The prime minister has dodged questions over Liberal leader Peter Dutton's commitment to force councils to hold Australia Day events on January 26 if he wins the coming federal election.
Too similar to the current date, and seems to be based entirely on “it’s totally not the current date” rather than having any actual meaning.
March 12
Only really has significance to the ACT.
May 9
Of which it says
The same day in 1901 when we became a self-governing federation
I’m not sure what this means. I thought that was 1 January? Otherwise, it’s not a terrible pick. I wouldn’t advocate it in a discussion of what day to pick, but if it came to a plebiscite between the current day and this date, this is the first one I would enthusiastically support.
May 27
I would support this being a public holiday, but it’s one I would only reluctantly support for Australia Day. Better than current date, but not a good one. And I couldn’t imagine it succeeding in a plebiscite. Too tied to Aboriginal people specifically.
My preferred options:
3 March as the day of commencement of the Australia Act (1986), which saw the last vestiges of Australia’s status as a British dominion ended.
3 September as the day Australia adopted the Statute of Westminster with the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942, which removed the United Kingdom’s ability to legislate over the Commonwealth of Australia and making Australia truly a legally independent nation in a de jure sense.
9 July as the date the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 became law, enabling the constitution to actually take effect on 1 January 1901.
The latter two also have the advantage of being outside that late December–early May period that sees most of our current public holidays.
Ultimately though, I’d support any date change that isn’t already a national public holiday or “May 8”.
Does the day need to be affixed to a particular date?
Personally, I would say yes. It’s “Australia Day”, not “have a day off in summer day”. There are enough public holidays between late December and early May anyway. I wouldn’t mind if it moved to the back half of the year. Though I wouldn’t mind too much if it did stay in summer, as long as the new date marks something significant.
3 March would conflict with Labour Day in WA. Not that I’d have much aversion to moving Labour Day to some other day, but you’re basically taking a national problem and making it a WA problem if you do that. West Australians would still need to find a date to make a public holiday. We would not be in favour of losing a public holiday. 😃
Personally, I’d like to see a day where we have a real treaty with First Nation peoples, and celebrate that day as a new Australia Day. We’re about a generation away from that, I fear though.
I’m personally a fan of the early May Labour Day that we have in Queensland, because of its connection to the international workers’ movement, though I appreciate the March and October dates used in other states for their connection to local workers’ rights advancements.
I definitely would like to see a Treaty Day public holiday, but I think it should be a separate one from Australia Day. Not just because that means one additional public holiday (though that’s certainly a bonus!) but also because doing that helps properly acknowledge the significance of the day for Indigenous Australians specifically. And also because that leaves Australia Day to be celebrating something that can be directly applicable for all Australians (which is part of the reason for wanting to change the date to begin with).
Going through the dates in that ABC article:
Stupid. Already a public holiday.
Too similar to the current date, and seems to be based entirely on “it’s totally not the current date” rather than having any actual meaning.
Only really has significance to the ACT.
Of which it says
I’m not sure what this means. I thought that was 1 January? Otherwise, it’s not a terrible pick. I wouldn’t advocate it in a discussion of what day to pick, but if it came to a plebiscite between the current day and this date, this is the first one I would enthusiastically support.
I would support this being a public holiday, but it’s one I would only reluctantly support for Australia Day. Better than current date, but not a good one. And I couldn’t imagine it succeeding in a plebiscite. Too tied to Aboriginal people specifically.
My preferred options:
3 March as the day of commencement of the Australia Act (1986), which saw the last vestiges of Australia’s status as a British dominion ended.
3 September as the day Australia adopted the Statute of Westminster with the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942, which removed the United Kingdom’s ability to legislate over the Commonwealth of Australia and making Australia truly a legally independent nation in a de jure sense.
9 July as the date the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 became law, enabling the constitution to actually take effect on 1 January 1901.
The latter two also have the advantage of being outside that late December–early May period that sees most of our current public holidays.
Ultimately though, I’d support any date change that isn’t already a national public holiday or “May 8”.
Does the day need to be affixed to a particular date?
Can we not just make it the first Friday in February or something?
Not worried about any significance as long as we get a Sumner long weekend!
Personally, I would say yes. It’s “Australia Day”, not “have a day off in summer day”. There are enough public holidays between late December and early May anyway. I wouldn’t mind if it moved to the back half of the year. Though I wouldn’t mind too much if it did stay in summer, as long as the new date marks something significant.
3 March would conflict with Labour Day in WA. Not that I’d have much aversion to moving Labour Day to some other day, but you’re basically taking a national problem and making it a WA problem if you do that. West Australians would still need to find a date to make a public holiday. We would not be in favour of losing a public holiday. 😃
Personally, I’d like to see a day where we have a real treaty with First Nation peoples, and celebrate that day as a new Australia Day. We’re about a generation away from that, I fear though.
I’m personally a fan of the early May Labour Day that we have in Queensland, because of its connection to the international workers’ movement, though I appreciate the March and October dates used in other states for their connection to local workers’ rights advancements.
I definitely would like to see a Treaty Day public holiday, but I think it should be a separate one from Australia Day. Not just because that means one additional public holiday (though that’s certainly a bonus!) but also because doing that helps properly acknowledge the significance of the day for Indigenous Australians specifically. And also because that leaves Australia Day to be celebrating something that can be directly applicable for all Australians (which is part of the reason for wanting to change the date to begin with).
Thanks, some good suggestions there. I like all three of your preferred options and I agree about “May 8” too!