Latest news with #AcknowledgementOfCountry
News.com.au
6 days ago
- Politics
- News.com.au
‘Had a gutful': Pauline Hanson clashes with Sky News host over Acknowledgement of Country snub
Sky News host Chris Kenny has taken Pauline Hanson to task after One Nation Senators turned their back on the Acknowledgement of Country. Ms Hanson and the three other One Nation Senators — Malcolm Roberts and newly elected Warwick Stacey and Tyron Whitten — all turned their back on the Indigenous ceremony during the opening of parliament on Tuesday. The One Nation leader has previously turned her back on the Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country, as debate grows over their use in a wide range of settings from classrooms and official ceremonies to corporate events and sporting matches. Ms Hanson spoke to Kenny from Canberra on Wednesday night, with the host asking, 'Why be so impolite?' 'I haven't just done it recently, and it wasn't the first time yesterday, I've been doing it for the past three years,' Ms Hanson said. 'The other two Senators that have now joined me, they are of the same opinion. They have had a gutful of this welcome to parliament on the floor every morning, plus also around the country.' Tuesday marked the first time Mr Roberts had joined his leader in turning his back. Ms Hanson claimed the reaction from the public on social media had been 'overwhelming'. 'People are actually saying, 'Good on you, you're standing up for us, we're fed up with this, we voted against the Voice, we don't want this, it's overdone,'' she said. 'I have had enough and I do not want a Welcome to Country and to be disenfranchised from my own country that I was born here.' Kenny pushed back, telling Ms Hanson, 'I know you'll get a lot of support for this, I know I'll get a lot of criticism for my stance'. 'I agree that the Welcome to Country is overdone,' he said. 'It's ridiculous how often we see it at the start of various meetings and online forums and the like, but I think it's a really good initiative in the right place at the right time — the start of the Grand Final, the start of some Indigenous events.' Kenny argued 'surely a place when you're opening parliament and getting down to proceedings, it's just a respectful way to acknowledge the land that we all live on and the people that were here first and the culture that is ongoing'. 'It's just polite,' he said. 'Sorry, Chris, no,' Ms Hanson said. 'I'm past being polite when I feel disenfranchised from my own country. Kenny asked, 'How are you disenfranchised just to recognise our history?' Ms Hanson argued 'we see it go further than that' with 'kids being indoctrinated in the educational system' and Indigenous people granted 'more rights over the land than the Australian people'. 'This is causing division; it's divisive,' she said. 'I'm not turning my back on the Australian people. That's why I'm doing it and that's why Australians are backing me, because you've got someone with the guts to actually stand up and say we've had enough of this. Governments will keep feeding this division if someone doesn't stand up to it.' Kenny reiterated that 'a lot of this stuff is overdone and of course there are Indigenous activists who over-claim', but again asked why a simple Acknowledgement to open parliament was 'not just polite and inclusive and a general recognition of our country's shared history'. 'Chris, this is not about the opening of parliament,' Ms Hanson said. 'This happens every morning parliament is sitting … as other people, even the street sweeper, the council worker, he had a gutful because it's before they go out and do their job. This is bloody ridiculous. So whether it's his job or my job, I'm saying I'm fed up of putting up with it as well.' She insisted 'it's not being disrespectful'. 'I'm not turning my back on Australians, I'm turning my back on these policies and ideologies that are dividing our nation and the tokenism that's going on,' she said. 'It's about time. I've been speaking about this for the last 30 years and look at the state of this country, it's in one hell of a bloody mess. I'm not pulling a stunt, I'm sticking to my values and my principles and what I believe in. I want to see a united country as one nation.' Ms Hanson went on to insist the Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country were a recent invention. 'That was introduced by Ernie Dingo in the 1970s, it is not a custom of the Aboriginal people, that's rubbish,' she said. 'Sure, but it's a nice idea and it's inclusive,' Kenny replied. 'I believe it's sad that you're doing that.' But Kenny agreed that the case of Darebin Council worker Shaun Turner highlighted where 'that overreach is so damaging because people are doing too much of this stuff, you get a backlash now where people want none of it'. 'I think that's very sad,' he said. During the election campaign, former opposition leader Peter Dutton had taken aim at the ceremonies, calling them overdone. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday said the Welcome to Country was 'not controversial today, nor should it be'. 'What a Welcome to Country does is hold out, like a hand warmly and graciously extended, an opportunity for us to embrace and to show a profound love of home and country,'' Mr Albanese said, per The Australian.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Sky News host Chris Kenny tells off Pauline Hanson live on air
Sky presenter Chris Kenny has slammed Pauline Hanson 's impolite and disrespectful behaviour during parliament's Acknowledgement of Country. The four One Nation senators turned their backs in protest in the chamber when the statement of respect for Indigenous Australians was read out as part of the traditional ceremonial opening of Parliament on Tuesday. Hanson defended the action on Wednesday, saying she had been doing it for three years because she had had a 'gutful of this Welcome to Parliament every morning'. 'I have had enough and I do not want a Welcome to Country and to be disenfranchised from my own country that I was born here,' she said on Sky News. But Kenny jumped in, interrupting Hanson to say that he believed the ceremony was 'overdone', but that turning her back was 'impolite'. 'I think it's a really good initiative in the right place, at the right time,' he said, as Hanson sighed deeply. 'When you're opening parliament... it's just a respectful way to acknowledge the land that we all live on, and the people that were here first, and the culture that is ongoing. It's just polite.' But Hanson, visibly shaking in fury, repeatedly said 'No' to Kenny, adding that she was 'past being polite when I feel disenfranchised from my own country'. Kenny pushed back, interrupting again to ask the senator how she is disenfranchised 'just to recognise our history.' The senator claimed it was 'divisive,' diverting onto a tangent that children are 'indoctrinated' with the ceremony in schools. 'This is causing division, it's divisive. I'm not turning my back on the Australian people. That's why I'm doing it and that's why Australians are backing me—because they've got someone who has the guts to say we've had enough of this. 'This happens every morning before Parliament is sitting—if it's just the opening of Parliament I would accept that.' Hanson said she was not being disrespectful. 'I'm not turning my back on Australians. I'm turning my back on these policies and ideologies that are dividing our nation and the tokenism that's going on. 'I've been speaking about this for the last 30 years and look at the state of this country, it's in one bloody hell of a mess. I'm not pulling a stunt. I'm sticking to my values, my principles and what I believe in. I want to see a country united as one nation, not this division that's happening. 'I am Australian and I welcome people that are born here and people who actually come from overseas to migrate here -0 I welcome everyone that has a right to this land.' Later in the interview, Kenny raised the issue of hypocrisy, noting Hanson did not protest the Lord's Prayer, which was also read in the Senate on Tuesday. 'Not everybody in the Senate is Christian, yet people show their respect to that tradition,' Kenny said. But Hanson insisted that the Christian prayer is 'tradition.' '(It's) something that's done right from the educational system and it's been part of our history, Christian values that we have, and that's been part of it,' she said. '(It's) not something that's been made up, that's been pushed down our bloody throats. 'It's saying that we acknowledge these people as the traditional owners to repay them respect as the past, present and emerging. Why should I pay someone respect if I don't know who they are—because some of these elders I wouldn't give them the time of day. People have to earn respect.' Yawarllaayi/Gomeroi elder Barbara Flick Nicol told NITV in 2020 that a protocol to welcome and acknowledge visitors has existed among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities for thousands of years. 'It's always been something that we did as a people, understanding and observing the fact that when you are in somebody else's country, that you acknowledge them,' she said. Welcome to Country ceremonies and land acknowledgements have been at the centre of a right-wing culture war after a group of neo-Nazis booed a Welcome to Country address during an Anzac Day dawn service in Melbourne earlier in 2025. Labor has backed Welcome to Country ceremonies, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday celebrating the tradition as a powerful way to begin the new parliament and reflect on Australia's history. Albanese also took a veiled swipe at the stance of former Opposition leader Peter Dutton and some coalition MPs who branded Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country proclamations as divisive and overdone. 'Like a lot of the more positive things about our nation, we shouldn't take it for granted,' Albanese said. 'It is not controversial today.' Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said the ceremony 'set the tone as we re-commit ourselves to the taking of practical action to improve lives and expand opportunity for Indigenous Australians in every part of our great country'. Welcome to Country is conducted by Traditional Owners, while Acknowledgement of Country is a statement of respect for Traditional Owners and connection to land, which can be given by an Indigenous or non-Indigenous person.
ABC News
6 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Hobart City councillor proposes moving Acknowledgement of Country from official proceedings
A Hobart City councillor is calling for Aboriginal acknowledgements at official events to take place before proceedings begin, so they are not "forced on all attendees". Councillor Louise Elliot has likened the Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country traditions to "religious rituals", which she said were being forced on people "against their will". Cr Elliot has lodged a motion calling for the practices to instead take place before meetings and events officially begin, so those who wish to take part can arrive early. "Many community members are completely fed up with being welcomed to their own country and having these beliefs forced on them that they don't subscribe to," Cr Elliot said. Aboriginal rights campaigner Nala Mansell, from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC), described Cr Elliot's reasoning as "exaggerated" and "absurd", but agreed the practice did not need to take place at each meeting. A Hobart City Council spokesperson said there was no formal policy requiring the practice at the start of council meetings or workshops. However, they said the practice had been consistently observed in Hobart since 2015 and was conducted by all Tasmanian councils and all capital city councils. "The inclusion of an Acknowledgement of Country aligns with … strategic documents and cultural protocols and comes from many years of engagement and feedback from the Palawa community," the spokesperson said. Cr Elliot said while it was not mandatory, that did not accurately reflect her experiences. "I chaired a couple of meetings and … I was told 'no, it [the acknowledgement] couldn't be removed' from the agenda," she said. "I was left in a predicament where I could either say something I did not believe in or skip over an agenda item." When faced with this, Cr Elliot said she updated the acknowledgement to recognise "each and every Australian" and, another time, skipped it entirely. She did not receive any punishment or reprimand for doing so, though she said some of her colleagues "definitely raised their eyebrows". Cr Elliot argued the concept of Country was a "spiritual belief" for the Aboriginal community, and therefore these traditions were like religious rituals. "It would be highly inappropriate for Christian rituals, whether it's Communion or the throwing of holy water, to happen in a local government setting," she said. Ms Mansell, the campaign coordinator for the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre and a Palawa woman, said this logic was simply incorrect. "It's completely absurd to suggest that acknowledging the fact of Aboriginal history in this state is similar to religious rituals," she said. "We don't just believe that we owned the land and we don't just believe that our country was invaded — they are facts." Despite this, Ms Mansell agreed with the sentiment that the practice could become "tokenistic" when repeated at every meeting. "I don't see the benefit of offering symbolic gestures at the beginning of meetings because they provide no benefit whatsoever to Aboriginal people," she said. She said politicians should instead acknowledge Aboriginal people by addressing the issues caused by the dispossession of their land. Reconciliation Australia previously described the practices as "simple but profound ceremonies" that allow Australians to express respect for traditional owners. Almost every council in the country, with some exceptions, includes the acknowledgements as part of official council proceedings. In May, a Flinders Island councillor put forward a motion to stop the practice at council events, but it failed to get a seconder. Cr Elliot's motion will be debated at the Hobart City Council meeting on Monday. Cr Elliot said the "composition of the council" meant she did not expect it to be supported.
SBS Australia
7 days ago
- Politics
- SBS Australia
NITV Radio Full - 23/07/2025
In the News, A group of One Nation senators has drawn sharp criticism after turning their backs during an Acknowledgement of Country in the Senate chamber during the ceremonial opening of parliament. A man has been charged with violence and weapons offences after a woman was speared in the head at a remote island community and flown to a Darwin hospital. A new report has estimated the Brisbane 2032 Olympics and Paralympic Games to generate more than $70 billion dollars into the country's national economy. And, NITV Radio speak with GO Foundation alumni Dana Patterson about data sovereignty and current scholar Patricia Bennetts about her upcoming studies. That and more on NITV Radio.
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Backlash erupts over Pauline Hanson's Acknowledgement of Country stunt in Parliament - so do her critics have a point?
A group of senators who turned their backs during an Acknowledgement of Country inside the federal parliament have been sharply criticised. The four One Nation politicians took the action in the Senate chamber when the statement of respect was read out as part of the traditional ceremonial opening of parliament on Tuesday. Cabinet minister Clare O'Neil lashed the Pauline Hanson-led party, saying it was disappointing their action became a point of focus, despite the shows of unity earlier in the day during Welcome to Country ceremonies. This afternoon in the Senate, every One Nation senator stood with me to turn our backs on the divisive and increasingly forced Acknowledgement of Country. 'It was disrespectful and rude and childish,' she told Seven on Wednesday. The opening of parliament was a day to celebrate the strength of Australia's democracy and recommit to working for Australia's citizens, Ms O'Neil added. Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie said while it was up to the government to determine the ceremonies for the opening of parliament, and that she had listened respectfully to the acknowledgement, others had different perspectives. She also compared the One Nation silent protest to politicians who walk out of the chamber during the morning prayers and those who don't support the monarchy. 'The problem in a liberal democracy like ours is when we can't express different views,' she told Sunrise. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has claimed Acknowledgement of Country is 'divisive' and 'increasingly forced'. But Ms O'Neil said the party still should have treated all Australians with respect. 'Whatever your views about the Welcome to Country - we've got First Nations people who have been invited to come to parliament, to extend that hand of friendship and invite us and talk about 65,000 years of heritage that they bring to our beautiful, great country,' she said. 'To treat people that way on the first day of parliament, I think, it was absolutely appalling.' Welcome to Country ceremonies and land acknowledgements have been at the centre of a right-wing culture war after a group of neo-Nazis booed a Welcome to Country address during an Anzac Day dawn service in Melbourne earlier in 2025. This afternoon in the Senate, every One Nation senator stood with me to turn our backs on the divisive and increasingly forced Acknowledgement of Country. I've made this protest on my own for years, but today, our whole team made it clear: we've had enough of being told we don't… — Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) July 22, 2025 Labor has backed Welcome to Country ceremonies, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday celebrating the tradition as a powerful way to begin the new parliament and reflect on Australia's history. Mr Albanese also took a veiled swipe at the stance of former opposition leader Peter Dutton and some coalition MPs who branded Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country proclamations as divisive and overdone. 'Like a lot of the more positive things about our nation, we shouldn't take it for granted,' Mr Albanese said, adding the ceremony was not controversial. Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said the ceremony 'set the tone as we re-commit ourselves to the taking of practical action to improve lives and expand opportunity for Indigenous Australians in every part of our great country'. Welcome to Country is conducted by Traditional Owners, while Acknowledgement of Country is a statement of respect for Traditional Owners and connection to land, which can be given by an Indigenous or non-Indigenous person.
