Australia’s opposition leader Peter Dutton has said Indigenous “welcome to country” ceremonies are “overdone” and shouldn’t be performed at sporting games or military commemorations.
The short ceremonies have become standard practice in Australia to open events and acknowledge traditional land owners – but on Friday, an Aboriginal elder performing one was booed by a small group.
The incident sparked a public outcry and was condemned by the country’s leaders, though Dutton added that he thinks the tradition should be “reserved for significant events”.
He has said he wants to change how the country’s Indigenous history is acknowledged if elected this Saturday, 3 May.
Bunurong elder Uncle Mark Brown was heckled on Friday as he formally welcomed crowds to a service marking Anzac Day, a national day of remembrance for military servicemen and servicewomen.
Local media have reported that convicted Neo-Nazis were among the hecklers. A 26-year-old man was directed to leave the Shrine of Remembrance and is expected to be charged with offensive behaviour, according to Victoria Police.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese immediately called the disruption a disgraceful act of “cowardice”, while Dutton said people should “respect” welcome to country ceremonies.
Yet Dutton, who is the leader of the conservative Liberal-National coalition, has previously called the tradition “virtue signalling”, and in the final leaders’ debate on Sunday said there was a sense in the Australian community that the ceremonies are “overdone”.
This “cheapens the significance” of the tradition and divides the country, he argued.
Albanese said it was up to individual organisations to decide whether to open events with a welcome to country, but said the ceremonies were a “matter of respect”.
Asked about his comments on Monday morning, Dutton clarified times when he felt the ceremonies would be appropriate – like the beginning of a term of parliament.
“Listening to a lot of veterans in the space, Anzac Day is about our veterans… I think the majority view would be that they don’t want it on that day,” he said.
More than 5,000 Indigenous Australians served in World War One and World War Two, according to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a long and proud history of serving and sacrifice for this country,” the co-chairs of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria – an independent and democratically elected body to represent traditional owners – said in response to the incident.
As opposition leader in 2023, Dutton was instrumental in the defeat of the Voice to Parliament referendum, which sought to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the constitution and simultaneously establish a parliamentary advisory body for them.
He has also said that, if elected, he would remove the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags from official press conferences held by the Australian government.
