Dutton says Australians ‘shouldn’t be afraid’ to celebrate Australia Day – As it happened
Peter Dutton says Australians ‘shouldn’t be afraid’ of celebrating Australia Day
In a video posted to social media, wishing his followers a “very Happy Australia Day”, the opposition leader said:
Australia Day is a celebration of the greatest country in the world, and we shouldn’t be afraid of celebrating it.
The defining achievement has been the weaving together of the Indigenous, British and migrant threads of our story.
Being an Australian is a celebration of our shared values, our respect for democracy, our love of family and our commitment to giving back.
Today, we welcome our newest citizens into this story. I want to congratulate each of you on this special milestone. To be an Australian is to have won the lottery of life.
We have every reason to be patriotic and proud today. Let’s celebrate the achievement of Australia, under one flag. From my family to yours, have a very happy Australia Day.
To be an Australian is to have won the lottery of life, and we have every reason to be patriotic and proud. Have a very Happy Australia Day, everyone 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/bBf8PbO6hR
— Peter Dutton (@PeterDutton_MP) January 26, 2025
Key events
That’s it for today, thanks for reading
Here are the main stories on Sunday 26 January:
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Thousands have marched in capital cities across Australia for Invasion/Survival Day.
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South Australia police have charged a man for displaying a Nazi symbol.
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Deputy opposition leader, Sussan Ley, compares First Fleet to Elon Musk’s SpaceX seeking to reach Mars.
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Anthony Albanese has said he is worried about political polarisation taking hold in Australia, calling on citizens to “show our common interest” in comments on 26 January.
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Peter Dutton has said Australians ‘shouldn’t be afraid’ of celebrating Australia Day.
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Australians from all walks of life have been recognised in the Australia Day Honours List, which features 457 recipients – 243 men and 213 women – aged from 14 to 98
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The office of the NSW minister for transport and member for Summer Hill, Jo Haylen, was vandalised yesterday.
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Students will walk out of class next month in a Victoria-wide pro-Palestine strike for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an end to attacks on the West Bank.
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The drug ice has been found in the blood of about one in 10 drivers hurt or killed in road crashes, a decade-long study has found.
Man charged with displaying a Nazi symbol in South Australia
Police said he was one of at least a dozen people from across the country – who were not involved in organised events or protests – who were arrested and charged with various street offences.
SA police said these charges included failure to cease loitering, possession of a disguise, and hinder and resist arrest.
Police said in a statement:
Police were pleased with the overwhelming majority of community members who attended the Adelaide CBD today to participate in the events held.
Police would like to thank those people who safely and peacefully attended city events.
Nine reporter stood down in ‘McLaren man’ scandal thanks supporters
Presenter Alex Cullen has written on social media that he looks forward to whatever comes next after he was stood down from Nine.
He wrote:
“This has been a very difficult time and I just want to say thank you to all the wonderful people who reached out. It means the world to me and my young family. I will miss my colleagues at Today and wish them the best. Thank you again and I look forward to whatever comes next.
Cullen was stood down after he allegedly took a $50,000 payment from billionaire Adrian Portelli for referring to him as “McLaren man”
Portelli had offered to give $50,000 to the first television presenter to refer to him as the “McLaren man” on air.
More on this story here:
Jordyn Beazley
Hello, I’ll now be with you until later this afternoon and bringing you news updates as they come.
We also have this beautiful video filmed at dawn by Aston Brown showing the Aboriginal artwork that illuminated the Sydney Opera House as part of an Australia Day dawn reflection, marking 237 years since colonisation began:
If you haven’t read Sarah Collard’s story about the Aboriginal families who have an unbroken connection lasting more than 7,500 years to the Sydney suburb of La Perouse make some time to do so today – preferably on a bigger screen to appreciate the beautiful pictures by Bec Lorrimer.
Troy Cassar-Daley sweeps Golden Guitars
AAP have more details from the Golden Guitar awards at the Tamworth Country music festival, where an emotional Troy Cassar-Daley has paid tribute to his family in his acceptance speech.
Cassar-Daley returned to the house where his beloved mother died to make music in her honour. His poignant album Between The Fires, recorded in his mother Irene’s lounge room in rural NSW, earned the country star five Golden Guitar awards in Tamworth on Saturday night.
The Gumbaynggirr/Bundjalung singer-songwriter swept the major categories, winning Album of the Year, Male Artist of the Year and Song of the Year for the track Some Days.
Cassar-Daley said his musical collaborators were supportive of recording in the family home at Halfway Creek, in the Clarence Valley. He told the crowd:
(They said) the best thing about this record is that it’s only going to sound like your mum’s house.
He also paid tribute to his wife, Laurel Edwards, for standing by him as he grieved.
I didn’t mean to push everyone away. It’s just that sometimes to heal you have to take the journey on your own.”
The win takes Cassar-Daley’s collection of Golden Guitars to 45.
NSW state MP’s office vandalised
The office of the NSW minister for transport and member for Summer Hill, Jo Haylen, was vandalised yesterday. In pictures provided by the minister’s office graffiti can be seen to say “honour your oath, separate church & state” and “antisemite.”
Haylen said in a statement:
Yesterday my electorate office was subjected to a disgraceful and cowardly attack of vandalism.
This is the fourth time my office has been subjected to this kind of criminal attack.
These kind of criminal acts are designed to intimidate and divide our successful multicultural communities. I will not be intimidated by them and nor will the rest of our inner west community.
My office has informed NSW Police and I have total confidence that they will find the people who did this and subject them to the full force of the law.
Peter Dutton says Australians ‘shouldn’t be afraid’ of celebrating Australia Day
In a video posted to social media, wishing his followers a “very Happy Australia Day”, the opposition leader said:
Australia Day is a celebration of the greatest country in the world, and we shouldn’t be afraid of celebrating it.
The defining achievement has been the weaving together of the Indigenous, British and migrant threads of our story.
Being an Australian is a celebration of our shared values, our respect for democracy, our love of family and our commitment to giving back.
Today, we welcome our newest citizens into this story. I want to congratulate each of you on this special milestone. To be an Australian is to have won the lottery of life.
We have every reason to be patriotic and proud today. Let’s celebrate the achievement of Australia, under one flag. From my family to yours, have a very happy Australia Day.
To be an Australian is to have won the lottery of life, and we have every reason to be patriotic and proud. Have a very Happy Australia Day, everyone 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/bBf8PbO6hR
— Peter Dutton (@PeterDutton_MP) January 26, 2025
Jack Snape
Australian Open attracts record crowds
The Australian Open has surged past last year’s cumulative attendance record with one day of play to go, and will ultimately draw nearly 1.1m patrons through the gates by Sunday night’s end of the 15-day tournament.
They have been drawn by the on-court action and off-court attractions, including new hospitality offerings and more family-friendly activities around Melbourne Park. Tournament director Craig Tiley hailed the result, and said “making sure that fans are comfortable is our major priority”.
But some believe the character of the event has changed. Former player John Alexander said on ABC on Saturday “there is a yobbo element of the crowd that are coming, whether it’s sometimes to cheer for their nationality or cause a problem”.
Read more here:
Josh Butler
PM calls for Australians to unite around ‘common interest’
Anthony Albanese said he is worried about political polarisation taking hold in Australia, calling on citizens to “show our common interest” in comments on 26 January.
The prime minister gave a brief doorstop at the national citizenship ceremony in Canberra, where he presented certificates to some of Australia’s newest citizens. Asked whether he could ever see Australia Day becoming a day of national unity, amid protests and rallies, he suggested both concepts could coexist. He said:
I think what we’ve seen here this morning is the theme – reflect, respect and celebrate – carried out in practice. This was a respectful ceremony. We shared this continent with the oldest continuous culture on earth. And earlier this morning, myself and the governor general met with Ngunnawal elders.
It was a very important, respectful ceremony. And here, we acknowledge the fullness and richness of our history. But what unites us as Australians is our common commitment, whether we are a part of the oldest continuous living culture on Earth, or whether we’re people who are becoming citizens today, we all share that vision as Australians of a fair country, a country in which people can fulfil their opportunity, make a better life than themselves and their families.
As he has in other recent media appearances, Albanese was critical that opposition leader Peter Dutton had decided not to attend the national ceremony, and claimed his opponent was always “looking for the wedge, or where’s the division that he can bring”. Albanese said:
I don’t want to see the polarisation that’s occurred in some democracies. I want Australians to be united, to show our common interest. Because what we have in common is so much greater than anything that any differences that people might have.
I want those differences to be respectful. I think quite often Peter Dutton projects. And there’s no greater example than that, for him to talk about culture wars. What I’ve done in the lead-up to this Australia Day, and every Australia Day as prime minister, is just engaged in celebrating our great country. And that’s what I’ll continue to do.
Andrew Messenger
Brisbane’s invasion day march has got underway.
Many thousands of people have set off for Musgrave Park in South Brisbane where the rally will continue.
The thermometer has yet to hit 30 and the sky is overcast but the multiple water stations set up by organisers have proven popular
The main chants are “What’s today? Invasion day” and “always ways always will be Aboriginal land”.
Campaigners and Olympians recognised in honours list
Australians from all walks of life have been recognised in the Australia Day Honours List, which features 457 recipients – 243 men and 213 women – aged from 14 to 98, AAP reports.
There were six recipients of the Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), the nation’s highest civilian honour: Constitutional lawyer Megan Davis for her service to law and Indigenous people, infectious diseases expert Allen Cheuk-Seng Cheng, High Court Justice James Edelman, arts patron Lyn Williams, human rights advocate Gillian Triggs and the late Indigenous land rights activist Galarrwuy Yunupingu.
Water safety pioneer Laurie Lawrence was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), which also recognised his work as Australia’s swimming coach at three Olympics. Other Olympic champions from Australia’s recent campaign in Paris have also been honoured, with pole vaulter Nina Kennedy, BMX rider Saya Sakakibara, swimmer Cameron McEvoy and skateboarder Arisa Trew each awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).
Late Liberal Party stalwart and former defence minister Kevin Andrews was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM), with other political figures such as former Northern Territory chief minister Denis Burke (AM) and former attorney-general Duncan Kerr (AO) also on the list.
Domestic violence campaigners Suzanne and Lloyd Clarke said they were beyond humbled to receive an OAM. The couple’s daughter Hannah, 31, and her three children were murdered in 2020 after their car was set alight by her estranged husband, which led to a national debate about domestic violence.
Other OAM recipients included Ross Matthews Brown, the executive director of the Brown Family Wine Group. Read more about those recognised by Daisy Dumas here:
Jordyn Beazley
Sydney’s Invasion/Survival Day march has arrived at Victoria Park, with the crowd yelling “too many coppers, not enough justice”.
Sussan Ley compares First Fleet to Elon Musk’s Space X seeking to reach Mars
Josh Butler
Deputy opposition leader made the comments in an Australia Day address to a church service in her electorate.
Ley, the Member for Farrer, gave a speech to a mass service in her town of Albury today. Praising this country as “peaceful, prosperous and free”, she said Australians should be proud of 26 January:
Because despite the black arm brigade, who will be marching in the streets of our cities today, the fact is the story of Australia is one that is objectively good. We need to reject what those mobs are saying today through their loudspeakers and their iPhones.
The problem with those activists is they are so fixated with projecting themselves as survivors, that they leave no room for us to come together as citizens. And history shows us strong and successful societies are not made up of survivors, they are built and maintained by citizens.
In the opening paragraphs of the address, a transcript of which was distributed by her office, Ley spoke of the arrival of British settlers into Sydney Cove in 1788 – and drew parallels to Musk, the world’s richest person, Tesla CEO and now confidante of US president Donald Trump. Ley said:
All those years ago those ships did not arrive, as some would have you believe, as invaders. They did not come to destroy or to pillage.
In what could be compared to Elon Musk’s Space X’s efforts to build a new colony on Mars, men in boats arrived on the edge of the known world to embark on that new experiment. A new experiment and a new society.
And just like astronauts arriving on Mars those first settlers would be confronted with a different and strange world, full of danger, adventure and potential. From that moment our national story stood at a crossroads.
Ley’s invocation of Musk comes a day after opposition leader Peter Dutton’s frontbench reshuffle named Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to a newly created role of shadow minister for government efficiency – echoing Musk’s own idea for a department of government efficiency.
Adeshola Ore
We’ve been speaking to protesters at Melbourne’s Invasion Day rally about why they have chosen to march today.
Jason Brouwer, 36, says he first attended an Invasion Day rally in Melbourne almost 10 years ago:
There’s been massive change which is very heartening to see, particularly in the current political climate and what’s happened in the past couple of years with the failed referendum.
For a country to recognise and understand it’s history, to properly to be able to reconcile with that, it must tell the truth. We currently don’t do that as a collective.
Albanese saw Leeser appointment as key to voice to parliament support
Albanese has also revealed Labor thought there was a “path forward” on the issue of the Voice to Parliament due to Dutton’s appointments in the shadow cabinet:
Peter Dutton, at the beginning of the term, knowing that we would hold a referendum on constitutional recognition, appointed one of the architects of the voice, Julian Leeser, not just as the shadow minister for Indigenous affairs, but as the shadow attorney general as well. That was a sign that there was a path –
Clennell:
He threw a dummy at you, did he?
Albanese:
That was a sign that there was a path forward on this issue. Now, Peter Dutton chose a different path. That’s a matter for him. We respect the outcome, but we don’t resile from the fact that we said that we would hold a referendum. We said there was no certainty of the outcome, and we respect that.
