How Canberra is shifting on Australia Day

This has brought views on the day into sharp contrast, particularly in recent years. And nowhere is it as pronounced as it is in the capital, where nationally broadcast Australia Day ceremonies are held just a couple of hundred metres across the lake from Invasion Day protests.

Canberra sits at an interesting intersection where federal land is the venue for Australia's most significant January 26 events, while senior ministers in the territory's own government outwardly support changing the date.

A recent survey of Canberrans indicates most either don't celebrate or are ambivalent about the day, with an even more stark rejection of the day among the ACT's youth.

Even the federal body that puts on the Australia Day events in Canberra says it has reflected on the day it is "given to work with" and is taking a different approach to its celebrations.

Reconciliation Australia co-chair and Aboriginal Elder Professor Tom Calma says the day has had various meanings for him and the significance of the day changed as he grew older.

"People celebrate it differently, for some, it's just a public holiday and for others its a day of reflection and for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, it's a day of reflection and it's been labelled as a Survival Day or Invasion Day," he says.

"But of course, the other very significant time has been that it is often the day when we welcome new people to Australia through our citizenship ceremonies, which is very important.

"I think we need to look at what we're celebrating and that needs to change."

It's a view that seems to be increasingly reflected by Canberrans.

An ACT government survey, through the YourSay panel, of more than 1700 Canberrans showed most respondents either did not celebrate Australia Day or had neutral feelings about the day.

The survey, taken in July 2022, asked whether Australia Day made them proud to be from Canberra and 34 per cent agreed, 38 per cent were neutral and 28 per cent disagreed.

But only 17 per cent of people aged between 16 to 24 said Australia Day made them proud to be from Canberra and only 24 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds said they were proud of this.

ACT Indigenous Affairs Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith says the territory government recognises there are a broad range of views in the Canberra community about January 26.

"What we've tried to do as a government is to be really respectful in the way we support events that mark Australia Day or the 26th of January but also recognising we do have a role as the nation's capital," she said.

"We have a role as the nation's capital but from our own perspective we'll mark the event in a much more low-key way and put more of our effort into Canberra Day and Reconciliation Day."

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Stephen-Smith believes the date should change and attends Invasion Day rallies, but she feels Australia does need a national day and she feels that will happen if the country becomes a republic.

"The ACT government's approach has been to take a very respectful view, keep our own celebrations low-key, but enable people who do want to take the opportunity to celebrate being part of the Australian community to have they opportunity," she says.

"I think we have been very clear we support a change in date at an appropriate time and with that community consultation."

While Australia Day is a federal holiday, some local councils have stopped hosting citizenship ceremonies.

The move angered the previous federal government and former prime minister Scott Morrison ruled councils had to hold a ceremony on January 26 otherwise they would be stripped of their right to hold citizenship ceremonies.

However, the Labor government overturned this ruling last month, allowing councils to host ceremonies on days around January 26. This is irrelevant for the ACT government as it does not hold ceremonies on the day, with the Canberra ceremony held by the Commonwealth.

But the ACT Greens believe the territory could mark January 26 as a day of mourning.

Greens leader Shane Rattenbury wrote to Chief Minister Andrew Barr in late 2021 proposing the ACT flags and First Nations flags fly at half-mast on January 26 to recognise it was a "day of mourning not celebration". This request was denied as it contravened flag protocol.

As a party, the Greens are against Australia Day and believe the date should be changed. Rattenbury says he and other members of the party attend Invasion Day rallies.

"We do need to reimagine Australia Day, there's no question about that because the 26th of January represented the day Captain Cook landed at Port Botany," Rattenbury says.

"It's not a day that does represent modern Australia. It certainly does not represent the true history of Australia which dates back millennia."

The ACT's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body, a group of First Nations people who advise the ACT government, says it respects an individual's personal thoughts and journey about the day.

The body says the day is a day of learning about each other and to be better informed about the inclusive identity of Australia. It was also a day of mourning.

"As the country evolves and becomes more multicultural, we can use this public holiday to discuss the history of this nation, including the good and bad, and use this as a celebration to show the beauty in the oldest living culture in the world," the body said in a statement.

"Australia day is also a day of mourning, which we call survival day. Mourning of the hundreds of thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that died and had to fight for their land, culture, family, identity and for future generations, in the name of equality and human rights.

"We celebrate our survival with stories, music and dance to share and show we have endured those historical atrocities, and we are here today to show you we are proud peoples, and we have much to share with everyone."

The body was asked whether it had provided advice to the ACT government around how the day should be commemorated.

In the written statement, the body said Australia Day is a Commonwealth-appointed holiday and the ACT government has limited input into how the day is celebrated. The body said it was focused on working in partnership with the ACT government to improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans.

The National Australia Day Council is a government-owned company which organises Australia Day events and manages the Australian of the Year events.

In Canberra this year, the council will host the Australian of the Year awards and will hold a three-day event from January 25 to 28 at Lake Burley Griffin with community markets and a nightly light show.

National Australia Day Council chief executive Karlie Brand says the organisation was approaching the day differently. She says the organisation works with the date they are given.

"The way I see it is the people choose the date. The people choose the government, the government chooses the date and it's the 26^th of January so that's what we've been given to work with," she says.

"I see it is our mantra to help Australians have an opportunity to have an Australia Day that works for them in their current age.

"I think if we look back on how we used to celebrate in the 80s, it may be quite nostalgic but if we look at it from the current context, it's probably not appropriate in how we view society today."

Brand says the organisation promotes the event around three core messages of reflect, respect and celebrate. She says it's important to acknowledge the date is really raw for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

"It's not necessarily a date of joy for many and so I think it's looking at Australia Day differently," she says.

"It's not expecting it to be happy but it's acknowledging our history, it's acknowledging it's raw and it's actually taking an opportunity to understand what that means for our fellow Australians."

Professor Calma, who is the ACT's nominee for Senior Australian of the Year, says the day needs to rebranded. He agrees the day will ultimately change if Australia ever becomes a republic.

"One of the things I have been a long advocate for is that we utilise the 26th of January as a day to recognise all the frontline workers, all the emergency areas to celebrate who we are as modern day Australians and what we do to support each other," he says.

"The day we celebrate us as a nation will come when we become independent, not from the day of the first fleet, when we become a republic and that becomes your foundation."

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