Pauline Hanson’s brutal message to Invasion Day protesters: ‘If you don’t like Australia Day, don’t take the public holiday’
Pauline Hanson has claimed that people who complain about Australia Day should not take the holiday off work.
The outspoken One Nation leader delivered the blunt message earlier on Tuesday.
“If you don’t like Australia Day, don’t enjoy the holiday,” Senator Hanson said.
“Australia Day should be about national pride and unity, not the shame and division gleefully promoted by activists who make a sport of oppressing Australia and its people.”
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson claims people protesting Australia Day should ‘get over it’
January 26 – when the British flag was raised on Australian soil in 1788 after the First Fleet arrived in Sydney Harbor – is considered ‘invasion day’ by many First Nations people
Australia Day, celebrated every year on January 26, marks the landing of the First Fleet in 1788 when the first Governor of the British colony of New South Wales, Arthur Philip, hoisted the Union Jack at Sydney Cove.
But for many First Nations people it is considered “Invasion Day” or the “Day of Mourning.”
Ms Hanson claimed those who have a problem with Australia Day should ‘get over it’.
‘I hear so often about those people who harass us. (They say) the country was invaded – and the rest of it,” Senator Hanson said in 2022.
“You know what, get over it and move on. Don’t make yourself a victim anymore. It’s not about victimhood,” she explained.
‘Everyone has a choice in life – you actually move on with your life and get over the issues that happened in the past – we’re talking over 200 years ago.
‘You choose what you want your future to look like. There are so many people who want to give you a hand, a helping hand,” Ms Hanson said.
This year, both Cricket Australia and the organizers of the Australian Open have announced that they will not regard the day as Australia Day.
Pauline Hanson said Australia Day should be a public holiday
NSW Premier Chris Minns questioned the sporting bodies’ decision, saying Australia Day was an “opportunity” for Australians to “come together and embrace the fact that we live in the greatest country in the world”.
“There aren’t many opportunities where we can spend a day away from work, come together as a community and realize how great it is to live here,” he said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was a day for Australians to “reflect on who we are as a nation”.
“January 26 commemorates the founding of the colony in NSW, but also of recent times, of course also of multicultural Australia,” he said.