New Australia Day

[Lightning McQueen]

Perhaps as the date of federation clashes with New Years Day we could re-christen January 26th "Federation Day", celebrating the first month of nationhood, and call the date of the reconciliation speech "Australia Day" and run up a flag that includes black and white to represent the peoples of Australia.

Are you serious, fuzzy wuzzy was a bear.

[devilsadvocate]

Keep Aussie day as a public holiday
Make ANZAC Day the national day. Alway a public holiday if falls on a Sunday!!
If there has to be another day off so be it, make i my bday so I dont have to keep annoying the doctor for a sick certificate.

Glad I've finally found someone who agrees on that point. I had an argument with a dickhead Aussie from Perth last year about this. I stated that I felt that ANZAC Day was far more important and symbolic in the true meaning of being Aussie than the random day some bloke from Whitby landed in Botany Bay. I quickly found myself arguing against 20 people and gave up. Their defence.....'why would a day we share with Kiwi's be more important than Australia Day?'.

Good argument ****.

[Psyber]

Perhaps as the date of federation clashes with New Years Day we could re-christen January 26th "Federation Day", celebrating the first month of nationhood, and call the date of the reconciliation speech "Australia Day" and run up a flag that includes black and white to represent the peoples of Australia.

Are you serious, fuzzy wuzzy was a bear.

Not really, I was being a little tongue in cheek..
But I could live with it if it settled the issue once and for all.

[Ronnie]

January 26 would be a pretty popular choice amongst the populace i imagine.
Changing the date strongly implies there is something wrong with the current date, a situation i think the vast majority would strongly reject and even find offensive.
Sure there are alternative dates, but it doesn't matter which one you went with, you'll never please everyone. And more to the point, don't even try to, because you'll never succeed.

[Q.]

Don't even try to, because you'll never succeed.

Changing traditional constructs and belief is never easy. Lucky for the world most progressive thinkers haven't been and aren't so defeatist.

[Ronnie]

Don't even try to, because you'll never succeed.

Changing traditional constructs and belief is never easy. Lucky for the world most progressive thinkers haven't been and aren't so defeatist.

Depends what your trying to change and why. Of course some change is desirable, but some is plain damaging and wrong.
Some traditions do make sense, unless you believe that we should all start again and create some sort of fantasy communist utopia.

[Q.]

'Communist utopia' is an oxymoron

I think the idea has merit, but I particularly like Psyber's take...

I think we should keep "Invasion Day" and add Reconciliation Day and also an Australia Day to celebrate the formation of the Commonwealth of Australia.
We need more Public Holidays...

[Sojourner]

I dont think the idea of having more public holidays is unreasonable either and I would add to that that I feel that it is time that we as a nation embraced the idea of reducing the working week from 38 hours to 36 hours as well. In Europe many nations have shortened the working week, considering what we have achieved with technological developments in the workplace, working weeks should be getting shorter as opposed to longer!

I would like to see a public holiday for World Enviroment Day to encourage people to participate in Tree Planting activities and to give it more of a focus in the media, I would also like to see the Friday of the Clipsal made as a public holiday as I feel doing so would give a real boost to the economy by people spending and particpating in the clipsal or the associated trade and events!

[Q.]

[Tassie Blues]

Australia Day should stay as it is but think the queens birthday holiday should become a reconciliation day.

As for aboriginals not celebrating or recognising Australia day I bet they all still took the day off on Monday!

[Wedgie]

Australia Day should stay as it is but think the queens birthday holiday should become a reconciliation day.

As for aboriginals not celebrating or recognising Australia day I bet they all still took the day off on Monday!

Some Aboriginals do celebrate, some dont, some celebrate it to commemorate their race surivivng against the odds since the invaction in the 18th century.
You've kind of defeated your own argument saying there shouldn't be a Queens Birthday holiday but having a go at Aboriginals for having Australia Day off as Im sure you've had the Queens Birthday off in the past.

It should be moved, but it wont be, it will never be politically popular decision even though it would be the right one to help unite the country and make it more patriotic.
Personally I'll never give a stuff about Australia Day, Anzac Day will be the day.
If Australia Day is moved to a day that all Australians could celebrate not just those from Anglo backgrounds then I'll join in.
Australia Day has turned into "Redneck Day" in the last 10 years, the Australian flag is also becoming a symbol of this culture.
That's very very sad IMHO.
Perhaps create a holiday for a true Australia Day leaving the current day to celebrate the Bogan culture where everyone can dress up in blue singlets and thongs whilst enjoying a day at the cricket getting drunk after beating up anyone with slightly dark skin or even better lay a few into their wives.
They could rename it "UnAustralia Day".

That way everyone would be happy!

[Q.]

Rudd actually made an election promise to move Australia Day. But he's back-flipped. Must have been a non-core promise

[Q.]

It should be moved, but it wont be, it will never be politically popular decision even though it would be the right one to help unite the country and make it more patriotic.
Personally I'll never give a stuff about Australia Day, Anzac Day will be the day.
If Australia Day is moved to a day that all Australians could celebrate not just those from Anglo backgrounds then I'll join in.
Australia Day has turned into "Redneck Day" in the last 10 years, the Australian flag is also becoming a symbol of this culture.
That's very very sad IMHO.
Perhaps create a holiday for a true Australia Day leaving the current day to celebrate the Bogan culture where everyone can dress up in blue singlets and thongs whilst enjoying a day at the cricket getting drunk after beating up anyone with slightly dark skin or even better lay a few into their wives.
They could rename it "UnAustralia Day".

That way everyone would be happy!

It would be a divisive policy, but I reckon opinion would be fairly evenly split, which side will have the loudest voice though? Surely there is a middle ground that can be reached.

Draping oneself in the flag has always puzzled me, but not for it's misguided sense of patriotism. I think the following sums the irony up nicely:

"It's well known that the American flag, Old Glory, is protected by laws regarding its treatment, including prohibitions against letting it touch the ground, flying at night, being burnt or worn as a costume. However, given the recent phenomenon of young, usually drunk, mobs wearing the Australian flag in raucous and often debauched displays of national fervour, I and my friends, not wishing to appear any more "unAustralian" than we already do, (another recent phenomenon which we find difficult to understand), would like some enlightenment in the event we too plan our own patriotic rampage, given that there seems no guide yet to dressing for such occasions.
Given that the consumption of massive amounts of alcohol seems a prerequisite for such exhibitions, we wonder: in the event that the flag is inadvertently (albeit exuberantly patriotically) flecked by spilt beer, sweat, blood or vomit; accidently caught in your thongs, or fallen upon when you finally succumb to the ecstasy and pass out outside the pub, does the violently rabid nationalism -- sorry, joyously inclusive patriotism -- of wearing it as you sit on it in the beer garden and accidentally letting one rip outweigh any such unintended slights to it and to those brave diggers who we're told died for it?"