WHILE arguments rage around the nation about celebrating Australia Day on January 26, King Island Mayor Marcus Blackie is sticking with the traditional date.
King Island’s Australia Day 2024 activities will be held in Grassy and include the announcement of the Australia Day local hero awards, and the address will be delivered by the visiting Australia Day Ambassador to King Island, Dr Christina Henri.
“As Mayor, I cannot wait to announce this year’s King Islander of The Year Awards – again we have really hit it out of the park,” he said.
“We may also have Australian citizenship naturalisations making a welcome return to the program, as well as the usual range of great live entertainment and traditional activities.
“Event details will all be confirmed and promoted closer to Australia Day.
“Being a public holiday, I naturally encourage all locals and visiting tourists to attend our Australia Day event in a spirit of thanksgiving and King Island solidarity.
“We still live in the best state in the best country in the world and should never forget it,” Mr Blackie said.
Tasmania’s Australia Day program is delivered by the Department of Premier and Cabinet which works with local government to promote Australia Day..
While calls to change the date continue and the federal government said that it is not changing the Australia Day date, many now refer to it as a First Nations ‘Invasion Day.’
Notwithstanding disagreement about dates, increased emphasis on communities and other issues, changes around January 26 have already taken place.
For the first time, Tasmanian government employees will have the choice of moving their Australia Day holiday to a different date. In a recent amendment of the State Services Act, an employee can now substitute the holiday with pay for another day – usually within a four-week period of January 26.
Federal public servants will continue to have a choice whether to work on Australia Day.
Large companies, big retailers, and professional practices such as legal firms have allowed staff to work the public holiday or choose to substitute it with another day.
Local councils already hold citizenship ceremonies throughout the year and citizenship ceremonies no longer must be held on Australia Day and can now elect to hold citizenship ceremonies between January 23 and 29.
The Tasmanian government change was proposed during the bargaining period for a new award, led by the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), and accepted by the Tasmanian Industrial Commission before Christmas and public servants, more broadly, were starting to disagree that January 26 be retained as the national holiday.
“It was raised by a lot of our members when we put together a list of claims for our last bargaining around – and it was something that was embraced by the Liberal Government…I think the corporate world is starting to realise that employees in the private and public sectors have a right to express their disagreement,” CPSU Tasmania assistant secretary Tom Lynch said.
Australian Education Union (AEU) Tasmanian president David Genford said the change to the Tasmanian award was about being respectful toward those who didn’t want to celebrate January 26.
“We tried to make sure that while we allowed for people who wanted to show respect for not celebrating Australia Day on January 26, there was no interruption to student learning,” Mr Genford said.
Kmart dropped Australia Day-specific merchandise in 2023 from its stores in a bid to be more inclusive and Aldi has joined Woolworths and BIG W to drop Australia Day merchandise who cite a decline in sales over recent years.
“While Australian flags are sold within BIG W all year round, we don’t have any additional themed merchandise available to purchase in-store in our supermarkets or BIG W ahead of Australia Day…there has been a gradual decline in demand for Australia Day merchandise from our stores over recent years.
At the same time there’s been broader discussion about January 26 and what it means to different parts of the community.” a spokesperson said.
In past years, Woolworths was the major sponsor of the Australia Day Ambassador program which commenced in 1990. This sponsorship attracted criticism regarding a large retailer commercially sponsoring and displaying banners on a national day. The company now has a strategic focus that includes a corporate Indigenous reconciliation plan.