Raise all four flags
There is a problem with making any changes to Australia Day such as those suggested by the Darebin Council and others (The Border Mail, August 23). To change the date would be risking the unthinkable … we could lose a public holiday!
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However if a “citizenship day” were to be held on a day which does not commemorate the defeat and attempted extermination of the population of the so-called newly discovered land, we could have an extra public holiday.
This would provide the added advantage of not being reminded every year that Captain Cook was not an Australian and did not actually claim the whole of Australia (only NSW), had nothing to do with the arrival of the first fleet and that our ancestors were a bunch of convicts.
Australia Day could celebrate inclusion and could be held on a Monday and give us another long weekend. For those people who like waving flags we could demonstrate inclusion by displaying all four of our Australian flags. Flag one, the official Australian flag which acknowledges our historical connection with the UK, Queen Elizabeth, Captain Cook, 1788 and the universe.
Flag two, the Eureka flag which commemorates what some might call a heroic attempt to get rid of flag one.
Flag three, our Aboriginal flag, officially recognised in 1995, and flag four, our Torres Strait Island flag officially recognised also in 1995, on July 14. Care would need to be taken that this new public holiday did not clash with the established July 14 French celebration of Bastille Day.
On the new Australia Day, instead of our national anthem we could have a minute’s silence, to include those of us who think it's awful and have no intention of singing it anyway.
To avoid cases of culture shock these changes would need to be introduced over an extended period of time but would eventually be accepted as quintessentially Australian, whatever that is.
I hope it is not, as our Prime Minister seems to think, the mindless continuation of a national celebration which deeply offends and insults our fellow Australians. Those who think that a celebration of the arrival of the first fleet is quintessentially Australian should get out more.
Joan Fairbridge, Albury
As a matter of fact
Derek Robinson’s letter (‘Date Doesn’t Make Sense’, The Border Mail, August 27) questioning the significance of the 26th of January being Australia Day is itself deserving of questioning because of his poor knowledge of Australian history.
He states that Captain Cook landed at Sydney Cove on that date in 1788 when in fact it was Captain Arthur Phillip. Cook was killed in Hawaii in 1779. So, Derek, if you’re going to offer opinions about your home country please get your facts right first.
George Krooglik, Albury
Pressure already on
The ink isn't dry on Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying legislation and Catholic hospitals there are being pressured to abandon their opposition to euthanasia.
Dying with Dignity Canada CEO Shanaz Gokool has announced her organisation is considering a legal challenge of the rights of Catholic hospitals to conscientiously object to participation in euthanasia, given the public funding these providers receive.
The ink hasn't even signed the bill here and Victorian Greens MP Colleen Hartland has called on the Andrews’ government to review funding Melbourne's biggest Catholic hospital if staff refuse to kill patients in the event doctor prescribed suicide is legalised.
Never mind the Greens have never operated a hospital, either now or over the centuries, as has the Catholic Church. How many of the other 125 Victorian legislators can guarantee this won't happen here if they vote for Daniel Andrews’ assisted suicide bill?
