Peter Dutton says he wants welcome to country ceremonies respected even as he reaffirms his push to unite Australians under “one flag”.
Dutton made the comments afterdisruptions at Anzac Day servicesand the sudden cancellation of a welcome to country ceremony at a major NRL match in Melbourne.
The Melbourne Storm is facing criticism after it informed Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin she was no longer needed to perform the welcome to country ceremony at the club’s annual Anzac Day clash at AAMI Park against South Sydney on Friday night.
Murphy said the Storm then reversed its position, apologised and asked her to continue with her welcome as originally planned. But she and two First Nations groups who were also scheduled to perform at the game ultimately cancelled.
“We were all just dumbfounded,” she toldthe Age. “We would dearly love to be out there, but they’ve broken our hearts.”
The Storm later released a statement blaming a “miscommunication” for the cancellation.
“We acknowledge and accept the timing and miscommunication was not ideal and we have spoken to the groups concerned this afternoon,” the club said.
The controversy at AAMI Park unfolded after hecklers interrupted welcome to country addresses at Friday’s Melbourne and Perth Anzac Day dawn services –incidents that drew widespread condemnation.
Dutton has previously expressed scepticism about Indigenous acknowledgment and welcome to country ceremonies. In 2023 he told2GB radiothat repeated acknowledgments could “detract from the significance of the statement” and accused some corporations of using them as “virtue signalling”.
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His shadow minister forIndigenous AustraliansJacinta Nampijinpa Price told Sky News in December that “everyone’s getting sick of welcome to country” ceremonies and said there were “other ways” for Indigenous groups to “take up employment”.
The former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbottused similar languageduring the voice referendum.
But on Saturday Dutton urged people to respect the ceremony.
“If an organiser of a particular event decides that there’s a welcome to country, then people can respect that decision,” he told reporters in Cairns.
Dutton also repeated his condemnation of the dawn service interruptions, saying Anzac Day was “not a place for political statements”.
“Near 100% of Australians who were at Anzac Day ceremonies yesterday conducted themselves in a way that we should all be very proud of, but we should condemn those bad actions,” he said.
Dutton, however, reaffirmed his position that, if elected prime minister, he would not display the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags at official press conferences.
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“I want our country to be united under one flag, and I want our country to be as good as it can be, and we can’t be as good as we can be if we’re separating people into different groupings,” he said.
“We are all equal Australians, and we can respect the Indigenous flag and the Torres Strait Island flag, but we unite under one flag, as every other … comparable country does and that’s how we can help close the gap.”
Anthony Albanese, speaking in Melbourne on Saturday, dismissed concerns about welcome to country ceremonies.
“People are entitled to, of course, their view. What occurred yesterday, though – and what has got universal condemnation – is the inappropriate actions of people disrupting an Anzac Day service. That is completely unacceptable,” he said.
Albanese alleged the hecklers were “far right figures” and known “neo-Nazis” and said their threat was growing, citingAustralian Security Intelligence Organisation advice.
“I have had some of those figures confront me, as you might be aware, here in Melbourne during this campaign,” he said.
“It’s good that across the board the political spectrum condemned what occurred yesterday. It was condemned by Mr Dutton as well. That’s a good thing.”
Albanese said if re-elected, he would convene a meeting with media organisations to discuss how to combat the spread of hate and extremism, particularly online.
“We need to take this seriously, these threats, because they are real,” he said.
Victoria police said they interviewed a 26-year-old Kensington man about offensive behaviour at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance on Friday morning and directed him to leave.
They will proceed with a summons and expect the man will be charged.