

Australia wants a truly inclusive national date
#changethedate. Until we do, our national day will be
marred by this conversation every year.

Questions:
What is the topic being discussed in this article?
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What is the issue? That means, what question is being answered in this article?
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What is the writer's answer to the question? (This is the writer's contention).
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Each of the following questions matches with one of the paragraphs in the
article above.
1) What persuasive technique does the writer use here? What does it make the
reader think or feel?
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2) The writer says that some people might say to Aboriginals Its time to move on.
To what White Australian tradition does he compare this and how does this persuade
the reader?
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3) Explain what the writer is saying about young people aged 23 and under?
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4) How would Aboriginal people benefit from changing the date of Australia Day?
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5) What did Kevin Rudd lie about?

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