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Jackie ‘O’ Henderson calls for Australia Day date change, says she’s tired of feeling ’embarrassed’ about celebrating January 26
Jackie O Henderson has called for the date of Australia Day to be changed.
The 47-year-old told her co-host, Kyle Sandilands, on KIIS FM’s The Kyle and Jackie O Show, that she doesn’t want to feel “ashamed” about celebrating this country.
“I want to be able to celebrate Australia because I love this country and I’m very patriotic,” Jackie explained.
Jackie ‘O’ Henderson (pictured) has called for an Australia Day date change and says she’s tired of feeling ’embarrassed’ about celebrating January 26.
“I want to be able to do it in a way that I’m not ashamed of doing it, so I’m more than happy to move the date.”
She continued: “If you change the date, you’re not hurting yourself personally, but if you don’t change the date, you’re hurting a lot of people.”
A long-running campaign to abolish Australia Day or change the date has a growing number of Australians uncomfortable with our national day of celebration.
The 47-year-old told co-host Kyle Sandilands (pictured) on KIIS FM’s The Kyle and Jackie O Show that she doesn’t want to feel “ashamed” about celebrating this country.
The date has been disputed for years, as it is the day in 1788 when the First Fleet arrived in the country and Sir Arthur Phillip raised the British flag at Sydney Cove.
Many see the date as representative of the start of the painful and devastating impact that colonization has had on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Telstra along with Channel 10, Woolworths, mining giant BHP, financial firms Deloitte and KPMG and biotech company CSL have joined the growing list of companies and organizations that will allow staff to work on January 26.
I want to be able to celebrate Australia because I love this country and I am very patriotic. I want to be able to do it in a way where I don’t feel ashamed,” Jackie said.
Channel 10 bosses told their staff in an email that the network will not celebrate Australia Day and that employees could go to work instead of taking the day off.
Parent company Paramount ANZ’s chief content officer, Beverley McGarvey, and co-director Jarrod Villani referred to Australia Day as ‘January 26’ in the email.
The couple told staff it was “not a day of celebration” for indigenous peoples and said employees could decide whether they wanted to take the day off as a public holiday or work if they preferred.
The date has been disputed for years, as it is the day in 1788 when the First Fleet arrived in the country and Sir Arthur Phillip raised the British flag at Sydney Cove. Many see the date as representative of the start of the painful and devastating impact that colonization has had on Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders (Australia Day protest pictured)