Australia Day 2026
This past week we commemorated the innocent lives lost at the Bondi Beach massacre last year; this weekend, we mark perhaps the most contentious date on our national calendar: Australia Day on 26 January.
In light of recent events, this Australia Day should be a day of reflection and reconciliation rather than patriotic revelry. We should all be asking ourselves what type of country we as a people want Australia to be. While we have plenty to be proud of, it has become overwhelmingly apparent that something rotten has taken root in our nation, and we are now reaping its spoiled harvest.
Barely a month after 15 people were cruelly slain in a hateful attack at one of our most iconic landmarks, the worst shooting in Australia since Port Arthur in 1996, can we really say this is what we want for Australia?
As the country continues to be divided along ideological lines – be it racial, political, religious, sexual or otherwise – as once-trusted international alliances shift and crack, can we afford to become complacent about what it means to be Australian?
Our national identity is at risk of being overrun by extremist ideals and political intolerance that conflict with our culture and the values we hold as being innately Australian: mateship, respect, loyalty, and the freedom to have a go.
Even within ourselves we have become embroiled in a cultural battle to change the date of Australia Day, an intense annual debate that has raged for years.
For most Indigenous people, the 26th of January is a day of mourning that represents the beginning of bloody colonial conquest. Anglo-Saxon Australians, particularly descendants of convicts and settlers, recognise it as the founding of Australia.
Historically, it marks the day in 1788 that the First Fleet landed in Botany Bay and raised the Union Flag, establishing a penal colony that was formalised in February of that year. It wouldn’t be until 1901 that we were ratified with federation. Australia is unique in that our primary national holiday celebrates our criminal origins, rather than when we attained nationhood.
Coming to terms with our colonial past, reconciling and mending our fractured society poses the first major hurdle to resisting the rise of tyranny on our doorstep. Australia Day can be the day we as Australians from all walks of life unify under a common set of values instead of squaring off against one another.
A recent Roy Morgan poll showed a majority of Australians (72%) support the date remaining 26 January, up 3.5% from two years ago, while those who want it to be called Invasion Day has dropped 3.5% to 28%. It reflects a growing trend of support for the date, particularly among males and younger voters.
This will be the first Australia Day since the federal government announced a royal commission into the Bondi attack and introduced new hate speech legislation. It will be closely observed how the new laws will come into play should any protests or demonstrations go awry.
And if social cohesion is among Prime Minister Albanese’s primary objectives with establishing a royal commission, the government must turn their scrutiny inwards and examine how years of policy making over successive governments have shaped Australian society.
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There is no singular nor unanimous fix to the problematic nature of Australia Day.
Changing the date would only serve to isolate a large proportion of the population, including immigrants who have become proud and contributing citizens. On the other hand, keeping it further damages relations with Indigenous Australians and devalues their place in society. Both scenarios breed contempt, providing little middle ground for reconciliation to be achieved.
Which is why we can’t rely on elected officials, bloated bureaucrats, or overpaid policy makers to bridge the schism. Australia Day is the one day of the year that we the people get to decide how we celebrate what it means to be an Australian.
Some like to participate in the democratic ritual of expressing themselves through public demonstration, while others preferred the time honoured tradition of a backyard barbecue with mates and Esky of cold drinks.
Whether you’re waving flags or turning snags, take a moment this Australia Day to contemplate our complicated past and appreciate the fragility of our freedom relative to the rest of the world.
We enjoy the best of what this world has to offer in many regards: blessed with an abundance of natural verse biosphere, and the oldest continuous culture stretching back more than 65,000 years.
These aren’t conditions to be taken for granted, and it is all vulnerable to internal and external forces that threaten to warp and distort, even destroy, the Australian way of life. We’ve already witnessed on multiple occasions how a day at the beach can quickly spiral into chaos and bloodshed. However you choose to mark Australia Day in 2026, do it with respect and reverence, not a riot or an uprising.
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