Greens Reveal Planned Campaign To Change The Date Of Australia Day

Australia Day falls on the 26th of January. A date that marks the anniversary of the First Fleet arriving at Port Jackson in 1788 and Governor Arthur Phillip raising the Union Jack at Sydney Cove.

This is seen by many as an invasion of Indigenous Australians and is an opinion steadily gaining in popularity.

The Greens have made a push towards the effort to change the date with leader Senator Richard Di Natale claiming the party is organising a major campaign focused on changing the date of Australia Day from January 26th in respect for Indigenous Australians.

As reported in The Sydney Morning Herald, Senator Di Natale says his team will coordinate with Greens councillors from all around the country and ignite the already heated public debate.

This announcement follows the recent growing public attention of the issue, including Triple J changing the date of their annual Hottest 100 from January 26th to January 27th.

Last January, Twitter reported the hashtag, #ChangeTheDate grew by 1200 per cent since 2016. This is in conjunction with Australian public figures steadily raising their voices on the matter.

Adam Briggs and Nakkiah Lui are two that are extremely vocal on their social platforms, including Twitter.

Told ya. pic.twitter.com/Yayue0Ijj1

— Senator Briggs (@Briggs) November 27, 2017

11. Celebrating Aus Day on January 26th creates a myth that excludes Aboriginal people from the present. We need to change the date of and practise empathy as a nation in an honest way. Compassion, equality and diversity don’t exist if Aboriginal people aren’t included.

— Nakkiah Lui (but you can call me Nikiki) (@nakkiahlui) January 10, 2018

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