ON SATURDAY I watched Sky News discussing the protests about Welcome to Country at the ANZAC Dawn service.
They all agreed that protests at the Dawn service were inappropriate and in poor taste. The host then went on to opine that the service men and women of World War I and II who fought for the British
Empire would not support a Welcome to Country.
I agree the past is a foreign land and it certainly would be true that the attitudes and mores of most of the soldiers of 1945 were different from today and they probably would have struggled with the concept of a Welcome to Country.
However, we are not living in 1945 anymore.
In any case, ANZAC Day also honours service men and women of today and they are not exclusively of British heritage and often have different values.
Things change, for example, in my lifetime we had a referendum to change our National Anthem. It isn’t God Save the King any more.
We live in a Constitutional Monarchy that is essentially a democracy.
First Nations peoples have fought to defend our common future in all our wars and are now recognised as Australian citizens with full rights which they often weren’t given in 1945.
I believe in supporting the legal rights of all Australians whether they be of British heritage or not.
So, whilst I would be prepared to have a conversation as to when it is appropriate to have a Welcome to Country, for as long as our First Nations citizens express a desire to conduct such legally permitted services to meet their Cultural needs then I will have the courtesy to respectfully participate.
P.S. I accept the result of the referendum. I spent twenty years defending a Democratic Australia.
Kevin Walsh RFD, Major RAINF (Ret’d), Leader for the Yes Vote for the Voice Bass Coast
