One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has reiterated her call for Australians to “turn their backs” on the country’s welcome ceremonies.
Senator Hanson reaffirmed her firm stance on “divisive” ceremonies in a heated interview with News from heaven Host Chris Kenny will be appearing on Wednesday night.
Debate on the issue was sparked earlier this month by the welcome to country speech given by Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council (MLAC) Brendan Kerin at an AFL semi-final between the GWS Giants and Brisbane Lions in Sydney.
“Welcome to Country is not a ceremony we invented to please white people, it’s a ceremony we’ve been doing for over 250,000 years BC, and BC stands for Before Cook,” he said before the game.
Tensions over the ceremonies only escalated on Monday night after a welcome-to-the-country speech was delivered at the Brownlow Medal ceremony.
Ms Hanson recently called on Australians “fed up” with traditional ceremonies to ignore them.
On Wednesday, she reaffirmed her stance, describing the ceremony as “symbolic” and questioning why she was expected to recognize “past, present and emerging elders.”
“Actually, it was not a common thing at that time. Many tribes were fighting each other. They did not welcome each other in the country,” he said, referring to Kerin’s comments.
“If we want to acknowledge, then let us acknowledge the men and women who sacrificed their lives defending our freedom and our way of life: that would be much better received by the majority of Australians.”
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson (pictured) has reiterated her calls for Australians to “turn their backs” on welcoming ceremonies.
Senator Hanson also said she had received a number of messages in support of ignoring the welcome ceremonies from “fed up” Australians.
“I’m fed up with the racist connotations that are applied to me all the time. We can’t say anything about it. I’m called racist if I criticise anything to do with Aboriginal people,” she fumed.
“I was born here for the love of Christ. Where is my connection to the land?
“I think it’s divisive. It offends me. I’m sick of hearing about it.”
Mr Kenny accused Senator Hanson of having “completely misinterpreted” Mr Kerin’s speech.
He explained that the message was not created to welcome “white people” to Australia, but was a tradition dating back thousands of years and was used to greet anyone arriving on the land of another tribe, for example the Gadigal in Sydney.
Senator Hanson said she had heard from many workers and corporations that they “needed to say” the speech before the team meetings.
“People are fed up. They can’t take it anymore,” he said.
Instead of being recited at all public events, he suggested that the song Welcome To Country only be performed at indigenous events.
Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council member Brendan Kerin (pictured) welcomed the tradition to country at the AFL semi-final match, saying it was “not a ceremony we’ve invented to satisfy white people”.
“I am turning my back on this in the plenary session of Parliament,” he said.
‘I just don’t accept it and I’m over it.
“I feel very offended that they are not willing to acknowledge that we are Australians.”
Earlier this week, Indigenous leader Warren Mundine suggested that a script be prepared for welcome ceremonies to the country to avoid future confusion and debate.
“I’m actually talking to some of my Bundjalung people back home about the possibility of doing it, of having a script, a couple of paragraphs or something, where we actually welcome people and do it properly, bringing people together and not dividing them,” he told Sky News.
Mr Mundine also criticised Senator Hanson, arguing that her suggestion to “turn our backs” on the ceremony was increasing division.
“We want to get back to the original concept, which is that we welcome people, we say hello, you’re here, we welcome you,” he said.
“I think we need to get back to that concept of really welcoming people, working together and not having divisions.”
Sky News presenter Chris Kenny (pictured) accused Senator Hanson of “completely misinterpreting” Kerin’s welcome speech to the country, sparking the latest address.
Mr Mundine said Welcome to Country was a “beautiful idea where we tell people we welcome them”.
“This has started to become a very divisive political momentum,” he said.
—I’m sorry, Pauline. I think you’ve crossed the line.
But he agreed that Mr Kerin’s welcome to the country was divisive.
“She has also followed the example of Pauline Hanson,” he said.
“It’s causing divisions. Let’s get back to what really matters.”