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Anthony Albanese's message for Australians who criticise Welcome To Country

Anthony Albanese's message for Australians who criticise Welcome To Country

Daily Mail​5 days ago
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has spoken about the importance of Welcome to Country ceremonies after one was performed at the official opening of Parliament.
The 48th parliament officially opened on Tuesday, marking Mr Albanese's second term as prime minister after his landslide election win, with Labor holding 94 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives.
The official procession filed into the Great Hall of Parliament House before a Welcome to Country and traditional dances were performed.
Indigenous Elder Violet Sheridan welcomed the assembled politicians to Ngunnawal land.
'To walk on Ngunnawal country is to accept responsibilities. It is not just about being here. It is about caring for this land,' Ms Sheridan said.
'As part of this welcome I offer you spiritual protection and safe passage. May you all walk gently, listen and carry the spirit of this country with you.
'May your journey on Ngunnawal country be of understanding, respect and shared purpose. Guided by the values of care, connection and community.'
Following the ceremony, Albanese reinforced the importance of Welcome to Country ceremonies, claiming it was a 'powerful way' to begin the new parliament.
'Like a lot of the more positive things about our nation, we shouldn't take it for granted,' Albanese said.
'This ceremony didn't take place until 2007 and was controversial in 2007. It is not controversial today. Nor should it be.
'It is a respectful way of us beginning our deliberations here in Canberra, which of course means meeting place.
'It is a reminder as well of why we all belong here together, that we are stronger together and we belong.
'Consider the beautiful set of contradictions that make up who we are. A youthful nation, yet one of the world's oldest democracies. An ancient continent but one that we share with the world's oldest continuous culture.
'What an extraordinary privilege, what a source of pride for all Australians.
'We have so many facets and they come together to make a unique whole. They come together here on the ground and they come together in the sky above us.
'Look up on a clear night when you are far from city lights and you will see the dark emu with the Southern Cross shining on its head. When you look at the Southern Cross, look at the star that twinkles most softly.
'It is the part of the Southern Cross that features on the Australian flag but not on the flag of New Zealand.
'Several years ago now the international astronomical union formally recognised the star as the name given to it by the Wardaman people in the NT.
'To the Wardaman it represents a red dilly bag filled with special songs of knowledge. It is an Australian star, a piece of ourselves reflected back at us from our great southern sky.
'It flies above us now on that giant flag pole at the top of this building.
'One more reminder that this country and this parliament is our great diversity of chapters coming together and the welcome to country lets us touch the very beginning of the story, our story, the Australian story.'
'Let us do it with the same sense of grace and courage that First Nations people show us with their leadership,' he said.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley urged MPs to let the Welcome to Country 'set the tone' for the next Parliament.
'As Australians, we share a story unlike any other, with an ancient culture, the oldest living in the world, rooted in land, language and story. A democratic inheritance brought from afar but grounded in Australian values,' she says.
'A modern nation shaped by people from every part of the world, united by the belief that this country gives you a fair go and a chance at a better life.'
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I've seen the real face of China and it's sadistic and cruel beneath the 'Botox' façade
I've seen the real face of China and it's sadistic and cruel beneath the 'Botox' façade

Daily Mail​

timean hour ago

  • Daily Mail​

I've seen the real face of China and it's sadistic and cruel beneath the 'Botox' façade

Former detainee Cheng Lei has warned the Albanese government to look deeper than China's public façade as she describes distressing surveillance that happens daily in Australia. Ms Cheng was imprisoned for more than three years in China, with the first six months in solitary confinement where she was forced to sit still for 13 hours per day and write 'self–bashing essays'. After almost two years free and now based in Melbourne, she has warned the Albanese government against drinking the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) 'Kool-Aid'. 'There is China's public face, and it's a great face, and it's getting better all the time, with a lot of Botox,' the mother-of-two said. 'But the surface is not how it is at the core and it spends trillions of dollars – its entire stability maintenance budget – to keep up that façade. 'We are just conveniently forgetting China is a state that prioritises the CCP's rule above all else, and individuals don't matter in that system. 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But her concern remains for others, acknowledging that by striking a public figure, she appears 'safer' than others. 'I hear about ordinary Australians, for example, organising a vigil for the Tiananmen Square Massacre and being followed by hooded individuals in Western Australia,' she said, referencing a tip she had been given last week. 'While I'm personally not scared, it is extremely distressing in our country people who are doing ordinary things that are totally within their rights, are having to do it in fear.' Ms Cheng asserted China has a 'serious fear of its own people', whether in mainland China or among overseas communities. 'That's why they try to control people,' she said. 'It's either coercion through the community associations and trying to woo people, and then for them to intimidate other overseas Chinese.' One example she gave was WeChat groups in Melbourne where Ms Cheng said members are prohibited from talking about the independence of Taiwan or Hong Kong. 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'I want people to - and I wish more overseas Chinese people would - think about what it is to live here and how we should all protect the freedoms you can't experience in China.'

Australia's 'biggest brown-noser' politician named on protest sculpture - as Albanese government signs AUKUS deal with the UK
Australia's 'biggest brown-noser' politician named on protest sculpture - as Albanese government signs AUKUS deal with the UK

Daily Mail​

time3 hours ago

  • Daily Mail​

Australia's 'biggest brown-noser' politician named on protest sculpture - as Albanese government signs AUKUS deal with the UK

A provocative piece of street art has taken aim at federal Defence Minister Richard Marles, labelling him 'Australia's biggest brown–noser'. The crude installation, spotted outside his Geelong electorate office on Saturday, featured a large sculpted nose smeared with what appeared to be fake faeces. There was also a pile of 'faeces' resting on a sign which said: 'This memorial erected by The New Radicals in honour of Australia's biggest brown-noser Richard Marles.' It was chained to a nearby post in the city's CBD before disappearing by 5pm, and images of the artwork were shared on social media by the activist group. Australians praised the artwork as 'incredible', with one user on X quipping: 'The drips on the ground are what makes it.' The New Radicals have previously claimed responsibility for similar stunts in the same location, including a mock submarine called 'HMAS Richard'. The submarine are understood to have been a reference to those promised to Australia in the AUKUS trilateral defence agreement between Australia, the UK and the United States. Meanwhile, the latest piece of art coincided with Marles' formal signing of a historic bilateral security pact with the UK on Saturday. The deal, dubbed the 'Geelong Treaty', was signed in the city to represent a 50-year co-operation arrangement between the two allies under the AUKUS banner. Marles described the agreement as a transformational moment for the nation's defence and industry: 'In doing this, AUKUS will see 20,000 jobs in Australia.' 'It will see, in building submarines in this country, the biggest industrial endeavour in our nation's history, bigger even than the Snowy Hydro scheme. 'In military terms, what it will deliver is the biggest leap in Australia's military capability, really, since the formation of the navy back in 1913.' The announcement followed the annual AUKMIN talks in Sydney, with Marles and UK Defence Secretary John Healey celebrating the deal with a beer at a Geelong brewery. It came just days after the Albanese Government transferred a further $800million to the United States under the AUKUS program, despite the agreement being under a review ordered by US President Donald Trump. 'There is a schedule of payments to be made, we have an agreement with the United States as well as with the United Kingdom,' Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told ABC's Afternoon Briefing on Wednesday. 'It is about increasing their industrial capacity, and as part of that, we have Australians on the ground, learning the skills so that when it comes to the SSN–AUKUS—the submarines being built here in Australia, we have those skills.' The AUKUS deal includes Australia acquiring eight nuclear–powered submarines expected to cost between $268billion and $368billion over the next three decades. Despite internal unrest, with several local Labor branches voting to oppose the deal over the previous months across the country, the government has remained firm in its support for AUKUS. The timing of the expected conclusion of the US review into AUKUS remains unclear. It is being led by Elbridge Colby, who has publicly expressed scepticism about the pact and warned it could leave American sailors exposed and under-resourced. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Marles' office for comment on the artwork.

Major update on Aussie state's bid to BAN Welcome to Country ceremonies and Aboriginal flags
Major update on Aussie state's bid to BAN Welcome to Country ceremonies and Aboriginal flags

Daily Mail​

time4 hours ago

  • Daily Mail​

Major update on Aussie state's bid to BAN Welcome to Country ceremonies and Aboriginal flags

Members of the Liberals in Western Australia have voted to support the scaling back of Welcome to Country ceremonies. Delegates at the state council, the WA branch of the party, backed the motion for fewer ceremonies during a closed-door meeting in Canning, southeastern Perth, on Saturday. It was introduced alongside a proposal to remove the Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander flags from behind the Prime Minister at press conferences. Both motions reportedly passed without the need for a formal vote, with one attendee describing the support as 'overwhelming'. Attendees also reignited internal divisions between state and federal Coalition members by voting to abandon the commitment to reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Canning federal MP Andrew Hastie, who represents one of only four Liberal-held seats in WA, said the vote was intended to send a 'clear signal' to Australians. 'We stand for something, we are willing to fight for our values and convictions,' he told The Australian, doubling down on the stance on carbon emissions. 'Energy underlies everything in the economy, energy security is national security.' 'If we're not getting cheap, reliable, affordable power then we're not going to be competitive as a nation,' he said. The policy shift has exposed a widening rift between state and federal branches of the party, with ongoing internal debate in the opposition over whether net-zero targets should be dumped. One senior Liberal source criticised the WA division's stance as out of touch with the rest of the country on the issue. 'It is evident that WA Liberals refuse to listen to modern Australia,' they told Daily Mail Australia on Saturday. But Mr Hastie has rejected claims, saying: 'Well I got the biggest swing in WA, 5.5 per cent, pretty sure I got a strong endorsement.' He also argued that attacking Labor's climate credentials could be a winning strategy. 'We export a lot of our coal and gas to India and China, both their emissions are growing... and yet we deny coal and gas to the Australian people,' he said. Nationals Party Senator Matt Canavan took to social media to welcome the move by sharing an applause emoji. The WA Liberals were nearly wiped out during the state election in 2021, reduced to just two seats in the lower house. They improved their position slightly in 2024, winning seven seats, but Labor continues to dominate with 46. The motions by WA Liberals follow a renewed national debate on Welcome to Country ceremonies, reignited by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. On the first sitting day of Parliament earlier this week, Hanson and her colleagues turned their backs during the ceremony, which drew widespread attention. Defending the action, Senator Hanson claimed the practice had lost its meaning and become 'divisive' and 'increasingly forced.' 'We took this stand because we're listening to Australians, hardworking, decent people who are sick of being lectured to in their own country,' she said. A Welcome to Country is a traditional Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander ceremony in which the local custodians formally welcome visitors to their ancestral lands. While widely seen as a gesture of respect, its growing presence in official settings has become a flashpoint in Australia's culture wars.

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