The pre-dawn stillness of Anzac Day is supposed to be one of the few moments in Australian life where the air feels heavy with a shared, silent understanding. It is the one day a year when the noise of our modern, fractured politics is meant to give way to a singular focus: the sacrifice of those who gave everything for the person standing next to them.
But this year, just like last year, that silence was not just broken, it was shattered. In Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, the solemnity of the Dawn Service was marred by a chorus of boos during the Welcome to Country.
Predictably, the political response was swift. Leaders were quick to label the hecklers as “bastards”, “un-Australian”, and “disgraceful”. They pointed, with some factual justification, to the presence of far-right extremists and neo-Nazi agitators looking to hijack the day for their own hateful agendas. If that were the whole story, we could dismiss it as the fringe being the fringe.
However, if we look at the sheer volume of this year’s discontent, along with polling from last year after booing rang out during 2025 ceremonies, which showed nearly 70 per cent of Australians wanted these ceremonies stopped, and figures as high as 90 per cent in some groups, we have to admit this is not just a fringe problem.
It is a symptom of a nation that is being systematically worn down by division.
I do not write this from a place of detached observation. Despite my pasty complexion, my family carries the heavy, jagged history of this country. My paternal grandfather was a member of the Stolen Generation. The scars of those atrocities shaped his behaviour, creating a ripple effect of trauma that filtered down to my own father, who eventually destroyed his life with alcohol and refused to play any part in mine.
I do not mention this to garner “identity points” or “credibility” to speak – concepts I find exhausting in a world that now values group belonging over individual character. I mention it to make a simple point: the horrific treatment of Indigenous Australians is a real, living history. It has consequences that are still felt in the lounge rooms and hospital wards of this country today.
If I truly believed that a repetitive, mandated land acknowledgement played a part in healing those wounds or fixing the broken cycles in families like mine, I would be the first person standing in the front row cheering. But it does not. In fact, we are reaching a point where these ceremonies are having the exact inverse effect. Instead of fostering respect, they are breeding a deep-seated resentment that is now boiling over at our most sacred events.
Anzac Day is meant to be about solidarity. It is a day to pay respects to those who voluntarily risked their lives for their loved ones and for future generations, regardless of their background. Indigenous Australians served in the Great War and every conflict since, often returning to a country that did not even recognise them as citizens. Their service is a vital part of the Anzac story.
But the Welcome to Country, in its current ubiquitous form, has moved away from a gesture of respect and into the realm of political theatre. When an elder stands up to “welcome” a crowd to their own country, it can create a psychological friction. To the average Australian, the nurse, the tradie, the veteran whose family has been here for generations, the phrasing can imply they are merely guests on the land they or their forebears fought and died for.
On a day designed to celebrate what we share, we are being forced to focus on how we are different. We are being told, “This is mine, and you are being allowed to stand here.” It is a message of exclusion wrapped in the language of inclusion.
We need to talk about the loud chorus of everyday people who joined in or stood by in sympathetic silence. These are not people who hate Indigenous Australians. They are people who feel worn down by a government and a corporate class that, in their view, insists on separating citizens into siloed groups.
This resentment is the same fuel that has powered the resurgence of parties like One Nation. Whatever you think of their platform, their core message, unity under one flag regardless of skin colour, religion or sexuality, resonates because it offers an alternative to the “diversity is our strength” mantra that many feel has been repeated while the social fabric appears to be fraying.
The government’s insistence on diversity, equity and inclusion metrics and performative box ticking has created an environment where people feel they are being lectured to at every football game, every work meeting and now, every memorial service. When you force a ritual on a population, it stops being a gift and starts being a mandate. And Australians, by nature, do not take well to being told how to feel, especially on Anzac Day.
Even within Indigenous communities, there are voices calling for a rethink. When a ceremony becomes perfunctory, it loses its meaning. If you hear a Welcome to Country five times a week, it becomes background noise or worse, an irritant.
Opposition figures have argued the practice risks being devalued through overuse. There is a broader point here. When it becomes a standard part of many public gatherings, its significance can be diluted and it can become a point of contention.
At a veteran’s commemoration, the focus should be the cenotaph. It should be the Ode. It should be the Last Post. When we introduce a secondary ceremony that carries heavy cultural and political weight, we risk creating the very division leaders say they want to avoid.
Australia is a cultural melting pot, and that is something to be proud of. But a melting pot only works if there is something that fuses everything together. That is our shared identity as Australians.
Politicians need to do more to focus on what binds us rather than amplifying what divides us. Diversity is a fact. Unity is the strength. A people united are stronger than a people divided into categories such as oppressor and oppressed, or visitor and host.
The booing at the Shrine of Remembrance was ugly. It disrupted a sacred moment. But rather than only condemning the noise, leaders should also reflect on the sentiment behind it. Many people want to feel a sense of belonging at national ceremonies, not because they have been formally welcomed, but because they are Australians standing on Australian soil, honouring Australian service.
If we continue down a path that is seen to institutionalise division, Anzac Day will not be the only thing at risk. We risk losing the sense of mateship that the day is meant to represent. It may be time to move away from performative scripts and refocus on a shared national story.
Your family history is clearly painful, and that deserves respect — but that same respect needs to be extended to First Nations people and their connection to Country. Calling Welcome to Country “divisive” ignores the fact that the real division in this country comes from dispossession and exclusion. It doesn’t take anything away from Anzac Day; it just asks us to recognise the full story of this country, including the fact that First Nations people served in Australia’s wars while being denied rights at home. Acknowledging Country isn’t political theatre. It’s a simple act of respect that can deepen, not diminish, the meaning of remembrance.
Thank you Yumi, totally agree with your sentiments.
I don’t agree with you. It actually is divisive. Aboriginal people are Australian people. Under the one banner but different culture. They aren’t separate to Australia but part of it like us all or at least, like we all should be. Some Aboriginal people tell us that “Acknowledging Country” is a very recent phenomenon and never was done before. I feel that it does actually separate Aboriginal people and white skinned people. Anzac Day is about honouring the sacrifice of ALL soldiers not different races of soldiers. If they were treated badly as you say, that needs to be dealt with but not at an Anzac Day Ceremony. The activists are making it a political statement and I understand why some who were there, booed.
Beautifully said
Out of respect for the Aboriginal people who fought for Australia, it was very appropriate.
Having ‘Welcome to country’ at every meeting you attend diminishes the sentiment and it becomes meaningless and just another component of opening the meeting
Do I agree with the booing at the ANZAC ceremonies- absolutely not, disrespectful and harmful.
You don’t have a Welcome to Country at every meeting you attend. Welcome to Country can only be done by Indigenous Elders. The fact that so many people mix this up with Acknowledgement of Country may say something about the lack of knowledge of and understanding for the importante of a Welcome to Country. Which is a concern. And the reason devisive pieces based on so little knowledge, like the one we read here from Jacob, are written.
Well said! Agree completely
Not only probably the best article I have read around “Anzac Day” related issues and the Welcome to country ceremonies, BUT by a person who cannot be said to not understand , based on heritage and understanding. WELL DONE Jacob.
Jacob, that is a bold article. And I say that not just because I agree with it, but because any challenge to the dominant narrative surrounding Welcome to and Acknowledgement of, Country is liable to have someone tagged with the ‘right wing, racist, hateful’ tag that banishes any contrary opinion in true Orwellian tones to the realms of heresy.
Yes, its not a fringe problem as the numbers tell us. And lectures in morality and how to behave from Church and Government leaders are not going to cut it in Australia I would think. The Church and governments lecturing to the people on morality? That’s an ‘interesting’ scenario.
Unpacking ANZAC Day would be a thesis in itself. What worries me is that we seem to be going down the path of the US who treat their military with an almost religious reverence when it is primarily the means by which the US seeks to impose its political and economic will upon the rest of the world. Perhaps one day Anzac Day will become a time to ask what really is the role of the Australian Military. Do we really need to be a part of invading other countries in the service of the US to feel good about ourselves? But perhaps that’s a bridge to far.
A very good article in which I totally agree. You are correct in saying that the overuse of Back to Country is getting on many peoples nerves despite the fact that they support the indigenous community. Overdone like everything else reduces the impact of a statement.
Why this on a hello care pages?
I was wandering that
You just lost my readership.
It is one of the many places, ceremonies etc, where Welcome to Country is appropriate. To recognize the first people of this land is so important.
Regards
A ex WRAN Veteran
100% agree with your article. Anzac Day is about paying respects to every soldier who went to war regardless if that person was a white Australian, a dark skinned Australian or any other coloured Australian who put their lives on the line to fight for this country. It is true that the more I hear a “Welcome to country”, the angrier I get and it pushes me further away from thinking about the plight of Aboriginal people. It’s not necessary and it is divisive. We never did that in decades past, why now? My belief is that there is a minority of people within the Aboriginal people who are stirring the pot and causing issues between all Australian people. The government is prone to being influenced by minority groups. It’s got to stop. Now that we have a real threat to the safety of all Australians by Islamic extremists, we have to be united to stand together not separate. Anzac Day celebrations have no basis in politics.
Left wondering why you used a vehicle for keeping up with whats happening in aged care to include a very personal viewpoint on the Welcome to Country “issue” ( an issue I and most others I presume are conversant with) this now reflects on your journal’s rationale for existing – perhaps a letter to the editor would have been a better choice
Hi there, HelloCare is Australia’s largest aged care and senior news platform. HelloCare has covered veteran affairs since the platform’s inception, and we feel that the disruption to these services over the last two years is a growing concern. We realise that this is a divisive topic, and the hope is not to incite vitriol, but to evoke thoughtful discussion on the topic and hopefully see Anzac Day ceremonies once again return to peace.
Supported, thank you for writing.
Hi Jakob
Thank you for your timely, honest and valued contribution to this difficult debate.
I, personlly, support your sentiments entirely
Keep up your great work
John
What has this topic got to do with the purpose of this site? Most inappropriate, even it heartfelt.
Well said. Anzac Day should be focused on Anzacs. There are many other times, places and opportunities to focus on Indigenous history; as we should.
Still do not excuse booing.
Is “HelloCare” really the appropriate platform to be airing these views, which appear to have a particular political bias? What does the Anzac Day/Welcome to Country relationship have to do with aged care issues? In answer to both questions, I suspect there is no legitimate connection.
Hi there, HelloCare is Australia’s largest aged care and senior news platform. HelloCare has covered veteran affairs since the platform’s inception, and we feel that the disruption to these services over the last two years is a growing concern. We realise that this is a divisive topic, and the hope is not to incite vitriol, but to evoke thoughtful discussion on the topic and hopefully see Anzac Day ceremonies once again return to peace.
An excellent article, thank you. I agree with a lot of what you say. As a migrant, I am grateful to be part of our Australia, and I know how much we migrants have added to the “lucky country” in the past decades. But to find more unity, respect for each other, acceptance of our diversity, pride in our unity, we ALL need to work harder, and be engaged as peace makers and builders of bridges. Mother nature can show us, the beautiful diversity of healthy forests. I remind myself, one politician is a NOTHING/NOBODY, without his/her followers. For me, what hurts is to see how many Australians follow and applaud those politicians who do nothing else but divide Australians. Have any of these people looked into nursing homes recently? More than 50% of the workforce there are migrants on low wages. There is dignity and love for Australia in them, let us not forget this. (And by the way, we have thousands of vacancies we cannot fill.) We can be so much better when united, we need to keep on learning from each other.
Yes Welcome to country at an Anzac ceremony is an invasion of a shared focus of remembrance of those, of all races & backgrounds, who have given their service and lives to preserve this country. It is in the simplest expresion, very bad manners & belittling to the sacredness of the event. In general I see it as a political tool that takes advantage of people’s grief & struggles to perpetuate them. It robs people of industry & hope. It causes an us & them society. It is disruptive, & divisive. It denies Australians other than indigenous people the recognision of equal ownership and responsibility for our blessed country.
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I appreciate your opinion is heartfelt, Jakob, but I completely disagree with it. And it would be a reverse form of racism for me to accept it just because you have a First Nations ancestor.
I am a pakeha (white person) originally from Aotearoa (New Zealand) so I have had the benefit of spending my young adulthood in a country where Maaori calls for recognition of Indigenous sovereignty cannot be as ignored as they generally are in Australia.
People living in Australia who are not First Nations need to recognise that being welcomed to Country is a generous gift, not something to be spurned or even metaphorically spat on. First Nations peoples have a different and foundational status to other more recent migrants, white or not, including in their relationship to Country. ANZAC ceremonies – or indeed any other cultural events or acknowledgements – cannot trump this.
If people find Welcome to Country token or trivial, perhaps they should think about the ongoing ‘tedium’ of the fact that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples still lag behind on all the stats that matter – health, welfare, housing etc – while being massively overrepresented in negative fgures such as incarceration and deaths in custody.
Abandoning Welcome to Country on days like ANZAC Day is not going to challenge the legacy of colonialism or the rise (again) of the neo-nazis – it will just embolden them. Denial of difference has never overcome division. State, territory and Commonwealth governments need to strengthen the message and explain why Welcome to Country is important for modern Australia. We could all help to make our experience of it more meanngful by learning about the history of Australia and why the same problems occur over and over again at the expense of First Nations.
I worry too, that the current trend of rejecting Welcome to Country capitulates to what I see as a growing acceptance of racism fanned by political parties like One Nation and increasingly, the Liberals. Having just watched the film ‘Nuremberg’, the most striking theme for me was what Hannah Arendt, not long after those events, described as ‘the banality of evil’ – it only takes a few ‘normal’ people under the ‘right’ conditions to develop a full blown persecution of minorities, especially if it is assisted by others who look away because they are uninterested – or even bored.
Bernie McCarthy writes in response to this article that he will withdraw his readership of this site. This is very sad. But it does emphasise something of what Jacob talks about. We tend to live in silos and like to see our own views of the world reflected back to us. So we often are not exposed to opinions that run contrary to our own. So it’s easy to see our opinions as being right and everyone else’s opinion being wrong. But the world is not like that. Just because someone else has a different opinion doesn’t mean they are wrong. It may be we are wrong. Or both are wrong. It’s good to listen to everyone’s view and imagine, ‘what would it mean if I was actually wrong about this?’ But to listen you first have to stop talking.
Working in dementia taught me to listen; be silent; imagine being the other; it only took me about 50 years to get to that point, but I was starting from a low base. Now whenever I am thinking through ideas, I like to embrace the dictum, “but I might be completely wrong”.
Bernie, you should stay and disagree with people.
I’m from a non-indigenous military family and Anzac Day is definitely the correct time for Welcome to Country.
Australia and New Zealand both had peoples on our countries, prior to white settlement.
Australia’s indigenous have looked after country to over 65,000 years.
We are all now inhabitants of our beautiful countries.
The indigenous peoples fort alongside with the new inhabitants, to protect our shared country.
We should all be proud and grateful for ALL those who have been and are in the ADF services, for the protection of our people and lands. Especially for the individuals who did not return and their families.
“Lest We Forget” – a plea to remember the sacrifices of all fallen soldiers, particularly during Remembrance Day and Anzac Day.
Again, Anzac Day is definitely the most appropriate time for a Welcome to Country ceremony.
If I was at the shrine I may have booed for the moods referred to.
Also in retreat Uncle ,??’s comment “always was and always will be aboriginal land”
Also as in ” on whose land we live and work ”
If that’s not divisive and antagonistic thereby prompting a reaction such as at the Shrine.
Cheers keep speaking up for the majority of Australian residents ,!!