A political party with three local candidates for the federal election is calling for the practice of welcoming Australians to their own country to be abandoned.
The Family First Party – which will have Rhys Sanderson (Fairfax), Bronwen Bolitho (Fisher) and Kirsti Kenningale (Wide Bay) as its candidates on the Coast – wants Welcome to Country ceremonies to be scrapped at all Commonwealth events.
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“We should of course be proud of and honour Indigenous Australians and their heritage,” Family First lead Senate candidate for Queensland Katie Lush said.
“But that doesn’t mean public events and plane landings should contain an acknowledgement that citizens don’t have equal standing in this nation.
“Australia’s settlement was not perfect but on balance its people have striven, and continue to strive, to right the wrongs of the past where possible.
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“Australians have created what is now arguably one of the most desirable nations on earth for people of every race who have come here for a better life.
“The only people who need to be welcomed are new Australians who have taken a pledge of loyalty to Australia and its people at a citizenship ceremony, or visitors.”
The issue has been in the spotlight after opposition leader Peter Dutton doubled down on his criticism of the ceremonies, claiming most veterans don’t want them held on ANZAC Day.
Mr Dutton has placed himself in the centre of the debate surrounding the ceremonies after a small group of neo-Nazis heckled during a dawn service in Melbourne.
He described Welcome to Country ceremonies as overused, days after Bunurong-Gunditjmara man Uncle Mark Brown was booed and jeered on ANZAC Day.
“There is a sense across the community that it is overdone,” Mr Dutton said during the final leaders’ debate of the federal election campaign on Sunday night.
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RSL Victoria president Robert Webster previously said the actions of the small group were “completely disrespectful” to the Aboriginal community, veterans and the spirit of ANZAC Day.
The Family First Party, which will have 100 candidates across Australia at the election, has also said, if elected, it will push to make the Classification Review Board family-friendly, after it upheld its decision to allow school children access the book Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe.
