Natalie Barr, host of Channel Seven’s Sunrise, has demanded that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese weigh into the Australia Day debate and “show some leadership from the top”.
Speaking to Agriculture Minister Murray Watt, Barr said that Albo needed to take a stance so “we don’t feel embarrassed about what we’re doing on that day”.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton, however, has had no misgivings about wading into the debate, calling for a boycott of Woolworths after the retailer said that it would not be selling Australia Day merch. Kmart followed suit but stressed that the decision was based on hard-nosed economics rather than cultural sensitivities.
“There’s not enough demand in that one day to justify bringing products back,” said Ian Bailey, managing director of Kmart Australia.
“We carry (Australia-themed products) 365 days a year anyway”.
But Watt conjectured that, as a democracy, Australians were entitled to celebrate Australia Day or not and in any manner they felt appropriate. In fact, he said that, unlike Dutton, Albanese not taking a hard line on 26 January and calling for a boycott of Woolies meant that he was protecting Australian jobs.
“We’re more focused on things like the war on inflation rather than culture wars and whether supermarkets sell the right kind of thongs,” added Watt.
Barr, however, was undeterred and said that Cricket Australia, which has removed any reference to Australia Day for this week’s test, and Woolies were walking a “fine line”.
“Cricket Australia is an independent organisation and they’re entitled to make their own decisions about what they want to do,” replied Watt.
“There’ll be some organisations that will be loudly celebrating Australia Day, there’ll be some that aren’t. As a government, we’ve made clear that we have no plans whatsoever to change the date from Australia Day.
“I’ll be celebrating Australia Day myself on Thursday at a citizenship ceremony and probably a Barbie after that. I know the Prime Minister is planning to celebrate Australia Day, but we respect the fact that different people have got different views about this.
“Cricket Australia are big enough and ugly enough to make their own decision,” Watt added.
KIIS FM’s Kyle Sandilands weighed-in on the debate as well, slamming the “woke media industry”.
