A Labor MP says Day is ‘transitioning’ after a major pub giant was sledged by Aussies for banning events on the public holiday at over 200 venues.
Daniel Mulino, the MP for Fraser in Victoria, was asked if patrons should boycott businesses that refused to acknowledge the national day on January 26.
Dr Mulino said Day was in a ‘period of transition’ and has become ‘somewhat controversial’ in parts of his community in suburban Melbourne.
‘I think the rule here is that people don’t want to be lectured when they’re going to the pub or going out. But I do think there’s going to be a range of different things people want across the community,’ he told Sky News on Wednesday.
‘I think as a country we are going through a process where different parts of our community are wanting to treat Day differently.’
It comes after Venue Co backtracked on a decision to ban Day celebrations at more than 200 of its bars and clubs following mass outrage.
The Hong-Kong based group issued an apology just hours after the announcement on Monday, insisting all were welcome to attend its venues on the day.
Dr Mulino slammed the pub giant for its ‘ham fisted single rule’ and for not considering its own customer base when it initially axed Day events.
Daily Mail has contacted Dr Mulino’s office for further comment.
The MP’s comments come as n Venue Co remains tight-lipped over whether a 15 per cent surcharge will apply at its bars and clubs on January 26.
n Taxpayers Alliance president Brian Marlow believes that no pub should enforce a surcharge on Day if they have displayed ‘hate’ for the country and expressed no interest in celebrating it.
Mr Marlow added that he couldn’t understand why a lot of pub owners ‘b**** and moan’ about their low revenue but then ‘want to slap people in the face who want to go to the pub on Day’.
n Venue Co in a statement said it ‘sincerely regretted’ the effect of its controversial decision after it sparked a brutal public backlash.
‘We can see that our comments on the weekend have caused both concern and confusion,’ the statement began.
‘We sincerely regret that – our purpose is to reinforce community in our venues, not divide it.
‘It is not for us to tell anyone whether or how to celebrate Day. We acknowledge that and we apologise for our comments. It certainly wasn’t our intention to offend anyone.’
But many outraged Aussies, including conservative commentator Steve Price, it was too little too late.
‘Apology not accepted! When are these finger waving woke corporations going to wake up to the fact we don’t want them to tell us what to do on Day,’ Price fumed on The Project on Monday night.
‘It’s really annoying. They put this out overnight, when they hear the feedback from the public when they said “shut up”, they say “we didn’t mean to offend anyone”. Well, you did offend people!’
n Venue Co owns 200 properties across , including at least 90 in Queensland and another 60 in Victoria.
They include the Bungalow8, Cargo, Kingsley’s Woolloomooloo, and Parkside Hotel in Sydney, as well as the Esplanade Hotel, Prince of Wales, Duke of Wellington and Garden State Hotel in Melbourne.
Also on the company’s books are the Claremont Hotel and Bassendean Hotels in Perth, the Regatta Hotel, Boundary Hotel, and the riverfront Fridays bar in Brisbane and well as the Parkside Hotel and the Colonist in Adelaide.
A long running campaign to abolish Day or change the date has a growing number of Aussies feeling uneasy about our national day of celebration.
Indigenous activists, and many other ns, now regard the day British settlers who first landed in Port Jackson on the First Fleet in 1788 as an event to be mourned, not celebrated.