Anzac Day “Disrespect”: Pushing Back Against Welcome to Country

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]It was Anzac Day over the weekend—a national  day of remembrance for all Australian and New Zealand personnel who have served and died in  military operations. But as we saw last year, the once-solemn event has become deeply  polarised over the inclusion of Aboriginal land acknowledgements. As the ABC reported:  “Booing during Welcome to Country at Melbourne, Sydney and Perth Anzac Day  services draws condemnation.”

[00:00:30]Unsurprisingly, the ABC described  it as “racist booing.” To be clear, I’m not here to condone the booing. Personally,  I would never boo at an Anzac Day ceremony; however, by immediately and reflexively labelling  it racist, the ABC is peddling the narrative that if you’re against Welcome to Country, you’re  automatically in the same camp as a “racist” lout. Essentially, they’re trying to poison the  well and shut down any genuine debate about this.

[00:01:03]In this one article, published the day after,  “Booing at Anzac Day services shows lack of public awareness of racism,” the ABC really pressed the  issue. Firstly, they published it in the news category “Racism”; one of the subheadings read:  “People ‘emboldened’ to express racist views”; then they talked about the “rise in public  displays of racism,” and even mentioned the “racist incident” in the AFL regarding the Adam  Goodes booing saga from more than 10 years ago.

[00:01:39]This basically culminated in the former  professional footballer deciding to perform an Indigenous war dance that involved a  spear-throwing motion towards the crowd.

[00:01:50]Predictably, this resulted  in a massive escalation of the booing—which the media then used  to further the “racist” narrative.

[00:01:59]Personally, I think Aussies are equal-opportunity  booers; it doesn’t matter what your skin colour is—if you play the provocateur, you’re going to  get a reaction. When Caucasian players get booed, suddenly the “racism” narrative vanishes  into thin air. Nobody goes looking for a sociological explanation—they just accept  that the player did something to earn it.

[00:02:23]But back to the Anzac Day Welcome to Country  booing. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, who was at the Melbourne service, was quick  to weigh in, stating: “To break the stillness of dawn service is not just ugly behaviour  towards our Aboriginal servicemen and women who defended this country — it disrespects  everyone who fought and died for our freedoms.

[00:02:47]Politicising this sacred day is bastardry.  I condemn it, and so should every leader.”

[00:02:55]Well, I hate to rain on the Premier’s moral  parade, but Welcome to Country is also innately politicised. How is it not? It essentially says  that people of a certain ethnic background have more claims to this land than the rest of  us. How is that not a political statement?

[00:03:14]It’s a bit rich to condemn the booing  as ‘politicising this sacred day’ when the very inclusion of a Welcome  to Country is, by definition, a political act. But for some reason, she  only calls out one side of the political coin.

[00:03:29]Multiple ABC articles focused on Ray Minniecon—a  veteran from a family with a long history of military service—who was also booed while  giving the Welcome to Country in Sydney.

[00:03:41]He told the ABC: “This always was and always  will be Aboriginal land. They have to show that respect to that, to us as traditional  owners, sovereign owners to this country.”

[00:03:54]Well, that’s factually and  legally incorrect. Historically, land changes hands all the time. To say that  one piece of land we call Australia is “always” Aboriginal land is simply a historical  fantasy. Tell me one piece of dirt on this earth that hasn’t been conquered,  settled, or fought over multiple times.

[00:04:18]I’m sorry, but this land is now Australian  land. It belongs to all Australians. And the moment you start telling the ABC  that this “always will be Aboriginal land,” you’re going to get people who find  that claim fundamentally divisive. Always.

[00:04:36]And as I said, I don’t agree with booing the  man, but let’s be clear: they weren’t booing him because he was a veteran; they weren’t  booing him because he is Aboriginal; they were booing him solely because he was performing  a Welcome to Country at an Anzac Day service.

[00:04:52]You might find it disrespectful, but it’s  not racism—and the media framing it as such is just their way of weaponising the  term to silence anyone who questions the inclusion of these glaringly  divisive political ceremonies.

[00:05:07]Referring to the Perth Anzac Day event that was  also interrupted with boos, Western Australian Premier Roger Cook declared: “For anyone to  disrespect one of our elders and a veteran themselves is just disgusting and disrespectful.”  Defence Minister Richard Marles described the booing as “deeply disrespectful.” The ABC noted  that we all have a duty to “call out disrespect.”

[00:05:33]Okay then. What happens every  year on Australia Day—the only day dedicated to celebrating this country?  Invasion Day protests. Is that respectful to the millions of Australians who love this  country? No, it’s completely disrespectful.

[00:05:49]But here’s the difference: nobody is forcing  you to attend an Australia Day event. If you don’t want to go, fine. However, these  Welcome to Country ceremonies are now being bolted onto Anzac Day services. We didn’t  ask for it, but the powers that be insist on forcing you to sit through a political  lecture before you can honour the dead.

[00:06:11]One Premier seems to have missed  the memo. This made national news, and it was treated as a scandal by the ABC: “QLD Premier David Crisafulli attends Anzac  Day event with no Acknowledgement of Country.”

[00:06:27]The horror! What a monster. Yes,  this is now considered newsworthy.

[00:06:32]If you don’t allow yourself to be forced  into participating in these rituals, the ABC and their ilk will frame  it as some kind of moral failing.

[00:06:42]And of course, here’s that word  again: “Indigenous commissioner labels attendance ‘disrespectful’.”  The commissioner, Katie Kiss, said: “many First Nations people fought in World  War I.” True. But they’re already honoured in every dawn service across the country—not as a  separate category, but as Australians who served.

[00:07:04]Yes, in topsy-turvy Australia, honouring the dead is no longer enough. If you don’t  bow to the new cultural orthodoxy, you’re the one “disrespecting” the occasion by  not including a racialised land acknowledgement.

[00:07:19]Oh, and you’re also racist.