INS10001 Assignment 3A Debate PDF

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"The date of January 26 as Australia Day SHOULD be changed." DEBATE INS10001 A3 Topic 2 AffirmativeTeam 1

INTRO: The date of January 26 as Australia Day SHOULD be changed; this is true for three reasons. First, the precedent for change has already been set, Second, to prevent the ongoing suffering of Australians who are still made to feel insignificant and who still feel racism towards them, and Finally, January 26 is insignificant to Australia Day and therefore the date should be granted and acknowledged to Indigenous Australians as a day of Mourning.

FIRST SPEAKER: Vickie Nicholson, 101581917 January 26th is the day Captain Phillip planted a flag on Australian soil as a gesture to ‘take’ this land in the name of Britain, on behalf of the King, under the guise of terra nullius (Pulford 2018). The continent was not discovered on January 26th, and it holds no cultural significance. Before transforming into a contemporary version of Australia Day, January 26th was Anniversary Day and did not become a public holiday until 1994 (Howard 2020). Therefore, the precedent has already been set for changing the date. Originally, “Australia Day” was held on July 30, 1915, when it was used to raise funds for World War 1 (Brown 1

2015). It has also been held on July 27 & 28 & has been known as “Regatta Day”, “Proclamation Day”, “Foundation Day” and finally as “Anniversary Day” (Sargeant 2018). Change has been adopted by Australians for our Anthem, for our flag and for Australia Day. Given all these already accepted changes, there is no reason Australia Day cannot be changed again.

SECOND SPEAKER: Lee Freeman 102528258 The Date of January 26th should change to prevent the ongoing pain and suffering of Australians who are still being made to feel insignificant and who still feel racism towards them. Australia was colonised, and instead of colonisation having been something that happened many years ago, there is still an enormous amount of inequality and racism in Australia today, which proves that it is a practice that continues to be part of Australian life. If the events that happened on the 26th of January were the beginning of injustices, atrocities, rape, and pillage of a civilisation of people, how can this be celebrated? Celebrating on the 26th of January is disrespectful to our fellow Australians, their culture, families, loved ones and heritage. In contrast to the fun-filled day of celebrations, barbies and beer, the 26th of January is a day that is filled with grief, isolation, genocide and forced assimilation. Celebrating Australia day on this date is a denial that Australia was invaded and forgetting that although it is the anniversary of the day the British flag was planted in Sydney Cove, we must not forget the pain and suffering of our fellow Australians that ensued thereafter.

THIRD SPEAKER: Brooke Cairns 7623259 Australia Day has become a day, Australians ‘Reflect, Respect and Celebrate’ (NSW Government n.d). If these three words are what Australia wants to stand for on the

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momentous occasion ‘Australia Day’ January 26, then how respectful are we being if we continue to ‘celebrate, respect and reflect’ on the same day the Indigenous Australians were ‘invaded, lost lives, subjected to vicious forms of abuse, tortured and much more. The Indigenous Australians have been acknowledged as our First Nation People, (Common ground n.d), yet still the respect is not there. The battle for our First Nation people to change the date of ‘Australia Day’ makes the Australian Government a little narcissistic. Let us Australians step up and show Our Respect to the First Nations people by changing the date of Australia Day to a day where all Australians get the opportunity to celebrate Australia Day the way it should be, and welcome new Australian citizens on a day that is not upon a day of mourning, in RESPECT to our First Nation people. Summary The against team argued to not change the date by using citizenship ceremonies as their first argument. They also made the assertion that changing the date will not change the past. The against team also claim that January 26th is a day for celebration and unity, while maintaining that flying the Aboriginal flag on the Harbour Bridge, on Australia Day, is proof of this unity. Further assertions of unity are presented with the claim that indigenous and non-indigenous celebrations are included on the day. The against team also claim that Indigenous Australians have been both apologised to and have a special 'Sorry' day on May 26. Data from the Bringing them Home report was used acknowledging the need for apologies to be made to Indigenous Australians. There were also some statistics produced reporting that Australians do not want to change the date.

Conclusion

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We argued that the date for Australia Day has previously been changed many times before, therefore, changing it again is nothing out of the ordinary. Further, January 26th is not prerequisite for citizenship ceremonies (Department of Home Affairs 2019), as they are held all year round. Local councils have already initiated changing the date of Australia Day (Winter 2020), signalling their respect to Indigenous Australians. There is no push to have the date change in order to ‘fix’ the past however, education can go a long way to ‘fixing’ the past as was the case with the Mabo decision where Terra Nullius was overturned (AIATSIS 2020). The Aboriginal flag is not viewed as a symbol of inclusion when it is in fact only flown for 15 days in the calendar year, hardly a gesture of unity (Nunn 2020). Protests that take place around Australian Day are a clear sign that the current date of Australia Day is not all inclusive, and that not all Australians agree (Calma 2015). A genuine apology to

Aboriginal people means action as well as words (Grenville 2010). The Bringing Them Home report had 54 recommendations yet to date, very few of these have been implemented. Indigenous Australians are still more likely to be incarcerated, more likely to have poorer health outcomes and less likely to be employed (Report Recommendations | Bringing Them Home n.d.). Finally, the statistics from the survey to confirm 75% of Australians support Australia Day use confirmation bias and fail to convey information about the population sampled which negates the credibility of the report. Australia Day does not have a singular meaning and the appropriateness of the January 26th celebrations continue to be contested (Pearson, O’Neill 2009).

We cannot fix the past, we can only acknowledge it, respect it, and stop celebrating it. If Australia embraces truth telling about what took place on January 26, we will no longer require debate on changing the date.

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REFERENCES: ARGUMENT 1: AIATSIS 2020, The Mabo Case, aiatsis.gov.au, viewed 6 February 2021, . Brown, B 2015, The first Australia Day: 30 July 1915 - ABC (none) - Australian Broadcasting Corporation, www.abc.net.au, viewed 13 January 2021,

Department of Home Affairs, 2019, Citizenship Ceremonies Code, viewed 13 January 2021, < https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/citizenship/ceremony> Howard, J 2020, Where did Australia Day come from?, ABC News, viewed 22 January 2021, Sar geant, C 2018, The many different dates we’ve celebrated Australia Day, Topics, viewed 12 January 2021,

Pulford, D 2018, ‘Andrew Bovell in the History Wars: Australia’s Continuing Cultural Crisis of Remembering and Forgetting’, Staging Loss, pp. 95–107. Reconciliation Australia 2017, ‘Should we change the date of Australia Day?’, Reconciliation News, no. 38, pp. 14–16, viewed 13 January 2021, . Winter, V 2020, Here’s a running list of the councils that have moved Australia Day, The Feed, viewed 13 January 2021, . IMAGES: Gore, Charles. Botany Bay [New South Wales, Ca 1789 / Watercolour by Charles Gore], 1789, (State Library of NSW), viewed 13 January 2021,

Sydney Mail headline two days before the first Australia Day on 30 July 1915 (State Library of NSW), viewed 13 January 2021, Australia Day July 27th 1917, State Library of South Australia B 64248/1. Fundraising ribbon for Australia Day, 30 July 1916 viewed 13 January 2021.

ARGUMENT 2:

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Bettersby, C., 2013. Australia Day: Celebration, Commemoration or Something Else? FED: Few back changing Australia day: Turnbull 2018 Sydney

Calma, T. 2015) ‘Australia survival day’, AQ –Australian Quarterly. Australian Institute of policy and Science, 86(1), pp. 10-12.

Lipscombe, T.A., Dzidic, P.L., Garvey, D.C. Coloniser control and the art of disremembering a 'dark history': duality in australia Day and Australian history. J. community Appl Soc Psychol. 2020; 30:332-335

Nunn, G 2020, The woman fighting to see the Aboriginal flag fly permanently on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, SBS News, viewed 6 February 2021, .

Wahlquist, C., 2018. Massacres and protest: Australia Day's undeniable history. Guardian Australia.

IMAGES: Murray A (2016) Scenes from an invasion day protest

Holloway A 2014. Ancient Origins

Australians Together 2020

ARGUMENT 3:

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Australians together 2020, Australia Day | What Is Australian Day | History of Invasion Day, viewed 14 January 2021, .

Common ground n.d. Acknowledgement of Country. [online], Accessed 25 January 2021, Available at: . Korff, J 2020, Australia Day - Invasion Day, viewed 13 January 2021, .

Grenville, K 2010, A true apology to Aboriginal people means action as well | Kate Grenville, viewed 3 February 2021, . Maddison, S 2019, White Australia can't solve black problems. White Australia is the problem | Sarah Maddison, viewed 3 February 2021, .

Morgan, M 2019, Why Australia Day is really held on 26 January and the push to change the date, viewed 14 January 2021, . NSW Government (n.d), Australia Day 2021 in New South Wales, Australia Day Council of New South wales (ADCNSW), viewed 19 January 2021,

Pearson, L 2017, OPINION: Invasion Day, Survival Day, or Day of Mourning? All of the above, viewed 13 January 2021, .

Pearson, L, 2016. Don't tell me to 'get over it' a colonialism that is still being implemented today. [online] Accessed 4 January 2021, Available at: .

Report Recommendations | Bringing Them Home. [online], Retrieved 6 February 2021, from Available at: . 8

Royalty-Free Stock Photos, 2021. 'Get Over It'. [image], Accessed 25 January 2021, Available at: .

Wallace, C., 2019. Remembrance Day: Lest We Forget - Billiongraves Blog. [online], Accessed 25 January 2021, Available at: .

IMAGES: Morgan, M 2019, Why Australia Day is really held on 26 January and the push to change the date.

Korff, J 2020, Australia Day - Invasion Day, viewed 13 January 2021.

Commonground.org.au. n.d. Acknowledgement of Country. [online]

Pearson, L 2017, OPINION: Invasion Day, Survival Day, or Day of Mourning? All of the above

Royalty-Free Stock Photos, 2021. 'Get Over It'. [image] Wallace, C., 2019. Remembrance Day: Lest We Forget - Billiongraves Blog

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