This is where I’ll leave the blog. Thanks for joining me for the final hours, and enjoy your afternoons. Before I go, a quick check in at Waneroo.
The Perth suburb has today hosted Australia’s largest citizenship ceremony for the fourth year in a row, with 800 residents from 49 countries becoming citizens.
Here’s the Chambers family, who arrived from Wales 10 years ago.
On the right is Waneroo councillor, Hugh Nguyen, attending the citizenship ceremony.
Agam Benipal’s parents, Preet and Harman, moved to Perth from India. They were all at Waneroo’s citizenship ceremony today.
Hottest 100: #40-31
This is the final Hottest 100 update on the blog today. We won’t be counting down the final 30 as the blog is about to close, but you can follow it on triple j’s website and stay tuned for our analysis in the morning
A fairly dude-heavy batch of songs brings us to the top 30 of this year’s poll, with two songs in a row from Brisbane band Dune Rats at #33 and #34, and the second spot for Sticky Fingers, who went on indefinite hiatus in December after a controversial year.
Of the 70 songs so far, only 15 have been performed by bands that feature women or by female solo artists, and seven more have featured women as vocalists. But there are a few more women expected to place higher than usual in the top ten this year.
One of them is self-taught 21-year-old Tash Sultana, who has just made her Hottest 100 debut with Notion at #32. But it’s her track Jungle, built around loop pedals and her powerful voice, which is expected to get her into the top ten. The video has been viewed over 1 million times.
Here’s #40-31:
#40: Kid Cudi – Surfin (Ft. Pharrell Williams)
#39: DMA’s – Step Up The Morphine
#38: Glass Animals – Youth
#37: Flume – Smoke & Retribution (Ft. Vince Staples/Kucka)
#36: Sticky Fingers – Sad Songs
#35: Client Liaison – World of our Love
#34: Dune Rats – Scott Green
#33: Dune Rats – Bullshit
#32: Tash Sultana – Notion
#31: Drake – One Dance (Ft. Wizkid/Kyla)
Updated
This afternoon I sat down in Darwin, on Larrakia land, with Larrakia elder June Mills. She says changing the date is not enough.
“But it is a start of reality.
“If I was going to change the date it would be June the 3rd, which is the day when terra nullius was struck down. That’s a day worth celebrating. Because all the lies we’ve suffered from begin with terra nullius – that this was nobody’s land – which was a doozy.
“To me that’s the day, I know there are a lot of days being put up but to me that’s the day, when we smashed the lie that has been killing our people.”
But Mills recognised there was not majority support for changing the day yet, and said people weren’t going to go along with it until they were educated about Australia’s history and the impact it still had on Indigenous people and communities.
“People don’t know. But we’re only 3% of the population, we can’t do this job. It’s up to the government to really show leadership and sincerity, honesty about the reality of this country and tell the truth, put it in the schools. It’s not going to happen without education.”
Mills said there wouldn’t be enthusiasm about Australia Day from Indigenous people until this happened.
Updated
The newly appointed New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, would like people to not debate changing Australia Day on Australia Day.
Speaking to reporters after police and protesters clashed at the Invasion Day march in Sydney, Berejiklian said the violence was “disappointing”, and that while everyone had a right to protest, Australia Day was about unity.
“I’m so disappointed people couldn’t express themselves in a more appropriate way on such an important day,” she said.
AAP reported Berejiklian said there were 364 other days of the year to debate changing Australia’s national day.
It seems people were not listening, though.
The number of tweets mentioning #ChangeTheDate has grown 850% since 2016.
The number of Tweets using #InvasionDay grew 200% from 2014-2017.
The number of Tweets using #SurvivalDay grew 200% from 2014-2017.
Updated
Belief is a thing you have when you don’t have actual facts.
.@PaulineHansonOz says she believes "true Aboriginals" don't care about changing the date of Australia Day #auspol #qldpol pic.twitter.com/bx9EVN9wZH
— Sarah Elks (@sarahelks) January 26, 2017
If only there were some facts around for Pauline Hanson.
Hottest 100: #50-41
Violent Soho have become the first act to ever get four songs in the first half of the Hottest 100 countdown, and the Amity Affliction are still sitting pretty with three apiece. Safia, Dope Lemon, the Avalanches, DD Dumbo and Frank Ocean each have two. Like a Version has gotten a fairly good look-in so far too, with covers by Paces, Halsey and AB Original making the list.
The Indigenous hip-hop duo of Briggs and Trials, AB Original are expected to feature again later today, tipped for quite a high listing for their Australia Day protest track January 26, featuring Dan Sultan.
Late last year, as pressure mounted on Triple J to move the Hottest 100 to a date that was less divisive and offensive to Indigenous Australia, a Facebook page began circulating encouraging listeners to vote for the track in solidarity. It’ll be interesting to see how high the song places this year.
In other news, this could be one of the most commercially viable Hottest 100s of all time, with Beyoncé, Rihanna, Drake, Guy Sebastian and Kanye West all featuring so far – and a Justin Bieber cover thrown in to boot.
BEYONCE, GUY SEBASTIAN, BIEBER
— COOL MEGA (@coolmega) January 26, 2017
GUYS
THIS IS A GREAT #HOTTEST100
Here’s #50-41 – featuring Paul Kelly’s Hottest 100 comeback, after a break of 16 years.
#50: Gang of Youths – Strange Diseases
#49: Hilltop Hoods – Higher (Ft. James Chatburn)
#48: Kingswood – Creepin
#47: D.D Dumbo – Walrus
#46: Mac Miller – Dang! (Ft. Anderson .Paak)
#45: A.B. Original – Dumb Things (Ft. Paul Kelly/Dan Sultan)
#44: D.D Dumbo – Satan
#43: MØ – Final Song
#42: Broods – Heartlines
#41: The Weeknd – I Feel It Coming (Ft. Daft Punk)
Updated
Good afternoon everyone, this is Helen Davidson checking in to take you through the rest of the afternoon.
I hope you have spent your day well, and if you’ve been somewhere a little out of the ordinary please share your pics on Twitter (@heldavidson).
In the mean time, down on Sydney’s famous Bondi beach, some lifeguards are having official pillow fights, which to be fair makes way less sense than the Darwin Ute Run which Guardian Australia’s Paul Farrell was so rude about earlier today.
And then at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, Rebecca Matthews rugs up.
At the Australian Open in Melbourne people are sportingly patriotic as other people play tennis. Guardian mate Russell Jackson has filed this report on how the tennis is going.
Updated
That’s all from me on the live blog today. Stay with reporter Helen Davidson as she continues our coverage of Australia Day celebrations and protests, and the pointy end of the Hottest 100.
Hottest 100 halftime – the gender count so far
For the past few years, the Hottest 100 has been the springboard for an ongoing debate about gender and Triple J, with women vastly under-represented in the national poll and on the station’s playlist more broadly. In last year’s poll, the only women who made the top 10 were featured vocalists, and only 24 songs were by women – with four of them by Courtney Barnett. In 2014, of the 273 musicians featured in the countdown, only 34 were women.
As Erin Riley pointed out on Twitter and in a subsequent piece for Guardian Australia, in the history of the Hottest 100, more men from St Kevin’s College had won the poll than women.
This year could be different. Although no women featured in the top 10 of the station’s 2016 album poll, women are expected to make a much stronger showing in this year’s Hottest 100, with Amy Shark and Tash Sultana both predicted for the top 5 – and Shark has a chance at the #1 spot.
But we’ve been tallying the women count so far, and of the 50 songs that make up the first half of the poll, only 12 are performed by women artists or bands which feature women, with a further five featuring women vocalists.
Here’s #60-51. For the rest, click on this.
#60: Sofi Tukker – Drinkee
#59: Frank Ocean – Solo
#58: Ali Barter – Girlie Bits
#57: Catfish and the Bottlemen – Twice
#56: Paces – Keeping Score (Ft. Guy Sebastian) (Like A Version)
#55: Rufus – Say a Prayer for me
#54: Blink-182 – Bored To Death
#53: Violent Soho – Blanket
#52: Halsey – Love Yourself (Like A Version)
#51: Sticky Fingers – Outcast At Last
Read Erin Riley’s piece on gender, privilege and the Hottest 100:
Updated
We’ve got a bit more detail to hand about the scuffle between protesters and police at the Sydney Invasion Day march earlier today. The clashes reportedly began after protesters attempted to burn a flag. Police say they tried to extinguish the flames.
Footage shows police officers and protesters shoving each other. Police later arrested a 20-year-old man and took him to Redfern police station, while a police officer and a woman were injured and taken to hospital.
The Sydney Invasion Day rally just turned violent. pic.twitter.com/F66rQIJ292
— Allan Clarke (@AllanJClarke) January 26, 2017
Martin Parkinson, the nation’s most senior public servant, was made a companion of the Order of Australia for eminent service to the community. My colleague Gareth Hutchens has this story on Parkinson, his career, his push to modernise the economy, and his warning that young Australian adults could be the first generation in modern history with living standards below those of their parents.
Reporter Paul Karp has filed this story on deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce’s comments on the Australia Day protests. Joyce said he was tired of people “weeping” about Australia Day when they lived in a nation that was democratic, has free education, basic free health, is well defended, and that looks after its poor.
Joyce had this to say about the protesters:
Today is a day about celebration. I’m just sick of these people who every time they want to make us feel guilty about it. They don’t like Christmas, they don’t like Australia Day, they’re just miserable … and I wish they’d crawl under a rock and hide for a little bit.
Updated
The large Captain Cook statue in Cairns was redecorated for a short time this morning. It comes after a recent proposal by local Indigenous artist, Norman Miller, for a giant boomerang to be constructed and placed in the statue’s hand, according to the Cairns Post.
Iconic Captain Cook statue in Cairns wears a large sign that reads "sorry" #AlwaysWillBe pic.twitter.com/xxItbQkX6E
— NITV (@NITV) January 26, 2017
Updated
At the speakout tent at Yabun festival, Rhoda Roberts – head of Indigenous programming at the Sydney Opera House – introduced Bruce Pascoe, author of Dark Emu: a book that challenges the understanding that precolonial Aboriginal Australians were hunter-gatherers who lived off the land.
Pascoe said this had been taught to suit European settlers’ purposes. Indigenous people’s perspectives were not heard in public discourse, said Roberts, “unless it’s something specific that’s about land rights”.
Asked why his and other Aboriginal people’s viewpoints were not sought on other issues relating to land management, such as climate change, Pascoe said:
“Because it takes a long time to unlearn 220 years of bullshit.
“Because everyone, including me went to school and learned that Aboriginal people were wanderers of the Earth, children of nature ... The reason for that wasn’t because it was true but because the Europeans needed to tell that story, to justify taking the land.”
In Dark Emu, Pascoe writes that precolonial Aboriginal people across Australia were using domesticated plants, sowing, harvesting, irrigating and storing – all of which are inconsistent with the hunter-gatherer tag.
He told the sizeable crowd that the curriculum and the “kind of nonsense” taught in schools had not changed to reflect this new information.
Updated
Hottest 100 catch-up time!
We’re 40 songs in and there’s been a few noteworthy placements so far. Violent Soho have scored three listings, at #93, #73 and #69. So have Australian metalcore act Amity Affliction at #76, #67 and #65 – with the latter following on from Beyoncé’s Hottest 100 debut for Hold Up, making for a particularly abrasive genre transition.
Glass Animals, Safia, Angus Stone’s new project Dope Lemon and the Avalanches have had two entries apiece, with Drake (featuring Rihanna), Kanye West, Radiohead, Empire of the Sun and Frank Ocean also appearing.
Flume has had his first showing at #95 – but it certainly won’t be his last, with the Sydney producer expected by many to win for his track Never Be Like You.
The countdown so far:
#100: Birds of Tokyo – Brace
#99: Drake – Too Good (Ft. Rihanna)
#98: Glass Animals – Season 2 Episode 3
#97: Alex Lahey – You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me
#96: Elk Road – Hanging By A Thread (Ft. Natalie Foster)
#95: Flume – Lose It (Ft. Vic Mensa)
#94: Vallis Alps – Fading
#93: Empire of the Sun – High and Low
#92: Violent Soho – How to Taste
#91: The Avalanches – Subways
#90: Luca Brasi – Anything Near Conviction
#89: Safia – Over You
#88: Childish Gambino – Me and Your Mama
#87: Dope Lemon – Uptown Folks
#86: Bliss N Eso – Dopamine (Ft. Thief)
#85: Safia – My Love Is Gone
#84: Frank Ocean – Pink + White
#83: Tkay Maidza – Simulation
#82: Thundamentals – Think About It (Ft. Peta & The Wolves)
#81: Desiigner – Panda
#80: Banks – Gemini Feed
#79: Radiohead – Burn The Witch
#78: Vera Blue – Settle
#77: Catfish & The Bottlemen – Soundcheck
#76: The Amity Affliction – This Could Be Heartbreak
#75: The Avalanches – Because I’m Me
#74: Camp Cope – Lost: Season One
#73: Violent Soho – No Shade
#72: Kanye West – Famous
#71: Broods – Free
#70: Golden Features – Wolfie (Ft. Julia Stone)
#69: Violent Soho – So Sentimental
#68: L D R U – Next To You (Ft. Savoi)
#67: The Amity Affliction – I Bring The Weather With Me
#66: Beyoncé – Hold Up
#65: The Amity Affliction – All Fucked Up
#64: Maggie Rogers – Alaska
#63: Glass Animals – Life Itself
#62: Dope Lemon – Marinade
#61: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Gamma Knife
Updated
This can only end well.
Updated
The crowds, and the flags, were out in force for Melbourne’s Australia Day parade on Swanston Street. The parade is a warming display of Australia’s cultural diversity. Participants from more than 90 community and cultural groups were involved.
Beyoncé has made her Triple J Hottest 100 debut at #66 with Hold Up, the third single off her game-changing sixth record Lemonade. The visual album, released with an accompanying film of clips, is jam-packed with discourse on race, gender and infidelity, and was lauded by the Guardian as the best album of 2016.
After the Taylor Swift/Hottest 100 furore of 2015, Triple J’s decision to add Beyoncé’s album to high rotation was a controversial one, which led to six songs being up for nomination in this year’s poll.
Triple J listeners are reacting as expected: split right down the middle.
BEYONCE JUST GOT HOLD UP ON THE #HOTTEST100 YESSSSS
— a cool ghost (@wetbreadvevo) January 26, 2017
You know Triple J is dead when Beyonce is in the Hottest 100.
— Cassandra (@cassandra_s_o) January 26, 2017
Hopefully making the #hottest100 is the shot in the arm Beyonce's career needs
— Kris Read (@DesignedToFade) January 26, 2017
Read Observer pop critic Kitty Empire’s review of Lemonade here:
Updated
Our photographer Jonny Weeks is in the Top End, and took these shots of the Darwin ute muster at the Hidden Valley Drag Strip.
We’ve delved into the archives for this one. Here’s one of the earliest mentions in the Observer of the fledgling colony of New South Wales from 22 April 1792. The Observer, sister paper of the Guardian and the world’s oldest Sunday paper, was founded just three years after the settlement in New South Wales.
Here are the tall ships sailing into Sydney Harbour on Thursday.
Updated
Sydney’s Invasion Day march eventually worked its way up Broadway to Victoria Park in Sydney for Yabun festival: the biggest one-day celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures in Australia.
At 2pm, Victoria Park was packed with families and groups of friends enjoying the warm weather, food stalls and music and dance performances. A tent set aside for elders, with seating and refreshments, and another for activities for children, reflected the all-ages environment.
Local organisations such as the Redfern Community Centre and larger bodies such as the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence and Amnesty International were not only represented, but being accessed by festival-goers.
With many people wearing the Aboriginal flag on their person, or T-shirts bearing slogans like “Grand Theft Australia” and “I See Deadly People”, the atmosphere was relaxed but engaged, and political – evidenced nowhere better than at the “speakout tent” of panel discussions.
At 2pm it was packed with people listening to group of elders, one of a number of discussions held throughout the day. One speaker encouraged the crowd, if they wanted to know something, to just ask.
Every Indigenous community had its customs and history, he said, singling out differences between “the saltwater mob and the freshwater mob”.
“One shoe will not fit the other foot … In our culture, you ask the questions, you get the answers.”
The elders tent – complete with refreshments and seating – is in high demand at Yabun festival. Great idea, should be more common at events pic.twitter.com/B0vrpRzYfv
— Elle Hunt (@mlle_elle) January 26, 2017
Weaving lesson at Yabun Festival pic.twitter.com/edyu638EDk
— Elle Hunt (@mlle_elle) January 26, 2017
"Grand Theft Australia" shirts for sale at Yabun Festival pic.twitter.com/Wztn91Q2Gk
— Elle Hunt (@mlle_elle) January 26, 2017
Updated
Speaking of the bizarre, Brisbane’s Story Bridge Hotel surely takes the cake for the oddest Australia Day event. It’s holding cockroach races, for reasons that escape me entirely. The pub’s hotel offers this by way of enticement:
And of course the iconic Cockroach Races! The first race scurries off at 12noon, launching a jam-packed program of 14 races, including a steeple chase. Read our race rules so you can be prepared for this awesome day and take part for your chance at victory. The last race is around 4.30pm and the music and fun continues into the evening.
Fittingly for this elite sporting event, we create dedicated stadium seating and even corporate boxes to watch the races in style!
Updated
One of the more unusual events to take place on Australia Day. Dogs and their owners, including Ashley and her dog Muffin, pictured here, race for glory on stand-up paddleboards at Watsons Bay, Sydney.
Updated
Sydney’s Invasion Day march has again brought a sizeable crowd this year. This shot from Mike Bowers shows the rally heading into Broadway before 2pm.
Shots are also starting to filter in from other Invasion Day marches across the country. Here’s the Brisbane march:
And Canberra:
And the latest images from the huge crowds rallying in Melbourne.
Updated
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been kept busy at the official Australia Day proceedings in Canberra.
Updated
Triple J’s Hottest 100 is 20 tracks in already. Thundamentals, Frank Ocean and Childish Gambino have all made appearances, as has Canberra act Safia, which has songs at number 85 and 89 in the countdown.
#89 @SAFIAmusic - ‘Over You’ #Hottest100 pic.twitter.com/ST15xJYYTj
— triple j (@triplej) January 26, 2017
#85 @SAFIAmusic - ‘My Love Is Gone’ #Hottest100 pic.twitter.com/FRxcgrLTyZ
— triple j (@triplej) January 26, 2017
Updated
There are reports of violence breaking out at the Invasion Day rally in Sydney. This vision shows scuffles between police and protesters.
The Sydney Invasion Day rally just turned violent. pic.twitter.com/F66rQIJ292
— Allan Clarke (@AllanJClarke) January 26, 2017
Several police sprayed the crowd with substance and tackled a young man trying to set the flag on fire pic.twitter.com/0R5PVRI6XA
— Allan Clarke (@AllanJClarke) January 26, 2017
The Invasion Day rally in Melbourne is now winding down. My colleague Calla Wahlquist is using the last of her phone battery to bring us some final vision.
And with that, we're done. 1% on the phone. #InvasionDay @FarrellPF pic.twitter.com/WDoCP3h8EN
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
An inflammatory Geelong Advertiser column, which we highlighted earlier this morning, appears to have been edited.
The Geelong Advertiser has removed the words "just one Aborigine-free day" from Peter Moore's anti #changethedate article. pic.twitter.com/bs1Y4jkWDO
— Alice Workman (@workmanalice) January 26, 2017
This is not a satirical piece. https://t.co/MBxm8RUkHZ pic.twitter.com/TnJeo2lqMP
— Eliza Sum (@ElizaSum) January 25, 2017
Guardian Australia photographer Mike Bowers has filed some more images from the Invasion Day rally in Sydney.
Updated
I’m handing over our continuing live coverage of the protests, honours and events occurring across Australia today to my colleague Chris Knaus.
We’re continuing our live coverage throughout the day with reporters at protests on the ground across the country.
My colleague Paul Karp has just sent through this latest update from Canberra:
The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, has addressed the date of Australia Day at a citizenship ceremony in Brimbank.
There’s a bit of a controversy: should Australia Day be today? Whatever one’s view about the date of Australia Day, I think we can all agree that we should remember our first Australians for whom this day actually carries some sadness.
The people whose ancestors saw the ghost-white strangers perform their strange rituals and raise their curious flag not knowing, on that Australia Day in 1788, what that moment would foretell to the first Australians: disease, dispossession and all too often death.
Too many long years of injuries and indignities, great and small.
So today, on Australia Day we honour them – and every day – the guardians of this ancient continent, the keepers of the world’s oldest living culture, our first Australians.
Updated
My colleague Calla Wahlquist has been reporting from the Melbourne Invasion Day protests. Here are a few more of her updates from the event.
"We are here! We have survived! We are resilient!" Wongatha/Yamatji/Noongar/Gija woman takes the mic #InvasionDay #InvasionDayMelbourne pic.twitter.com/gGaDPqsRQE
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
"The history books that I was reading when I was growing up, and I am only 29, glorified Capt Cook. There was 1 paragraph on Aboriginal ppl"
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
"Don't get angry here, mob. I know you are angry..it is not our desire to cause further division but it (we won't) keep lying." #InvasionDay pic.twitter.com/LyZxzRXPWF
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
"Do not make #AustraliaDay on a day of mass slaughter of our people. It is about respect." #InvasionDay #InvasionDayMelbourne
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
Updated
Here are a couple more updates from the Invasion Day march in Sydney, which has reached the city.
here in Sydney the #invasionday march enters the city pic.twitter.com/kY60YOwJae
— Naaman Zhou (@naamanzhou) January 26, 2017
Thousands of people are marching through the streets of Sydney. #InvasionDay pic.twitter.com/s3jf1g2AE6
— Allan Clarke (@AllanJClarke) January 26, 2017
Updated
Sydney Festival's first Indigenous artistic director speaks out about Australia Day
Sydney’s 26 January events fall at the tail-end of Sydney festival this year – and for the first time in its history, the festival is helmed by an Indigenous artistic director, Wesley Enoch.
Although a member of the NSW Australia Day council, Enoch is outspoken about the date of the national day – at least as we now experience it. “The date is contentious and needs to change,” he told Guardian Australia on Wednesday. “[It’s] an insult, an irritation, a celebration of colonialism … but this year, the date hasn’t changed – so what are you going to do?”
Enoch’s response has been to weave new rituals into Sydney’s Australia Day programming, including Baraya: Sing Up Country – a new song in Darug and Eora local languages, which was taught to the public and performed at the WugulOra ceremony at Barangaroo this morning.
We talk about commemorating Anzac Day, not celebrating it … whereas Australia Day still seems to be about fireworks, draping yourself in the flag, parking a warship in Sydney Harbour – a whole range of things that are somehow without ceremony. And that’s what annoys me more than anything else: that [most of us] don’t actually know what the day means.
Holding a national day on 26 January presents a unique opportunity for discourse and discussion which, up until now “really hasn’t been taken up”, he says – and moving it could risk losing that platform. “In 100 years from now, if we move it, do we stop talking about our colonial history? The date is such an irritation and an annoyance to me personally, but what it does is make me talk about it.”
He’s not the only one. Each year the issue of how we mark 26 January seems to arise with more force and volume than the year before, and Enoch points to the example of Fremantle council’s attempt to move the date of its citizenship ceremony to show that things could be changing.
“There might come a point where we actually surprise ourselves, and are able to transform this day,” Enoch says, illustrating his point with a story by the Indigenous writer Ambelin Kwaymullina:
There’s the story of the crow that drinks from the waterhole. The crow goes to the waterhole, and the water levels are too low. And he picks up one stone and drops it in, and the water level rises a little bit. Every time the crow drops a stone in, the water level rises and rises, until eventually you can drink. This is that story.
After a decade or two decades or even more of discussion, [the issue of Australia Day] has got such a public airing that maybe change is possible. Who knows?
Updated
The world champion Australian surfer Mick Fanning is one of the many Australians appointed to the Order of Australia this year. Here’s how he reacted when he heard the news.
Updated
Every year on Australia Day the great city of Darwin has a “ute run”. I don’t really understand why they do this, but here are some photos of large cars driving around Darwin if you’re into that sort of thing.
Darwin Ute Run kicks off pic.twitter.com/Qv1j6upwjX
— Helen Davidson (@heldavidson) January 26, 2017
Personal favourite entry in the Darwin Ute Run pic.twitter.com/9UUm9aslyt
— Helen Davidson (@heldavidson) January 26, 2017
Personally, if I had the day off I would prefer to go see La La Land than ogle utes but maybe that’s just me.
And more now from my colleague Calla Wahlquist, who is on the ground at the Invasion Day rally in Melbourne.
This is Flinders St right now. #InvasionDay #InvasionDayMelbourne @FarrellPF pic.twitter.com/ZSjS4il6Id
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
Updated
Here’s a video of the prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Australia Day video message:
Back on to the subject of music, and some Australian artists have come together to make a call to change the date of Australia Day in their own way.
My colleague Steph Harmon has this take on the musical collaboration between 12 Australian hip-hop artists:
Twelve Australian hip-hop artists have collaborated on a new track calling for Australia Day to be moved, and released it with a 360-degree video in partnership with the Indigenous TV channel NITV.
The track – which features the Herd’s Ozi Batla and Urthboy, L-Fresh the Lion, Hau of Koolism as well as the Indigenous hip-hop artists Kaylah Truth, Nooky, Birdz (Nathan Bird) and Tasman Keith, alongside Tuka and Jeswon of Thundamentals and Erica and Sally of Coda Conduct – gives voice to a growing campaign to move Australia Day from 26 January.
Updated
The Invasion Day march in Sydney is beginning to move from the Block in Redfern through to Hyde Park.
Sydney #InvasionDay massive. Tragic, inspiring stories. Best place to be on this day of stigma. pic.twitter.com/7cmrsmPPTM
— Senator Lee Rhiannon (@leerhiannon) January 26, 2017
Ahmed and Lydia and their son Noah have been invited to speak at the #invasionday march pic.twitter.com/e4kWSdRSKI
— Naaman Zhou (@naamanzhou) January 26, 2017
Updated
My colleague Paul Karp in Canberra has just sent through this short update from Malcolm Turnbull on the possibility of moving Australia Day:
The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has commented on proposals to move Australia Day from 26 January at an Australia Day barbecue with Zed Seselja in Canberra.
“I believe we should maintain the date,” he said. “Everyone is entitled to a point of view but I think most Australians accept January 26 as Australia Day.
“It is a day where we celebrate the rich diversity of all of our cultures from that from our first Australians as we saw, with Tina’s beautiful welcome to country on behalf of her people, the Ngunnawal people of this region here in the Canberra area, and to the new citizens, migrants who come from such diverse range of countries.”
Updated
Triple J hottest 100 countdown begins
For the music lovers out there the Triple J Hottest 100 has just kicked off.
Birds of Tokyo, Drake and Glass Animals have started the countdown, which will descend from 100 to one as the day goes on.
#98 @glassanimals - ‘Season 2 Episode 3’ #Hottest100 pic.twitter.com/9XrGbFTbxj
— triple j (@triplej) January 26, 2017
#99 @drake - ‘Too Good’ {Ft. @rihanna} #Hottest100 pic.twitter.com/3BLQu6k4Kx
— triple j (@triplej) January 26, 2017
#100 @birdsoftokyo - ‘Brace’ #Hottest100 pic.twitter.com/wDCOa26IbI
— triple j (@triplej) January 26, 2017
Listen in on the ABC here.
Updated
#InvasionDay #InvasionDayMelbourne pic.twitter.com/B9C9XFjAAC
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
Thanks for following along with our coverage of 26 January so far. I’m handing over to my colleague Paul Farrell now – you can share with him your views and news at @FarrellPF on Twitter.
Paul Daley writes of the calls to change the date:
If Australia Day is genuinely intended as a day of national unity and pride, then it must be so as a result of a process of truth and conciliation. We are not there yet. Not nearly. We won’t be until sovereignty is settled with treaties.
So, for the time being it remains a divisive and divided day – Invasion Day for an increasingly growing multitude of black and white Australians, a moment of profound, often ostentatious, sometimes aggressive, exclusive, nationalism for others.
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The Melbourne march has stopped at the corner of Bourke and Exhibition streets in Melbourne.
The march has stopped at Bourke x Exhibition. #InvasionDay #InvasionDayMelbourne pic.twitter.com/fjB1oxQpkF
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
It's currently stretched across two city blocks. On Bourke, crossing Russell. #InvasionDay #InvasionDayMelbourne pic.twitter.com/EQ6a7OXG9B
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
In Sydney, protesters are hearing from speakers.
"Australia day to me, signifies survival and the start of the war," says Laura Lyons #InvasionDay pic.twitter.com/lRjR2VqK0o
— Naaman Zhou (@naamanzhou) January 26, 2017
"Join our fight" - #invasionday #AustraliaDay pic.twitter.com/1liowP8dZB
— Allan Clarke (@AllanJClarke) January 26, 2017
A Muslim Australian family have also shown solidarity.
A Muslim family pledge their solidarity to the Aboriginal community in the fight over past injustices. "We will walk with you" #InvasionDay pic.twitter.com/AmHAdMj2Y7
— Allan Clarke (@AllanJClarke) January 26, 2017
"Australian Muslims acknowledge the ongoing struggle for justice that this country's First Nations people face". #invasionday pic.twitter.com/uFuoOHByZu
— Naaman Zhou (@naamanzhou) January 26, 2017
Ahmed and Lydia and their son Noah have been invited to speak at the #invasionday march pic.twitter.com/e4kWSdRSKI
— Naaman Zhou (@naamanzhou) January 26, 2017
A pairing of headlines on the Age makes a neat point about Australia Day, says writer Marcia Langton on Twitter.
The huge significance of #OrstrayaDay headline: Where to buy alcohol today; Youth escape from detention centre pic.twitter.com/VLUhhWBW81
— Marcia Langton (@marcialangton) January 25, 2017
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The Indigenous Social Justice Association’s banner at the Invasion Day rally in Sydney: “If I were to die in police custody, know this … I did not commit suicide.”
Black Lives Matter pic.twitter.com/eS3Jvjj69x
— Doc Tone Lock (@tloughland) January 26, 2017
Deaths of Indigenous people in custody have been under scrutiny owing to the coronial inquiry into the death of Ms Dhu. The findings, handed down in mid-December, stopped short of apportioning blame but chastised “unprofessional and inhumane” treatment of police officers and failures of key medical staff.
Days later, ISJA in Sydney staged a protest to call for a similar investigation into the death of David Dungay Jr, who died while being treated for a medical condition at Long Bay prison a year ago.
On New Year’s Day the former Indigenous affairs minister Robert Tickner used the release of the 1992-93 cabinet documents to urge leaders to “command the authority of the nation” to improve Indigenous incarceration rates.
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Guardian Australia’s photographer-at-large Mike Bowers has filed these photographs from the Invasion Day rally at Redfern.
In Melbourne, protesters are now hearing from speakers. This is Uncle Howard Talgium “Coc” Edwards – his shirt says “Straight Outta Kulin”.
Uncle Howard Talgium "Coc" Edwards speaking now. "One day we will overcome." #InvasionDay #InvasionDayMelbourne pic.twitter.com/Fi2xjjzUrG
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
Last speaker is 16yo Arethra Brown. #InvasionDay pic.twitter.com/wflvlwRmhf
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
My colleague Gareth Hutchens of Guardian Australia’s Canberra bureau is at a citizenship ceremony.
Malcolm Turnbull addressing the Australia Day ceremony in Canberra. "My family's migrant story, like all of yours, has many chapters" pic.twitter.com/up3VzlRWIG
— Gareth Hutchens (@grhutchens) January 25, 2017
This new citizen’s migrant story is more of an article (50).
At citizenship ceremony in Canberra, a British lady, who's just bcome an Australian, was asked why she wanted c'ship: "Um, Brexit actually."
— Gareth Hutchens (@grhutchens) January 26, 2017
The federal government defended the importance of citizenship ceremonies to Australia Day celebrations in its row with Fremantle over its plans to hold them at a later date.
You may recall that the assistant immigration minister, Alex Hawke, blocked the planned ceremony on 28 January, saying that it would be in breach of rules that require ceremonies to be “non-commercial, apolitical, bipartisan and secular”.
The Guardian Australia columnist Ranjana Srivastava is among the Australia Day honours recipients today. Here she writes with typical thoughtfulness and empathy about what it means to be made a member of the Order of Australia.
If I were to name the two most significant things that happened to me as an Australian, they would have to be the twin blessings of universal education and universal healthcare. Together, they have shaped who I am, how I think, and what I do.
How does one repay a country for improving one’s life and one’s chances and therefore the opportunity to make things better for the next generation?
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Crowds gather at the Block in Redfern for Invasion Day march
It’s all happening at the Block in Redfern, Sydney, ahead of the Invasion Day march to Hyde Park.
People streaming into Redfern to join the #InvasionDay march. #AustraliaDay pic.twitter.com/1aA1Q1MvDF
— Allan Clarke (@AllanJClarke) January 26, 2017
Quite a sizeable crowd has gathered in Melbourne – check out that sign in the foreground of Calla’s picture: “No Hate, Let’s Change The Date”.
Big crowd gathered now for the Melbourne March. #InvasionDay @mlle_elle pic.twitter.com/0JCYtebDuq
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
More videos from the #InvasionDayMelbourne rally crowd. #InvasionDay @mlle_elle pic.twitter.com/f0QOSS65aR
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 26, 2017
The increasing momentum of the campaign to change the date leaves brands, which love to get involved with public holidays, in a difficult position. Embrace the day and be accused of dismissing Australia’s violent, colonial past – or resist and risk alienating the mainstream.
Google, for example, has chosen to go apolitical for its Australia Day Doodle (the name given to the topical iteration of its homepage logo). Today it’s pointing to, simply, the Great Barrier Reef: “Australia’s big blue backyard and treasured natural World Heritage Site”.
“Today holds different meanings for Australians around the country. For some it’s a celebration, for others it’s a time of sombre reflection – and for many it’s just another sticky summer’s day. As the world’s only island continent, what binds us together – physically and culturally – is the ocean.”
Last year’s Australia Day graphic was by a teenage Indigenous artist and showed members of the stolen generations. Today, Google is pointing to its 360-degree, interactive image of the Great Barrier Reef on Streetview.
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My colleague in Melbourne, Melissa Davey, spoke to Nathan Bird, at the Invasion Day march with 18-month-old Djali Gadsden-Bird.
“For me, as an Aboriginal person, it marks the anniversary of invasion. There’s nothing to celebrate for me. It’s more of a day to acknowledge the past and its continuing impact today. How are we celebrating as a country when there is so much injustice?”
Nathan Bird and 18-month old Djali Gadsden-Bird are about to take part in the Invasion Day march in Melbourne. pic.twitter.com/SPoajM5elm
— Melissa Davey (@MelissaLDavey) January 26, 2017
If you can’t make it along to a protest today, Amnesty International’s list of 10 ways to stand with Indigenous people this Survival Day may present other ways in which you can stand with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on what is, for many, a day of mourning.
One is sharing Stan Grant’s IQ2 speech that went viral last year:
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Marches protesting Invasion Day are about to get under way in Sydney, Melbourne and elsewhere around Australia. Let me know if you’re there – I’m on Twitter at @mlle_elle.
Here’s Calla Wahlquist’s shot of the Melbourne demonstration, ready to go.
Melbourne's official #AustraliaDay parade is all queued up and ready to go. Swanston St closed Lonsdale-Domain. @mlle_elle pic.twitter.com/zmlF4kwNKP
— Calla Wahlquist (@callapilla) January 25, 2017
The Australian Monarchist League has issued a statement calling for those burning, or planning to burn, the Australian flag today to be punished “with the full force of the [fire ban] law”.
It is understood that certain radicals propose burning the Australian flag on Australia Day to make some sort of point.
In many countries it is an offence to burn their national flag as it should be in this country. If people don’t like the flag and what it stands for, then they should peacefully agitate for a referendum to change it, not break the law by burning it.
(As a New Zealand citizen who endured not one but two referendums on changing the flag, and still ended up with the same one, I personally don’t recommend it.)
The Australian Monarchist League says it has written to the police and the justice minister, Troy Grant, to urge that any flag-burners are punished with “full force” under laws surrounding fire bans.
Australia Day is an occasion for all people to celebrate Australia as a wonderful land with an envious lifestyle that we are all, whether rich or poor, fortunate to enjoy.
We at Guardian Australia are unaware of anyone with intentions to burn the flag today; let us know if you know something we don’t.
Meanwhile, in Geelong: Peter Moore, a columnist for the Advertiser, has suggested that “there is nothing to be ashamed about” putting 26 January as “the birth of a nation”.
I won’t reproduce it here but he has also drafted a letter for the Queen to read out, apologising “for endowing your country [Australia] with the most sustainable form of democracy on the planet”.
This is not a satirical piece. https://t.co/MBxm8RUkHZ pic.twitter.com/TnJeo2lqMP
— Eliza Sum (@ElizaSum) January 25, 2017
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A new record has been set for votes in Triple J’s Hottest 100, a fixture of Australia Day celebrations. This year, 2,255,110 votes were cast – up 7.6% on last year.
Sixty-six Australian songs have made the list, says Triple J – also a record. Altogether, songs from 13 countries (including featured artists) make an appearance.
Twenty-three artists appear on the list for the first time.
The countdown gets under way from noon in New South Wales. As Calla mentioned, Guardian Australia’s culture editor, Steph Harmon, has put together crib notes for those who haven’t been keeping up with the charts (the tl;dr: Flume).
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As we’ve reported elsewhere, Alan Mackay-Sim was announced as the 2017 Australian of the Year last night. After accepting the award from the prime minister, the biomolecular scientist said a long-term, bipartisan plan for science funding was a priority.
Consistent with increasing pressure to #changethedate, last night’s televised awards ceremony in Canberra was not without its political moments.
The performer Kira Puru drew attention on social media for her “Change the D8” choker necklace. She later tweeted that it was designed by the Melbourne artist Madeleine Dawes.
S/o to Melb artist #MadeleineDawes for this collab on my #ausoftheyear awards performance choker. #changethedate pic.twitter.com/5uPKv718v9
— Kira Puru (@kirapuru) January 25, 2017
Puru appeared on stage with the Australian rapper Urthboy, who wore a T-shirt with an Aboriginal flag that read “Australia has a black history”.
The pair performed Icehouse’s Great Southern Land, arguably the greatest Australian song of all time (tell me I’m wrong in the comments!), and You’re the Voice by John Farnham (overrated; again, @ me).
"You are not Australian because you were born in Australia. You are Australian because Australia was born in you." Urthboy & friends #AOTY pic.twitter.com/BpL19JsmeC
— Karen Middleton (@KarenMMiddleton) January 25, 2017
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Julia Gillard has been made a companion of the Order of Australia in today’s crop of honours. It’s the highest bestowed on Australians since Malcolm Turnbull scrapped Tony Abbott’s knights and dames (remember that brouhaha?).
The former prime minister received the honour for “eminent service to the parliament of Australia” as well as her feminist leadership and action on gender equality.
She told Guardian Australia’s Gabrielle Chan that she was most proud of the Gonski school reforms. Read the full interview here.
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Good morning, and thanks for joining us for our rolling coverage of 26 January.
I’m taking up the live blog from Sydney, where a smoking ceremony and welcome to country have been held at Barangaroo Reserve.
Dancers are transporting the flame for the smoking ceremony from the shore to the lawns at Barangaroo #AustraliaDay @abcnews @BreakfastNews pic.twitter.com/e4VbEivdh8
— Jade Macmillan (@JadeMacmillan1) January 25, 2017
Invasion Day protesters will soon be gathering at the Block in Redfern before a march to Hyde Park. My colleague Calla will be heading down to another demonstration in Melbourne and filing updates from there.
You can find out about demonstrations in your city here – and do let us know of any we’ve missed.
As Calla’s already noted this morning, there are growing calls to #changethedate and it’s the Guardian view that 26 January is not an appropriate day to hold a national celebration.
For now, Australia Day continues to be celebrated in a number of different ways and today’s coverage will reflect that. Let me know below the line how you’re marking the occasion and how you’d like to see it commemorated in future.
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I’m going to hand over to Elle Hunt now but, if you see me at the Invasion Day march in Melbourne, please come over and tell me why you’re marching (your mug might make a guest appearance on this blog).
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The Nationals leader, Barnaby Joyce, has weighed in on the #ChangeTheDate campaign, calling it, you guessed it, political correctness gone mad.
“Today is a day about celebration,” Joyce told 2GB radio on Thursday, The Australian reported.
‘I’m just sick of these people who every time they want to make us feel guilty about it. They don’t like Christmas, they don’t like Australia Day, they’re just miserable … and I wish they’d crawl under a rock and hide for a little bit.’
Noted.
Updated
If you’re looking for something to read to inform your knowledge of 26 January, whichever side of the debate you sit on, BuzzFeed’s Allan Clarke has written a long read on the founding of New South Wales.
The article is interwoven with perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people today, shown in this video.
It features people such as Bjorn Stuart, a Kuku Yalanji and Wemba Wemba man, who says:
It’s like somebody that comes into your house, does horrible things to your family and they’re like, ‘Dude, we’re going to have a party and have a barbecue and listen to Triple J and we’re going to put it on the date we turned up.’ That’s kinda sadistic, man. Why would you do that?
Updated
The Naidoc (National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee) person of the year, Chris Sarra, has written a blog post about Australia Day suggesting that 2 June, the date in 1992 when the high court recognised native title in the Mabo decision, might be a good alternative to 26 January.
But he says that he does not want to make non-Indigenous Australians feel guilty about celebrating today.
He writes:
In spite of my misgivings, continue to enjoy your celebrations. As I sincerely respect your enthusiasm for Australia Day and the Aussie flag, which many Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, fought wars together under, I’d hope that you are mindful and respectful that those same symbols invoke some cruel and unkind reflections for many others, in particular, Indigenous Australians. This is not an ideal circumstance I know but I cannot be forced to like and be enthusiastic about something I just can’t get excited about. A truly ideal circumstance would be in finding a date that symbolises and celebrates the nationhood of Australia in a way that excites both you and me together.
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The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, was asked in Brisbane yesterday whether he thought the date of Australia Day should change.
This was his response:
Well, Australia Day is on January 26. That’s the day I’ll be celebrating and that’s the day millions of Australians will be celebrating.
Nice curve, Bill.
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If you would like a painful reminder that you are not as cool as you think you are, you can also while away the hours until the countdown starts at 12pm by taking Nick Evershed’s evil and insanely hard Hottest 100 quiz.
take the most INSANE hottest 100 quiz EVER https://t.co/r6uy927i5C
— Nick Evershed (@NickEvershed) January 25, 2017
Thanks, Nick. I got almost everything wrong but at least I can still remember the top five from 2001.
Updated
According to Guardian Australia’s culture editor, Steph Harmon, the top spot in the Hottest 100 is likely to be taken out by Sydney artist Flume for his track Never Be Like You, featuring the Canadian singer Kai.
Steph has put together a list of Australian artists who you might not know but who are likely to make the countdown.
Updated
Speaking of Briggs, he and Trials (Funkoars MC/producer Daniel Rankine) joined forces last year to form AB Original.
Their first single was January 26, featuring Dan Sultan. There was a campaign to make it No 1 on the Hottest 100 this year but, as Briggs told comedian Wil Anderson on his Wilosophy podcast, he doesn’t listen to the countdown because it takes place on Invasion Day.
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Prominent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have shared their views on 26 January on Twitter.
Cleverman creator Ryan Griffen:
This what our country looks like. Note the black dots that represent recorded massacres of Aboriginal people. #ChangetheDate pic.twitter.com/WWj24TIZiz
— Ryan Griffen (@RyanJGriffen) January 25, 2017
What's to celebrate? #ChangetheDate pic.twitter.com/HZXrJ10pbU
— Ryan Griffen (@RyanJGriffen) January 25, 2017
NITV presenter Nathan Appo:
#changethedate means more to me than you will ever know.
— Nathan Appo (@Elusive_Sausage) January 25, 2017
Let's have the discussion,
Let's move forward together,
Let's celebrate together. pic.twitter.com/v5rELuu2Wl
Marngrook presenter Leila Gurruwiwi:
I pay my respect to the traditional owners.
— Leila Gurruwiwi (@alielmg88) January 25, 2017
I'm also thankful for the friends I have from different cultures. #SurvivalDay pic.twitter.com/U3hWHCUhHC
Rapper Briggs (whose song January 26 will probably be on high rotation today):
Here we fkn go.
— BRIGGS AKA BIG SIGH (@BriggsGE) January 25, 2017
Hungry for Flags?
— BRIGGS AKA BIG SIGH (@BriggsGE) January 25, 2017
Lest we forget. pic.twitter.com/7jmwjXRxW3
— BRIGGS AKA BIG SIGH (@BriggsGE) January 25, 2017
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This is the section of the Australian citizenship ceremonies code that Ben Morton was talking about when he described Fremantle’s proposal as “political”.
Citizenship ceremonies are non-commercial, apolitical, bipartisan and secular. They must not be used as forums for political, partisan or religious expression or for the distribution of material which could be perceived to be of a commercial, political or religious nature.
The code is quite long and incredibly detailed. It is available here.
Updated
‘Gesture politics, identity politics’
Ben Morton, the Western Australian Liberal MP who prompted the assistant immigration minister, Alex Hawke, to ban Fremantle council from moving its citizenship ceremony from 26 January to 28 January, has spoken to Triple J’s Hack about why he thinks the date shouldn’t change.
Morton said talk of changing the date “creates division”.
I want to reconcile Australia and I think Fremantle council’s position will take us further away from this.
He added:
We focus too much on things that are … gesture politics, identity politics.
Hack’s host, Tom Tilley, responded that, to some, the date of 26 January was already divisive, to which Morton replied: “I don’t think it needs to be,” saying it could be made a day that celebrates both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the arrival of the first fleet.
Easy for a white guy to say, Tilley pointed out.
Morton objected:
I’m going to liken that to saying that when we’re thinking about violence against women that men can’t be part of the conversation. I think that’s absurd.
(Points here for Tilley for pointing out that Morton had not been excluded from the conversation, he had been invited on to national radio to talk about it.)
Next Tilley spoke to the New South Wales Labor MP Linda Burney, the first Aboriginal woman elected to the lower house of the Australian parliament.
Burney said she believed the date should change, because 26 January would never become a day Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people would celebrate.
She added:
But when I say that I also say that I can’t see the date changing.
It has to be a decision taken by the whole country and I just don’t see the whole country deciding to change the date.
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List of Invasion Day marches
If you do object to celebrating Australia Day on 26 January, and choose to spend the day protesting, here are a list of the major events:
Sydney: Marchers will gather outside Redfern community centre at 10am before marching to the southern end of Hyde Park about 11am.
Melbourne: A march will leave from the state parliament of Victoria at 11am and proceed through the city, down Bourke and Swanston streets before stopping outside Federation Square. As always, it will bump into the official Australia Day parade, which walks up Swanston Street from 11am to 12pm.
Brisbane: The Invasion Day march will begin at 10am at Parliament House in Brisbane. After a few speeches, it will head to Musgrave Park for a smoking ceremony and live music.
Perth: Perth mob will hold an Invasion Day rally from 1pm, meeting at the Birak concert in the supreme court gardens.
Adelaide: The Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance has planned an event for 6pm in Elder Park, coinciding with the city council’s Australia Day parade. Latoya Aroha Rule, whose brother Wayne “Fella” Morrison died in custody last year, is raising donations to shave her head at the event.
Hobart: The march will leave the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre at 11.20am to get to a rally on the Parliament House lawns at 11.50am. Speeches and entertainment are scheduled for 12pm.
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Macca is on board, Morrison is not
The treasurer, Scott Morrison, has told the ABC’s AM he opposes the push to change the date of Australia Day.
He recognised that Australian stories “go back well beyond the time the first fleet arrived in Australia” but insisted that “all Australians, I think, can embrace all of our stories”.
“That doesn’t mean we have to deny any parts of our heritage … whether it’s our colonial heritage, our settlement history, our deep and long Indigenous history, our postwar migration with refugees coming to Australia.
“Today is our day and it’s a day to celebrate all of the things Australians have been able to contribute over all of that period of time.”
Asked about Indigenous Australians who can’t celebrate the day marking the arrival of the first fleet, Morrison provided by way of counter-example that in his electorate Captain Cook’s arrival at Botany Bay was celebrated as a “day of reconciliation” and “a meeting of two cultures”.
“That was a time of two cultures, reluctantly or on purpose, coming together and much has happened since then,” he said.
“I take a much more optimistic view on these types of things, I’m a keen proponent of reconciliation. And I think reconciliation comes from all Australians combining together and celebrating all of our stories but also acknowledging all the things we have to learn from as well.”
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If you’re at home waiting for the Hottest 100 to start, it’s worth tuning into Triple J early to listen to a special episode of Hack examining the meaning of 26 January and the push to change the date. That’s on now, until 8.45am.
It’s part of the youth broadcaster’s response to criticism around its decision to continue holding the Hottest 100 countdown on a day that is hurtful to many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
In September Triple J executives said it would consider moving the date of the countdown after this year. (We could hear an announcement on that today.)
Updated
The former Howard and Abbott government minister Ian Macfarlane has come out in favour of moving the date of Australia Day.
Macfarlane told Radio National that he had reflected on the question when Triple J considered moving the hottest 100 countdown and Fremantle attempted to move its citizenship ceremony to 28 January.
“I had a bit of a thought about what it would’ve been like if we were in the United Kingdom and I was being asked to celebrate on the day the Vikings raped and pillaged Arrochar, my father’s homeland; or the day my mother’s forebears were cut in half by English grapeshot at Culloden and then hunted down with their families and murdered.
“I got the meaning of this and I thought to myself this issue is not going to go away, it’s only going to continue to divide us … Every Australian has to be able to celebrate on its national day, so it’s going to have to be moved.”
Macfarlane said the controversy dividing Australians was “exactly the opposite” of what should occur on Australia’s national day and the sooner it was moved the sooner Australia could focus on Indigenous disadvantage.
He proposed that 1 March become the new Australia Day because it is still (almost) in summer “so we can celebrate in the great Australian outdoor tradition” and marks the day when commonwealth government began to function.
“The first of March is a day that doesn’t, to my knowledge, cause any offence to anyone and it’s a date we could all unite around, we can all celebrate, we can all be proud of our achievements.”
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Change the date?
The #ChangeTheDate campaign has been gaining momentum in recent years, leading to at least one council – Fremantle in Western Australia, of course – cancelling its 26 January celebrations in favour of a culturally inclusive “One Day” event on Saturday.
(If you missed that controversy, you can catch up here.)
The Guardian commissioned McNair yellowSquares to conduct a poll of Australian attitudes to celebrating 26 January.
This from Gabrielle Chan:
When participants were invited to associate three words with Australia Day, Australians polled chose barbecue, celebration and holiday. But, for Indigenous Australians, the three most chosen words were invasion, survival and murder.
Asked about whether the date of Australia Day should change, 54% of Indigenous Australians polled were in favour of a change compared with a total of 15% of total Australians polled.
Full story here.
This is what the former Queensland premier Anna Bligh AC said:
I am an avowed republican and while I am very honoured and grateful to be on the honours list this year, I do look forward to a time when these awards are made by an Australian head of state and when we can celebrate an Australia Day that does not cause offence to many Indigenous people in the community.
Full story, with the views of Jimmy Barnes, 2016 Naidoc elder of the year MaryAnn Bin-Sallik and others here.
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‘More impressive than man walking on the moon’
The 2017 Australian of the Year is Emeritus Professor Alan Mackay-Sim, a biomedical scientist whose groundbreaking research led in 2014 to the first successful restoration of mobility in a quadriplegic man.
Mackay-Sim is also a world expert on the human sense of smell and on nasal cells. He has already begun to campaign for more funding.
You can read Melissa Davey’s profile of him here.
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Before we list off the honours and congratulate the Australian of the Year, let’s look to the Australia Day event at Barangaroo Reserve, which has already begun with a smoking ceremony.
Dancers are transporting the flame for the smoking ceremony from the shore to the lawns at Barangaroo #AustraliaDay @abcnews @BreakfastNews pic.twitter.com/e4VbEivdh8
— Jade Macmillan (@JadeMacmillan1) January 25, 2017
That was followed by the WugulOra or “one mob” ceremony, featuring dancers from the NSW Public Schools Aboriginal Dance Company. The ceremony included a choir singing the national anthem in the local Aboriginal language.
At the same, the Aboriginal flag and the Australia flag were raised over Sydney Harbour Bridge.
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Celebration or invasion?
Good morning and welcome to our live blog of this public holiday, 26 January, a day that commemorates the British flag being planted in Australian soil in Sydney Cove in 1788. It has also been known, since 1938, as a day of mourning, when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people held the first formal Invasion Day march.
There will be more Invasion Day marches around the country today and we’ll bring you the live coverage here. We will also bring you coverage of the Australia Day honours and events, including the annual Triple J Hottest 100 countdown because, while we don’t agree that Australia Day should be celebrated on 26 January, we still want to celebrate those who have been recognised for their significant contributions to society.
As we wrote in an editorial yesterday:
There are many reasons for Australians to feel proud. We agree 26 January is the wrong day for national festivities but we think respectful debate – about changing the date or the meaning of the celebration – is the best way to a solution that will allow all Australians to join the party.
You can read the full editorial here.
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