While Day comes around every year with its debates about meaning and whether we can utter its name or not, this year feels different.
Last year, the divisive voice referendum and abhorrent attack in Israel on October 7, 2023 were events still fresh in our minds.
But this Day, we have the lived experience of almost 15 months since those events. That passage of time has shown us many things, one of them being how rapidly we are capable of devolving into entrenched separatism.
Those 15 months are cause for careful reflection this Day.
They demand a serious response from each of us as to what kind of nation we want to be. Because if we’re not content with the ever-deepening schisms that are emerging, we will have to be incredibly intentional about their reversal. One thing that doesn’t help that cause is changing the date of Day.
Changing the date may engender temporary feelings of victory for a small group of people, but again, it fosters a national mindset of tribalism – one group against another. Quite frankly the past 15 months have given us enough of that, its time in our backyard is up.
But further, changing the date simply will not improve the lives of our most marginalised. Not once have I heard a plausible explanation about how it would improve the 20 per cent of the 3 per cent of Indigenous ns who experience the most disadvantage and vulnerability in this country.
Encouraging tribalism and doing nothing to better our marginalised? Not a cause I will get behind, especially not on a day that should remind us of who we are, and the unity that has been such a significant part of our history.
Our mateship and loyalty to each other is woven into our historical identity. ns of all ancestry, including Indigenous ns, fought proudly under one flag to defend and maintain our nation.
Personally, that’s a country I want to see once more.
I want a country that is ready, willing and able to defend itself in the event, God forbid, that we are invaded or attacked by a foreign power.
A country that doesn’t see standing under one flag as a threat to the core of who we are; a country that advocates for and celebrates all its citizens regardless of their racial heritage.
And I make the point about foreign invasion because that eventuality would require unity more than any other. But it would be foolish to think that we would somehow be able to rally as a united collective in defence of our country simply because danger arrives at our door.
It will be too late then. The work of unity happens now.
I used to think that being a united nation like that was something most of us could agree was a noble pursuit. But with the hindsight of the past 15 months, I’m no longer so sure.
The past 15 months have shown that many people are now being guided by emotion above everything else.
In deference to emotions of bitterness and resentment, I fear some would actually prefer to see our nation’s destruction than to be counted equally, shoulder to shoulder with every other citizen.
Perhaps I am wrong about that; I hope I am.
But in the event I am not, I implore us all this Day to act according to something higher than pure emotion. The privilege of belonging to a collective sometimes demands us to put aside the dictates of emotion in favour of the greater good.
I’m not saying we must neglect our emotions, simply that they don’t always point true north and that, ultimately, we must be guided by that which does.
Our success as a prosperous Western democracy is one of those true guiding realities.
For our small contribution to the global population, our success and contributions are remarkable. Let our nation’s success until now, guide us forward before our emotion and reactions take over.
Remember those who united under one flag and fought for the nation we are so privileged to live in today; reflect on the contributions both historical and current of ns to the world; and practise gratitude – for all those things and more, like our magnificent natural backyard, our way of life and liberal democratic values.
Because restoring our national pride and rebuilding our unity depends on each of us. What we do, say and think as individuals matters to the cause. Not just for you or just for me, but for the good of our neighbours and of our friends, for the good of and the world, to its ends.
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is opposition Indigenous affairs spokeswoman.