Head of CBS-Owned Australian TV Network Tells Staff Not to Celebrate National Day

Crowds celebrate Australia Day on day seven of the 2020 Australian Open at Melbourne Park in Australia, on Jan. 26, 2020. Wayne Taylor/Getty Images

The head of the Australian television network, Channel 10, has discouraged staff from celebrating Jan. 26 as Australia Day, arguing the date marks the beginning of a “turbulent history” for Indigenous people, according to an internal note.

Channel 10 is one of five national free-to-air networks and is part of Paramount Australia and New Zealand (Paramount ANZ), a division of U.S. network CBS Studios International.

Ten’s chief content officer Beverley McGarvey wrote in an email sent to staff, co-signed by chief commercial officer Jarrod Villa, that Australia Day is “not a day of celebration,” reported The Australian newspaper.

“At Paramount ANZ we aim to create a safe place to work where cultural differences are appreciated, understood, and respected,” the letter said.

“For our First Nations people, we as an organisation acknowledge that Jan. 26 is not a day of celebration. We recognise that there has been a turbulent history, particularly around that date and the recognition of that date being Australia Day.”

(L-R) James Johnson, Football Australia, Beverley McGarvey, ViacomCBS, Jarrod Villani, Network 10, and Sarah Walsh, Football Australia hold up jerseys during a media opportunity announcing the new broadcast deal between Football Australia and 10 ViacomCBS at Channel Ten Studios in Sydney, Australia, on June 15, 2021. Mark Evans/Getty Images for Football Australia

First Nations is a term originally used to describe Aboriginal people in Canada, but it has been widely adopted in Australia to refer to Indigenous Australians.

However, critics argue the term was misleading because the concept of a “nation” did not exist in traditional Indigenous culture and the term paints a sanitised version of Aboriginal history—in fact, Australia had over 200 different Indigenous tribes around the continent.

The Paramount boss further noted that based on employee requests, staff had the option to work on Jan. 26 and “substitute the public holiday for another day in line with business requirements and approval from their manager.”

“We recognise and appreciate that this is a personal choice,” McGarvey wrote.

“We recognise that Jan. 26 evokes different emotions for our employees across the business, and we are receptive to employees who do not feel comfortable taking this day as a public holiday.”

She asked employees to “reflect and respect the different perspective and viewpoints” of all Australians.

Indigenous Academic Calls Australia Day Focus ‘Virtue Signalling’

Australia Day marks the day when Captain Arthur Phillip’s First Fleet arrived in Sydney Cove (now known as Circular Quay) and claimed the continent for the British Crown. It is perceived by the majority of Australians as a celebratory occasion to commemorate the birth of their liberal democracy.

However, in recent years the day has become the focus of Indigenous rights activists who view the event as the start of an invasion.

Indigenous academic Anthony Dillon argued that the call to cancel Australia Day was misleading because it did not “result in practical benefit for Aboriginal Australians or race relations“ and was instead, based on ”virtue signalling.”

He also said that it “disregards the fact that many Aboriginal people celebrate Australia Day.”

Indigenous academic Anthony Dillon (L), Northern Territory senator Jacinta Price (C) and Indigenous leader Warren Mundine (R) spoke at CPAC Australia in Sydney, on Oct. 1, 2022. Horace Young/The Epoch Times

“Actually, people are divisive, not dates,” he wrote in a commentary on The Epoch Times. “Any divisiveness arises from the fact that some people want the date changed and don’t. And it is not just simply Aboriginal people disagreeing with non-Aboriginal people, as members of both groups sit in the camps of ‘change the date’ and ‘keep the date.’”

“To claim to be suffering on Jan. 26 because Australia Day celebrations are taking place is to claim that your emotional well-being is under the control of those who celebrate on that day.”

“For those who want to use Australia Day as an opportunity to claim to be suffering and oppressed, can you please take some time out to spare a thought for those Aboriginal people who are genuinely suffering because they are hungry, live in unclean environments, and feel unsafe?”

Indigenous Australian looks on after watching the live televsion broadcast from Australian Parliament in Canberra where Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered an apology to the Aboriginal people, in Sydney, Australia, on Feb. 13, 2008. Kristian Dowling/Getty Images

In January this year, The Sydney Morning Herald and other media outlets reported an internal email from an acting staffer at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) that told employees to “educate” themselves about the history of Australia during colonial times.

“It should not be left solely to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to acknowledge the realities of their histories and what this date means,” the email said.

It was also revealed that DFAT staff felt “embarrassed” by the contents of the email which they believed was an “insult” to their intelligence.

But DFAT later said the memo was not an official document and that it should not have been disseminated.

According to a Roy Morgan Poll conducted with 1,372 Australians aged 18 and above from Jan. 21 to Jan. 24, 2022, an increasing majority—65 percent—of Australians want to continue recognising Jan. 26 as Australia Day, up 6 percentage points from a year ago.

The generational differences are notable. Up to 64 percent of Australians under 25 think Jan. 26 should be known as Invasion Day, while 65 percent of those aged 35-49 are in favour of Australia Day.

Support for celebrating Australia Day also grew substantially for those aged 50-64 (75 percent) and 65 and above (85 percent).