Normally I tune out to this annual debate since it feels so polarised and stale, but the messaging from Woolworths, Cricket Australia, the Australian Open and others this year suggests big companies are concerned about an attitude shift within Australian society. It seems they’ve decided the inevitable backlash is now worth it because the silent majority has begun leaning in favour of change.

Is this just a natural result of this being the first post-referendum Australia Day or is there a longer-term change unfolding here?

  • A1kmmAEnglish
    6·
    10 months ago

    I think there are probably at least 4 groups:

    • A - don’t want a national day.
    • B - want a national day, but actively want to change the date.
    • C - want a national day, don’t care when it is, even if it is the 26th January.
    • D - want a national day, and are staunchly opposed to changing the day.

    I don’t think D has never been a huge chunk of the population; the reason people take that position is for a range of reasons (I suspect one is they see being opposed to people who like B is part of their identity, and otherwise wouldn’t care, or maybe they actually like the racist undertones of the date, or they are just conservative and don’t like change, and it’s been that day all their life).

    B is probably growing, but C is the position of apathy. I’d imagine C is probably the largest.

    The real question is then how A + B balances out D. I imagine that in some states, there is probably more A + B, but other states have a strong D contingent.