‘We’re All Australians’: Viral Campaigner Says It’s Time to Rethink Welcome to Country

The topic has come under public scrutiny again after a five-minute Welcome to Country address during the Melbourne Anzac Day dawn service was booed.

Indigenous performers perform the Welcome to Country during a smoke ceremony prior to the state funeral service for Uncle Jack Charles at Hamer Hall in Melbourne, Australia on Oct. 18, 2022. Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

After going viral for trying to engage Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Teal MP Monique Ryan in unscheduled interviews, activist Harrison McLean is getting stuck into another major debate—the Welcome to Country ceremonies

McLean believes the routine has become too prevalent.

“I think it’s a reflection of many Australians around the country that we think the Welcome to Country is divisive,” he told The Epoch Times at a rally in Melbourne CBD.

“It is injecting race politics into an event that is supposed to unite all Australians.”

A survey of nearly 110,000 individuals conducted by News Corp found 68 percent of respondents wanted the ceremony banned completely.

The topic has come under public scrutiny again after a five-minute Welcome to Country address during the Melbourne Anzac Day dawn service was booed and heckled—a similar situation occurred in Perth.

The Welcome and Acknowledgement of Country was created in the 1970s and has become a ubiquitous part of Australian public life.

McLean said much of the media coverage of the Anzac incident focused on the neo-Nazi links of one individual involved in the booing, while failing to discuss why there was discontent with the Welcome.

“I think a lot of Australians are tired of it. I think it doesn’t matter who did the booing, or who started it,” he said.

McLean’s comments were supported by conservative commentator and leader of the minor Freedom Party, Morgan Jonas.

“We are one, whether it’s Aboriginal or Caucasian—this is our country. We’re all Australians, and we need to live here together,” Jonas told The Epoch Times.

“Nobody needs to be welcomed to the land of which they are from.”

The new debate comes after 9.5 million Australians voted against enshrining the Indigenous Voice to Parliament into the Constitution in 2023.

Viral Sensation Not Surprised After Being Turned Away

McLean had two of his videos go viral in recent weeks after surprising both Prime Minister Albanese and independent for Kooyong, Monique Ryan.

At the Melbourne hotel where the prime minister was staying, he asked Albanese why hundreds of thousands of taxpayers could not afford to buy a home. Albanese’s staff and security then intervened.

Regarding Ryan, McLean asked how voters could trust her after her husband was seen on camera taking corflutes promoting Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer.

Again, McLean was turned away by Ryan’s minders at the Kooyong candidates’ forum.

“It was very unfortunate that they weren’t able to take on genuine questions from members of the public,” McLean said.

Jonas said there was an issue when political candidates could pick and choose when to answer questions.

“They’re unable to answer unprompted questions,“ he said. “I think it shows they’ve lost touch with the common man and woman in this country.”