Latest news with #WarrenMundine
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Anthony Albanese slammed for 'dividing' Australia during China visit
By Prominent Indigenous leader Warren Mundine has echoed growing calls for Anthony Albanese to stop dividing Australia on the international stage. The Prime Minister raised eyebrows earlier this week during his visit to China , where he held several press conferences in front of three flags - the Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island ones. The gesture sparked outrage back home, where outspoken commentators and radio shock jocks reignited debate to make Australia's national flag more inclusive. Mr Mundine has accused Albanese of dividing the country with the display of the three flags overseas. 'I thought that it was a disgrace,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'He's on the international stage. 'I'm a proud Aboriginal and I love my Aboriginal flag. But it's our flag, nobody else's!' 'He's the Prime Minister and he should be standing next to one flag, the Australian one. 'Aboriginal soldiers fought for our country under the Australian flag.' Albanese has displayed the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags alongside the Australian one at every press conference since he won power in 2022, including his election night victory speech when he was re-elected in May. Prime ministers before him only ever displayed the Australian flag. 'What has it done for the Aboriginal people?' Mundine said. 'Money would be better spent on youth, crime and actually fixing issues. 'It's about time that he started bringing Australia together, instead of dividing everyone.' Mundine admitted that the Australian flag has grown on him over the years and doesn't think any changes to make it more inclusive will happen in his lifetime. He used New Zealand as an example, where 56.6 per cent of Kiwis voted in favour of keeping the same flag in a 2016 referendum. The 18-month process, driven by then-Prime Minister John Key, cost $NZ26 million. 'We have a national flag, whether people like it or not,' Mundine said. 'Every time the debate comes up, they can't get the model right.' 'We live in one of the best countries in the world. Let's start coming together and celebrating it.' Sky News hosts Chris Kenny and Danica De Giorgio also slammed Mr Albanese over displaying the three flags on the international stage. 'Why? He's representing one nation, our nation overseas,' Kenny said. 'This is identity politics on steroids - a gesture that can only confuse anyone watching on from China. It's a step too far.' De Giorgio added: 'Why have we got the Prime Minister of our country going over to a different country, standing in front of three different flags? 'It should be the Australian flag only; you're representing one country. 'You're overseas representing Australia.' The backlash from Aussies online was just as brutal. 'I'm sure that Australia's got to be the only bloody country in the world to have three flags,' one wrote. Another added: 'We only have one national flag. The other two have no relevance in another country. Albanese should be ashamed of himself.'
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Anthony Albanese accused of 'disgraceful' act while visiting China
Prominent Indigenous leader Warren Mundine has echoed growing calls for Anthony Albanese to stop dividing Australia on the international stage. The Prime Minister raised eyebrows earlier this week during his visit to China, where he held several press conferences in front of three flags - the Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island ones. The gesture sparked outrage back home, where outspoken commentators and radio shock jocks reignited debate to make Australia's national flag more inclusive. Mr Mundine has accused Albanese of dividing the country with the display of the three flags overseas. 'I thought that it was a disgrace,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'He's on the international stage. 'I'm a proud Aboriginal and I love my Aboriginal flag. But it's our flag, nobody else's!' 'He's the Prime Minister and he should be standing next to one flag, the Australian one. 'Aboriginal soldiers fought for our country under the Australian flag.' Albanese has displayed the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags alongside the Australian one at every press conference since he won power in 2022, including his election night victory speech when he was re-elected in May. Prime ministers before him only ever displayed the Australian flag. 'What has it done for the Aboriginal people?' Mundine said. 'Money would be better spent on youth, crime and actually fixing issues. 'It's about time that he started bringing Australia together, instead of dividing everyone.' Mundine admitted that the Australian flag has grown on him over the years and doesn't think any changes to make it more inclusive will happen in his lifetime. He used New Zealand as an example, where 56.6 per cent of Kiwis voted in favour of keeping the same flag in a 2016 referendum. The 18-month process, driven by then-Prime Minister John Key, cost $NZ26 million. 'We have a national flag, whether people like it or not,' Mundine said. 'Every time the debate comes up, they can't get the model right.' 'We live in one of the best countries in the world. Let's start coming together and celebrating it.' Sky News hosts Chris Kenny and Danica De Giorgio also slammed Mr Albanese over displaying the three flags on the international stage. 'Why? He's representing one nation, our nation overseas,' Kenny said. 'This is identity politics on steroids - a gesture that can only confuse anyone watching on from China. It's a step too far.' De Giorgio added: 'Why have we got the Prime Minister of our country going over to a different country, standing in front of three different flags? 'It should be the Australian flag only; you're representing one country. 'You're overseas representing Australia.' The backlash from Aussies online was just as brutal. 'I'm sure that Australia's got to be the only bloody country in the world to have three flags,' one wrote.
Sky News AU
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
‘Sideshow': Mundine's Liberal Party dig
Indigenous leader Warren Mundine has doubled down on his dig at the Liberal Party's proposal to introduce gender quotas. On the weekend, Mr Mundine said the Liberal Party lost the federal election due to running a 'crap campaign', not because of its female representation. Mr Mundine said the gender quota debate was a 'sideshow' and a 'diversion' from the real issues, such as the New South Wales Liberal Party being put under administration after it did not register 140 candidates for local government. 'That's cost us a lot of good people,' he told Sky News on Monday. 'Yes, we need more women getting out there, and we had some brilliant women who were in that campaign, but they didn't get elected, and they didn't get elected because we had a crap campaign. 'So let's get back to the real issues.' Asked about his 'slippery slope' remark in The Saturday Telegraph - in which he said if gender quotas are the start, there could later be quotas for people of colour - Mr Mundine said more work had to be done across the whole Australian electorate and suggested the party could attract women and young people into politics while focusing on not losing members. 'A political party survives because they focus on the needs of the Australian people and if they answer that question, they answer those needs,' he said. 'We need to look after our members, look after supporters and keep them in the party and attract other people in the party, attract women, attract young people. Now, that's what we should be focusing on rather than having this sideshow, this diversionary thing, which is not going to win us a vote anyway.' Mr Mundine said the Liberal Party should be focussing instead on 'why we lost the election'. 'Why, in Victoria, in 30 years, we've only been in power for four years? Why is it that we've got a useless government in Victoria but we can't even look like winning it?' he said. It comes after Opposition Leader Sussan Ley described herself as 'zealot' towards the issue of increasing female representation within the Liberal Party in her first address to the National Press Club last week. "If some state divisions choose to implement quotas, that is fine. If others don't, that is also fine," she said in her speech. "But what is not fine is not having enough women. As the first woman leader of our federal party, let me send the clearest possible message: We need to do better, recruit better, retain better and support better." On Friday, The Daily Telegraph revealed a 'quotas v merit' WhatsApp group chat was flooded with messages from outraged Liberal Party members after a NSW Liberals Women's Council meeting on Wednesday, where the idea of gender quotas was discussed. Members of the chat slammed a petition created in May calling for gender quotas to be introduced within the party ranks. Former Liberal Party vice president Teena McQueen was among those to blast a petition on the issue being posted publicly - a move she called "disgraceful'. 'FFS … no one struggling to pay the bills cares one bit about quotas,' Ms McQueen said in the chat, later adding 'What absolute moron is behind this?'. Ms McQueen told Sky News on Friday evening that she had been watching the chat for a week prior to contributing to the since-leaked conversation. 'And then I suddenly thought... we've got no policies. You know, people are struggling, as I said, to pay their bills ... and you guys, your greatest concern is quotas?' Ms McQueen said. 'So, I guess it was the frustration that to win elections, we need to care about things that matter and have decent policies on the table.'
Sky News AU
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Mundine labels Vic truth telling reparations a ‘slippery slope' that could cripple state
Indigenous leader Warren Mundine has the Victorian truth telling commission's recommendation for the government to provide First Nations Australians with financial reparations was a concerning 'slippery slope.' The Victorian government's Yoorrook Justice truth telling inquiry handed down its final report on Tuesday after four years of proceedings and claimed that the state had been illegally occupied. It also claimed that Victoria's First Peoples had been subjected to genocide. The commission made 100 recommendations to the Victorian government including providing Indigenous Australians with tax relief, financial reparations and land grants. But Mr Mundine, who was a driving force behind the No to the Voice to Parliament campaign said the proposal did not represent the view of all Indigenous Australians and said the move would further divide the country. 'It is a slippery slope. We know that because we know that when people ask for something, and it's only a small minority of Aboriginals, you know, more radical Aboriginals and when this starts, they ask for more, and they ask for more,' Mr Mundine told The inquiry claimed the government needed to atone for colonial 'injustices' and further ordered Indigenous groups to be given access to cash generated from state resources. The truth telling inquiry implored the state government to treat Indigenous groups as separate nations, and that taxpayer funds should be used to create a Traditional Owner organisation that would inherit a portion of state revenues. Mr Mundine unleashed on the commission and questioned why it was "asking for more things" given the High Court's recent native title decision which essentially confirmed property rights for Indigenous Australians. 'I think that was the right decision so why is this body in Victoria asking for more things? They are late to the party. 'I think some of these things get a bit crazy and a bit overboard, you know we're trying to bring our nation together and we're trying to treat everyone as equals and we (Indigenous Australians) have every right as equals as every other citizen.' Some Indigenous commentators have criticised the sweeping financial recommendations. One said the cash compensation in addition to tax exemptions for Indigenous people, could potentially send the debt-stricken state broke, according to the Herald Sun. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has refused to rule out paying compensation to First Nations people. Mr Mundine said the Victorian government needed to channel its efforts into improving the living standards of the Indigenous community. He said funding inquiries and implementing legally risky policies with far reaching ramifications was a "bad joke". 'What I would like to see is that the Victorian government actually takes a sensible common-sense approach to this thing rather than dividing the country," he said. 'What they are saying is that they have failed Australian citizens because the last time I looked at the Constitution Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders are Australian citizens if they're not looking after them then then that's a failure of government.' Three of the inquiry's five commissioners, who were each paid between $250,000 and $370,000 'did not approve of the inclusion of the key findings in the final report' which included the creation of a permanent First People's Assembly and a treaty between Indigenous groups and the government. Mr Mundine said if there was disagreement among the inquiry's commissioners, then the parliamentary process to respond to the recommendations would be a nightmare. 'It doesn't worry me that there was disagreement between the commissioners because this just tells you how volatile this is going to be, could you imagine if the commission is arguing about this what is it going to do for the wider Australian community, the wider Victorian community and government?' Mr Mundine said. 'I can bet you a dollar that if it happens in Victoria then other Labor governments will be looking at doing this across Australia.' The Victorian government has a deadline of 24 months to respond and implement the recommendations, which are non-binding, with Ms Allan conceding that 'the recommendations and indeed the findings are incredibly challenging'.
Sky News AU
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Mundine says Cricket Australia is 'out of sync with what the people want' after it drops all matches on Australia Day again
Cricket Australia is once again under fire for quietly scrapping any fixtures on Australia Day with one of the country's most prominent Indigenous leaders Warren Mundine demanding an open explanation to the public. For the second year in a row – and just the second time in 31 years – there will be no cricket on January 26, despite it being a major public holiday and a key date in the summer calendar. The Big Bash League final will be played the night before, on Sunday 25 January, while the men's national team will not be in the country, with many players set to appear in the BBL finals ahead of international T20 commitments. Speaking to Sky Mundine has slammed the sporting body's decision as 'really bizarre', saying Australians deserved answers as to why the game will once again go silent on the January 26 public holiday. 'I just think what they are doing is bizarre. What is the reason they have given for this,' Mundine said. 'It's really pathetic and the public who follow the team, who follow cricket, who love the sport, and pay their good money to watch it, deserve to know, so, if anything, Cricket Australia should come out and give a reason why they won't play on Australia Day.' Mundine said if the decision was politically motivated, then the organisation should no longer carry the country's name. 'My view with Cricket Australia, and a lot of other sporting bodies around the country is that they can really out of sync with what the people want,' he said. 'They want to see their national team playing and if they aren't willing to do that on Australia Day, then I advise that they take the name Australia out of the team.' He added: 'We all want to know what their problem is because cricket is our national game, and we all love it, and we want to celebrate all these cultures together on Australia Day, so, by snubbing it … it's just really bizarre and I don't understand it at all.' Cricket Australia has previously defended similar decisions as being about 'respect', after consulting with Indigenous representatives about how to navigate January 26. In 2021, it dropped the term 'Australia Day' from all promotional material — a move that drew public rebuke from then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Indigenous Australian cricketer Ashleigh Gardner has also been vocal about her discomfort playing on January 26, calling it a 'day of hurt and mourning' for Indigenous Australians. Captain Pat Cummins has separately suggested Australia should find 'a more appropriate date' to celebrate the national holiday. But critics argue Cricket Australia is being subservient to inner-city activists and abandoning its role as a unifying national symbol. 'You can look at it in two ways, and it's all going to come down to their reasoning for why they are not playing,' he said. 'I understand that as an organisation they must do what's best for the sport, that means what's best for the fans. 'But if this is down to a political reason, you have to assume that they must hate Australia. So, they need to come out and be clear to the public why they are doing this.' This isn't the first time the former ALP president has called out the direction taken by national institutions on January 26. In 2024 he told Sky News Australia that bodies like Cricket Australia were guilty of 'hatred of Australians and hatred of Australia'. 'There's one thing I will not tolerate, and that is the bigotry and the hatred of organisations like Cricket Australia, like Woolworths and all these corporations who look at Australian people as knuckle draggers, as bigots and dreadful stuff,' he said at the time. 'More than 67 per cent of Australians want it to remain on the January 26 … but I'm just sick and tired of this annual attack on the values of this country.' The scheduling move has also prompted political commentary, with NSW Premier Chris Minns earlier this year urging Cricket Australia to rethink its approach. Cricket Australia has said little publicly as of now, but last year explained a similar decision as being in fans' best interests due to a clash with the Australian Open men's tennis final - a clash that won't exist this time around.
