AUSTRALIA DAY

I am very honoured to be an Australia Day Ambassador, I feel very lucky to call this great nation home. 

However, many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and many non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians have mixed feelings about celebrating this day. 

January 26th has multiple meanings; it is Australia Day but it is also, for many, Survival Day or Invasion Day. 

I have listened to Indigenous elders say that they do not want change, and I have listened to Indigenous elders who say that they do. 

As a ‘white’ Australian, I know that I am privileged, and this topic is one that I cannot personally comment on. I can however, continue to engage in respectful and positive conversation in the hope that this debate will continue to be reviewed so that ALL Australians can one day come together united and empowered. 

Many of you might then wonder why I am an Ambassador if I support a review of change.
Relinquishing my role does nothing because I lose my voice in this discussion. 

So today I add my voice to the national discussions taking place across the country. I stand along side fellow Australia Day Ambassadors, including many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 

Coming together as a collective, it is my hope that we can move forward and continue to review this issue, respectfully and with the aim of enhancing our future, and if that means a date change, then I wholeheartedly support this.