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Australia is a country that still takes into account its colonial past and the inequality that First Nations peoples face, with indigenous children being twice as likely to die before their fifth birthday, according to official statistics.
FILE: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Image: AFP
SYDNEY – A line in Australia’s national anthem officially changed on Friday in a move that the nation’s leader said was aimed at better recognizing the country’s indigenous peoples.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that the second line of the national anthem, Advance Australia Fair, would change from “Because we are young and free” to “Because we are one and free.”
“Australia, as a modern nation, may be relatively young, but the history of our country is ancient, as are the stories of many First Nations peoples whose administration we rightly recognize and respect,” Morrison wrote in The Age newspaper in New Years Eve.
“Changing ‘young and free’ to ‘one and free’ takes nothing away, but I think it adds a lot.”
The move had previously been raised to better recognize Australian indigenous history, which dates back tens of thousands of years, but the Conservative leader hadn’t noticed the change until he announced it on Thursday night.
Australia is a country that still takes into account its colonial past and the inequality that First Nations peoples face, with indigenous children being twice as likely to die before their fifth birthday, according to official statistics.
Earlier this year, large protests were held in various cities across the country calling for an end to deaths in custody of indigenous people, which number more than 400 in the last three decades.
No prosecutions have been initiated despite dozens of investigations, inquiries and, in some cases, video evidence of abuse.
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