Former Today Show host Brooke Boney has slammed critics of the Welcome to Country, accusing them of stirring outrage simply to target and marginalise Aboriginal people.
Her comments come after a debate erupted over the practice after a small group of hecklers, including self-described neo-Nazi Jacob Hersant, booed a Welcome to Country at Melbourne’s ANZAC Day dawn service.
Liberal leader Peter Dutton placed himself in the centre of the debate when he described Welcome to Country ceremonies as overused and that they should only happen at very significant events.
When asked whether he would consider Anzac Day significant enough, the Opposition Leader said: ‘No’.
‘Listening to a lot of veterans in the space, Anzac Day is about our veterans,’ Mr Dutton said.
But Boney, a journalist and Gamilaroi woman, said the controversy isn’t just about Welcome to Country – but rather ‘finding something for people to feel angry about, something that involves Aboriginal people’.
‘If, during electoral campaigns, someone has to incite disdain for people who are already suffering the most – by almost any measure – you have to question their perception of the depth of their own potential.
‘Rather than engage with the very real and serious issues we’re facing internationally or domestically, the political discourse has become captivated by Welcome to Country ceremonies.’
Boney also had a message for those who booed the ceremony in the name of the veterans’ wishes, and those who defended criticism of the ceremony on Anzac Day.
‘To then hide behind the idea you’re giving voice to the wishes of the veterans you spoke to is an insult,’ she said in the comment piece.
‘For anyone to push back on what you’re saying, they’d have to deny the wishes of our respected veterans, which none of us want to do.
‘I don’t care if you vote for Labor, the Greens, the independents or Peter Dutton, but at least just be honest about why you’re doing it. Don’t pretend to have moral courage when you’re inciting disdain for those who are the most disadvantaged.’
A Welcome to Country is a traditional ceremony performed by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander elders to formally welcome visitors to their land and to give their blessing for events taking place on it.
While the small ceremonies are intended to be friendly and inclusive, it has proved divisive, with some claiming it is a token gesture and a symbol of woke culture.
During the fourth leaders’ debate on Sunday night, Mr Dutton said ns felt Welcome to Country ceremonies were ‘overdone’.
‘For the start of every meeting at work or the start of a football game, I think a lot of ns think it’s overdone, and it cheapens the significance of what it was meant to do,’ he said.
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price previously said was ‘saturated’ with it, which was ‘removing the sacredness of certain traditional culture and practices’.
‘It’s just become almost like a throwaway line. We don’t want to see all these symbolic gestures. We want to see real action,’ she said.
But Alyawarre woman and co-chair of the Uluru Dialogue, Pat Anderson AO, said that critics are missing the point.
‘Again, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are used as a political football in an outdated and tired match,’ she said.
Ms Anderson also expressed her sadness over the displays of disrespect on the Anzac weekend.
‘A Welcome to Country is an ancient act of generosity and peace,’ she said.