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Scott Morrison’s decision to modify Australia’s national anthem so that it no longer ignores tens of thousands of years of indigenous history has won support across the political spectrum.
But the prime minister’s surprise move to change the “young and free” line to “one and free” also prompted calls for the government to take more ambitious measures to improve the treatment of First Nations peoples.
The Labor Party welcomed the change, announced late on New Year’s Eve, but called on Morrison to enshrine an indigenous voice in parliament in the constitution, saying “actions are more important.” The Greens pledged to seek a treaty between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians.
The symbolic change, which goes into effect on Friday, is the first at Advance Australia Fair since 1984, and means that it will now start with “All Australians Rejoice / Because We Are One And Free”.
Critics have long argued that the anthem excludes indigenous Australians by using the term “young.”
Cathy Freeman, the outstanding indigenous athlete and Olympic gold medalist, said she received a phone call from the prime minister overnight about the change and described it as a great way to start the new year.
But Luke Pearson, a Gamilaroi man living in New South Wales who edits the Ind nativeX platform, said the change was problematic because it was “a symbolic symbolism intended to silence dissent that completely loses its identity in the first place. nature of dissent “.
“This, from the same political party that every Invasion Day assures us that indigenous peoples are not interested in meaningless symbolic gestures such as Australia no longer organizing a party on the anniversary of the invasion, they now trust the peoples Indigenous people will be so excited about this meaningless symbolic change that presumably we will no longer refuse to sing at national sporting events, ”he wrote in an article on IndigenousX.
Indigenous boxing star Anthony Mundine, who has led calls for a boycott of the anthem at sporting events, was also not impressed.
“It will always be a song of white supremacy until the entire song is rewritten,” Mundine said in a statement reported by Nine’s Wide World of Sports.
Morrison emphasized Friday that the change was not radical, a message that seems directed at some conservatives who may be uncomfortable with the change.
“It is a game changer for all Australians, and I have already been encouraged by the strong response from Australians across the country, indigenous, non-indigenous, people of different backgrounds, people of different political views,” he told reporters in Canberra .
The reaction from government backing was mixed, with the support of Craig Kelly, the Conservative MP for the Sydney-based Liberal Party.
“The words of the hymn are not set in stone,” Kelly said.
“I am officially in favor of this change in the past, on the condition that it end those who want to boycott the anthem, so let everyone sing it now with pride.”
But former Queensland Nationals senator and minister Matthew Canavan said he did not agree with the decision to remove the word “young” from the anthem.
Canavan, who recently spoke out against plans to wave Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags in the Senate chamber during Naidoc week, said Australia was “a young nation that does not have the same historical complexes as the older cultures ”.
“That is why people abroad want to move here because we offer a fresh, young start,” Canavan said in a Twitter post.
Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, said the change was “small in nature but significant in purpose.”
“It is a recognition that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island cultures date back 65,000 years,” he said.
Wyatt said the change also recognizes “that the people who have crossed the seas, whether it’s 250 years ago or the families who have joined us over the years, are as much from this nation and our history as any other Australian. ”.
“And it is a recognition that our future, our potential and our success, lies in our being one, one with ourselves and one with our history, the good and the bad,” he said.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese said it was “a common sense shift,” but real action would involve establishing an indigenous voice in parliament, as called for in the Uluru declaration from the heart in 2017.
“Changing a single word in the national anthem, while First Nations people are not even recognized in our national constitution, it is just not enough,” Albanese said.
“It does not change the significant energy problems that First Nations people face.”
Green Senator Lidia Thorpe said the government should be congratulated for taking “a small but important step to unite Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.”
Thorpe, Victoria’s first Aboriginal senator, said Morrison’s decision and his comments on it indicated “that the government is grappling with the issues that alienate Aboriginals from the rest of Australia.”
“For all Australians to be ‘one and free’, the only way to do that is through a treaty process that includes telling the true history of this nation before and since the invasion,” he said.
Morrison revealed that his cabinet had recently discussed the issue of an “indigenous voice” and that the government would soon outline its plans on that front. Guardian Australia understands that an announcement is likely to be made in the next week or two.
When Hawke made Advance Australia Fair the official national anthem in 1984, replacing God Save the Queen, his cabinet changed some of the original words, opting for “all Australians, let us rejoice” rather than the rejoicing of “the children of Australia.”
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