Henry Pike (Bowman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

It is a pleasure to bring the Australia Day Bill 2025 before the 48th Parliament after it lapsed without consideration in the last parliament.

This is a proposal supported by the voices of over 50,000 Australians who've backed my campaign to give Australia Day proper recognition and protection in federal law.

At its heart, this bill rests on a straightforward principle—that Australia's national day belongs to the Australian people, not to politicians or governments.

Australia Day is a date of such monumental national significance—and it means so much to so many—that it should never be able to be cancelled or changed at the whim of the government of the day.

The bill seeks to ensure that no politician, no political party and no special interest group can change our national day without the approval of the majority of Australians voting in a national plebiscite.

Currently, Australia Day is marked as a public holiday on 26 January in every state and territory. While it's widely accepted as our national day, oddly, it has never been formally recognised as such by this parliament.

Of course, it commemorates the landing of the First Fleet at Port Jackson in 1788, a moment that set the course for the development of our modern nation.

Records show celebrations on this date began as early as 1808. New South Wales made it a public holiday in 1818.

Australia Day is older than any national symbol we hold. It predates our national flag by nearly a century.

In fact, celebrations on 26 January predate the use of the word 'Australia' by a few years.

For most Australians, it's a day to reflect on our shared history, to celebrate how far we've come, and to honour the people who've built and shaped this nation.

It's also a day where thousands of new citizens are formally welcomed into the Australian family.

It was on 26 January 1949—Australia Day—that our first citizenship laws came into force. It was the day Australian citizenship officially began.

Every year we hear arguments against the date. Some believe 26 January should be a day of mourning.

Nobody disputes that Australia's story includes hardship, injustice and tragedy.

The arrival of the First Fleet would have been a moment of deep uncertainty for the Eora people. And it was yet another day of immense suffering for those souls aboard those ships.

But from that harsh beginning, and through the many difficult chapters that followed, we've built something remarkable—a free, fair, and thriving nation. And that's something worth recognising.

Australians are capable of both commemorating and celebrating on the same day.

We don't need to erase our past to face the future.

Trying to downplay or delegitimise our nation's origins won't help us grow stronger. It only divides us.

The voyage of the First Fleet was a monumental act of endurance. So was Bennelong's journey of diplomacy. So was Pemulwuy's resistance.

Modern Australia is the sum of all these stories—and our national day should reflect that.

This bill will enshrine Australia's national day in federal law.

To achieve this, the bill utilises the same provisions used to enshrine Anzac Day as 'a national day of commemoration' through the Anzac Day act 1983.

This would mean that the date of Australia Day would be formally established as 26 January in federal law.

This legislative protection ensures that Australia Day must remain as a national day and cannot be abolished by the actions of this or any future government.

While we can't guarantee that any future parliament won't repeal this protection, it would be a brave government indeed who tries to pass a law to repeal the celebration of our national day.

The remainder of the bill provides an avenue through which the date of Australia Day could be changed.

This process would be the same prescribed for the Flags Act 1953 for changing the design of Australia's national flag, namely through a national plebiscite.

How a national plebiscite on Australia Day would be formed and conducted will be at the discretion of parliament.

Just as how in the last parliament we debated the parameters through which the recent referendum was conducted.

However, the bill does provide that any alternate proposals must include 26 January as an option that can be selected by voters in any future plebiscite.

All those qualified to vote in federal elections will be qualified to vote for any proposal for an alternate date for Australia's national day.

These subsections are a reflection of the same protections for Australia's national flag that are contained within the Flags Act 1953.

Those protections were instituted through an amendment to the Flags Act back in 1998 by the Howard government.

I went back and I had a look at the Hansard to see how the then Labor opposition reacted to those amendments.

In 1998, the Labor Party supported the introduction of these protections—although I note that many of the Labor speakers spoke about their desire to change the flag.

Fast forward a quarter of a century—our national flag still flies proudly above this building, unchanged, and in this chamber.

I contend that the protections in the Flags Act that were introduced by the Howard government have contributed to this outcome.

Many parliamentarians have come to this place, and achieved high office, while harbouring a desire to change our national flag

But these ambitions have been thwarted by the knowledge that changing the flag would require the endorsement of the people.

While it might be relatively easy to achieve a majority of the cabinet, or a majority of your fellow travellers in the caucus room, it is an exponentially greater challenge to achieve a majority of the Australian people, as this government discovered in the recent referendum.

The Labor Party of the 1990s, of which the now Prime Minister was a new member, acknowledged that it was entirely appropriate for the Australian people to be the arbiters of what should be our national flag then and into the future.

I challenge them to adopt the same principle to legislate that it must be the Australian people who are the arbiters of our national day.

It shouldn't be a radical principle that Australians should be asked to decide on areas central to our national identity.

In fact, it was through a national plebiscite that Australians made the decision to adopt 'Advance Australia Fair' as our national song in 1977.

If it's good enough for the Australian people to have ownership over their own anthem and their own flag, why not over their own national day?

I fear the day will come when a future government gives into activist pressures on this issue. I've seen this story play out too many times before—a small, noisy few overriding the quiet conviction of the vast majority.

Year after year, the polling remains consistent. Most Australians want to keep 26 January as our national day. That view deserves to be respected—and protected.

This bill offers a path forward. It gives our national day security and allows the country to move past the endless debate.

By setting a higher bar for change, we lower the temperature. We stop indulging the cycle of outrage and start focusing on the future.

This morning I present this bill as a challenge to the Prime Minister and his government:

If they are serious about their commitment to keeping Australia Day on 26 January, in line with the comments that were made in the lead-up to the federal election, they should support this bill.

If they harbour a desire to change our national day without a mandate from the people at some point in the future, they should leave this bill off future programs.

I challenge the government to put this on the program. Let's have this debate.

It's a debate being had outside of this chamber. Why not inside it as well?

In closing, I want to say to my colleagues in this parliament—let us recognise Australia Day through this bill and delegate its future to the Australian people.

I'm asking members to trust the Australian people.

Trust them to get the call right, both now and into the future.

Let's entrust Australia Day to the Australian people.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Cameron Caldwell (Fadden, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.