One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has slammed the Welcome to Country ceremony tradition that acknowledges the traditional owners of Australia.
The controversial politician made the remarks following Anthony Albanese’s appearance at Bluesfest in Byron Bay, where he was booed while making the acknowledgment on Sunday night.
The negative response turned to applause when Mr Albanese hinted at backing the arts sector.
Hanson took to Facebook to put her unwanted two cents in, saying: “It is common for politicians to be booed at events but some Australians were shocked that Anthony Albanese would get such a hostile reaction while trying to deliver a so-called ‘Welcome to Country’.
“I don’t know about you but I am very tired of being left out of the ‘welcome’ to my own country.”
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Someone, please explain to Ms Hanson that the ceremony is aimed at paying respects to the Indigenous people of Australia and not directed toward her.
Senator Hanson would go on to call the ceremony ‘left-wing virtue signalling’ and would incorrectly claim that the Welcome To Country is a modern idea.
She continued: “Some of you might not realise but this ‘Welcome to Country’ isn’t some ancient tradition. It is a modern invention.
“Just one of the many overused methods of left-wing virtue signalling that shoehorns politics and pandering into everyday life.”
The Welcome to Country is a form of an Aboriginal tradition dating back thousands of years. It's performed to welcome other people from different areas as a cultural exchange.
According to SBS News, Yolngu man Wanubi Marika cited exchanges between his ancestors and Dutch explorers in the 1600s and Indonesia traders in the mid-1700s, as examples of when such tradition took place.
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The first modern Welcome to Country was performed for non-Indigenous Australians by TV presenter Ernie Dingo and musician Richard Walley back in 1976 in Perth.
It is now common for Indigenous elders to give the Welcome to Country at major events, but Senator Hanson surely won’t let the facts get in the way of such an argument.
Ms Hanson ironically went on to state that a core belief of her One Nation party is that ‘everyone should be equal’, and that is why no one will ever hear her ‘welcoming people to their own country’.
It is not the first time Ms Hanson has taken aim at the address either.
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In 2019, she criticised Qantas for playing announcements that acknowledged Indigenous people on their flights as they touched down at a destination.
Talking to Sydney radio station, 2GB she said: “I am sick and tired of the divisions that are happening within our society, as a nation and saying they are the first people of the nation.
“I actually flew into the Rockhampton today and into Townsville and prior to my landing, on the plane they actually put across on the plane that we must acknowledge the Aboriginals as the traditional owners of this land and for their future generations.”
She believes that because she is Australian, she is just as Aussie as First Nations people.
Topics: Australia
Jayden Collins