Duelling Senate motions have called for the date of Australia Day to be changed and for it to remain exactly where it is.
There was heightened debate this year over the date of Australia Day, including campaigns and protest marches calling for it to move from a day that represents the beginning of European colonisation and dispossession for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
A Greens’ motion to change the date failed on Thursday after a division was called in the Senate, while the Coalition senator John Williams’ motion to leave the date unchanged carried on the voices the previous evening.
The motion for change, moved by the Greens senator Rachel Siewert, called for the Senate to acknowledge that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the “first peoples of these lands and waters”, and that 26 January is a day of mourning for many.
It called for state and federal governments to change the date “so that all Australians can participate in celebrating this national day”.
After the vote Siewert said she was disappointed her motion was not supported and that it showed a “disconnect” among senators.
“All sides of parliament, particularly Labor, purport to advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,” she said. “In this instance, they have turned their back on them.
“Moving Australia Day is not hard. True pride in this country is celebrating it on a day where everyone feels welcome. To celebrate it on a day that our first peoples are grieving remains nonsensical and insensitive.”
In a short debate on the motion, the Coalition Senator James McGrath said: “the government’s response is no.”
The Labor senator Katy Gallagher said Labor opposed the motion and “proudly celebrate our national day”.
But she added: “This did not mean forgetting our scars and the opposition understands that for many first Australians this day still carries much sadness, following many long years of injuries and indignities great and small.”
The Greens’ motion followed one from Williams, calling for the exact opposite, on Wednesday night.
He sought to have the Senate note that in 1946 the commonwealth and state governments set the date of 26 January, that award and citizenship ceremonies are held on that date across the country, and that a poll found that 68% of Australians felt positive about the date.
His motion also included mention of “a number of protest marches were conducted which were organised by a group with links to the Greens and the unions”, and that a flag had been set alight. He accused the Greens senator Lee Rhiannon of saying she wanted more people to see the Greens as “radical and anti-establishment”.
The Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, spoke against Williams’ motion, and said Australia Day was “a day of dispossession” and should not be used to celebrate the country’s great history.
Di Natale said burning the Australian flag was not “how you change hearts and minds” and his party did not like it, “but we sure as hell do not believe that people should be locked up for it”.
He added that the government should be wary of citing polls.
Gallagher said the opposition would not support Williams’ motion because it “amounted to a personal attack on individual senators”.
