Alex Antic (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Welcome to country ceremonies are now as ubiquitous as they are inescapable. Australians are forced to sit through these rituals everywhere from the commencement of parliament to school assemblies. They're now more common than singing our national anthem, and, far from being an ancient practice, these rituals began to be used by progressive activists in the early 2000s. The practice suggests that Australians whose families have lived here for generations, possibly since settlement, are not welcome. The welcome to country is nothing more than something wealthy city people love to do to make themselves feel good.

All Australians have the right to call this country home, but the activists and bureaucratic classes want division as it perpetuates the victimhood mindset that they use to manipulate people. By the way, when is reconciliation actually going to be achieved? What does it look practically? Will it be achieved when we have a treaty, when Australians are paying some sort of rent tax, or perhaps when there is a new Indigenous nation that will further divide Australians? The answer is that activists will never be happy, and we all know it because bitterness and resentment are their bread and butter, so next time you're asked to participate in one of the ceremonies remember that, despite what they say, refusing doesn't make you a racist. Here's my memo to the grievance industry: thanks for the virtue theatre, but, like most Australians, I'm sick and tired of been welcomed to my own country.