Sunrise host Nat Barr calls out Anthony Albanese over Australia Day: ‘Most Australians are getting sick of this’

Sunrise host Nat Barr has criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for failing to take charge of the Australia Day row and demanded an end to the “tiptoeing around it”.

In an awkward meeting with Agriculture Minister Murray Watt on Monday morning, Barr criticized the prime minister’s hands-off attitude on the controversy surrounding Australia’s national day.

It follows Woolworths’ refusal to sell Australia Day merchandise, major companies dropping the day as a public holiday and Cricket Australia now abandoning the term for the West Indies Test at the Gabba this week.

“Do you think most Australians are tired of tiptoeing around Australia Day, and that there should be leadership from the top so that we don’t have to be the least bit ashamed of what we do on that day?” Barr questioned Mr. Watt.

The Labor Secretary defended the Prime Minister and said he was not calling for a boycott of Woolworths, as coalition leader Petter Dutton did earlier this month.

He added: “I don’t see the Prime Minister being the one to lead a debate on Australia Day.”

But Barr snapped back: “Does that have to be the case?”

Mr Watt responded that Australians are able to form their own opinions without the government telling them what to think.

“Well no, I think it’s a democracy, people are entitled to their different views,” he said.

‘What I don’t think is right is what we saw from Peter Dutton about a week ago about the use of Australia Day and the position of a supermarket to boycott it, putting all the jobs that exist in that supermarket at risk to stand.

‘We are much more focused on issues like the war on inflation than on culture wars and whether supermarkets sell the right kind of thongs.

“I think this is what most Australians want to focus their government on as well.”

NSW Premier Chris Minns branded Cricket Australia’s decision as “strange” and said he would celebrate the national holiday.

“The idea that you would take away a national holiday from any country, especially Australia, is strange,” he told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.

“We should be trying to bring each other together at this time, and this is the day we have set aside to celebrate what it means to live in the greatest country in the world.

‘I am certainly going to do that.’

The minister said Cricket Australia and the big companies had the right to make their own decisions about whether to celebrate Australia.

Barr said Cricket Australia was walking “a fine line” by removing references to Australia Day for this week’s Test.

But Mr Watt insisted: ‘Cricket Australia is an independent organization and they have the right to decide what they want to do.

In an awkward meeting with Agriculture Minister Murray Watt on Monday morning, Barr denounced the prime minister’s hands-off stance on the long-running controversy.

Barr asked Agriculture Minister Murray Watt whether Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should show more leadership on the Australia Day row

“There will be some organizations that celebrate Australia Day loudly, and there will be some that don’t.

“As a government we have made it clear that we have no plans whatsoever to change the date of Australia Day.

‘I’ll be celebrating Australia Day myself on Thursday at a citizenship ceremony and probably a Barbie afterwards.

“I know the Prime Minister plans to celebrate Australia Day, but we respect the fact that different people have different views on this.

‘Cricket Australia is big and ugly enough to make its own decision.’