
Anthony Albanese's message for Australians who criticise Welcome To Country
The 48th parliament officially opened on Tuesday, marking Mr Albanese's second term as prime minister after his landslide election win, with Labor holding 94 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives.
The official procession filed into the Great Hall of Parliament House before a Welcome to Country and traditional dances were performed.
Indigenous Elder Violet Sheridan welcomed the assembled politicians to Ngunnawal land.
'To walk on Ngunnawal country is to accept responsibilities. It is not just about being here. It is about caring for this land,' Ms Sheridan said.
'As part of this welcome I offer you spiritual protection and safe passage. May you all walk gently, listen and carry the spirit of this country with you.
'May your journey on Ngunnawal country be of understanding, respect and shared purpose. Guided by the values of care, connection and community.'
Following the ceremony, Albanese reinforced the importance of Welcome to Country ceremonies, claiming it was a 'powerful way' to begin the new parliament.
'Like a lot of the more positive things about our nation, we shouldn't take it for granted,' Albanese said.
'This ceremony didn't take place until 2007 and was controversial in 2007. It is not controversial today. Nor should it be.
'It is a respectful way of us beginning our deliberations here in Canberra, which of course means meeting place.
'It is a reminder as well of why we all belong here together, that we are stronger together and we belong.
'Consider the beautiful set of contradictions that make up who we are. A youthful nation, yet one of the world's oldest democracies. An ancient continent but one that we share with the world's oldest continuous culture.
'What an extraordinary privilege, what a source of pride for all Australians.
'We have so many facets and they come together to make a unique whole. They come together here on the ground and they come together in the sky above us.
'Look up on a clear night when you are far from city lights and you will see the dark emu with the Southern Cross shining on its head. When you look at the Southern Cross, look at the star that twinkles most softly.
'It is the part of the Southern Cross that features on the Australian flag but not on the flag of New Zealand.
'Several years ago now the international astronomical union formally recognised the star as the name given to it by the Wardaman people in the NT.
'To the Wardaman it represents a red dilly bag filled with special songs of knowledge. It is an Australian star, a piece of ourselves reflected back at us from our great southern sky.
'It flies above us now on that giant flag pole at the top of this building.
'One more reminder that this country and this parliament is our great diversity of chapters coming together and the welcome to country lets us touch the very beginning of the story, our story, the Australian story.'
'Let us do it with the same sense of grace and courage that First Nations people show us with their leadership,' he said.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley urged MPs to let the Welcome to Country 'set the tone' for the next Parliament.
'As Australians, we share a story unlike any other, with an ancient culture, the oldest living in the world, rooted in land, language and story. A democratic inheritance brought from afar but grounded in Australian values,' she says.
'A modern nation shaped by people from every part of the world, united by the belief that this country gives you a fair go and a chance at a better life.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Australia and UK to sign 50-year defense agreement
Australia and the UK are pledging a half-century alliance, shifting the two nations closer together while the US wavers in its support for a crucial nuclear submarine program. A 50-year treaty to underpin the three-nation security pact will be signed after Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defense Minister Richard Marles meet their counterparts for talks in Sydney . The AUKUS security partnership involves the US, UK and Australia, but the fresh treaty is only between London and Canberra. In opening remarks with UK leaders, Marles said the two nations' relationship might be Australia's most important partnership. 'We rely on each other in so many ways and obviously, combined, we are part of a system that gives us tremendous intelligence capability and military capability,' he said. While negotiations over the defense agreement were flagged before US President Donald Trump took power, the document's inking shows the UK and Australia are strengthening ties in the face of American tariffs and the Pentagon's yet-to-be-completed AUKUS review. But the planned sale of US-built boats has been up in the air since the Trump administration launched a review of the deal to examine whether it aligns with his 'America first' agenda. Defence analysts believe a likely outcome of the US review will be a request for more money from Australia to support its submarine industrial base. Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior analyst Alex Bristow said holding ministerial meetings every six months, rather than the traditional annual timeline, highlighted strengthened ties between the two nations. 'The tempo of it increasing, I think, is a signal that Britain is moving into an elite category,' he said. The UK's Carrier Strike Group, led by the Royal Navy flagship HMS Prince of Wales, arrived in Darwin on Wednesday during Talisman Sabre multi-nation military exercises hosted by Australia. It's the first UK carrier strike group to visit Australia since 1997. The international task group includes five core ships, 24 jets and 17 helicopters, centered on the flagship aircraft carrier.


Reuters
7 hours ago
- Reuters
Economists doubt Trump outlook that US will sell 'so much' beef to Australia
WASHINGTON/CANBERRA/CHICAGO, July 24 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said that the United States would sell "so much" beef to Australia after Canberra relaxed import restrictions on Thursday, but economists and traders said that high prices and tight supplies make major American exports unlikely. Australia said it would loosen biosecurity rules for U.S. beef. The move will not significantly increase U.S. shipments, though, because Australia is a major beef producer and exporter whose prices are much lower, analysts said. U.S. companies export small quantities of beef to Australian buyers. They import much more in the form of lean beef used to make hamburgers, particularly as U.S. production has declined due to tight cattle supplies. U.S. beef prices set records this year and the number of beef cattle fell to the lowest level since 1961 after ranchers slashed their herds due to drought that burned up pasturelands used for grazing. A ban on cattle imports from Mexico because of New World screwworm, a devastating livestock pest, and steep tariffs on Brazilian beef that are set to take effect on Aug. 1 could further tighten supplies, and require additional imports of Australian beef. "We can't get enough beef in the U.S. right now, so we're bringing it in from Australia and Brazil," said Dan Norcini, an independent U.S. livestock trader. "We're not going to be selling anything significant to anyone." Last year, Australia shipped almost 400,000 metric tons of beef worth $2.9 billion to the United States, with just 269 tons of U.S. product moving the other way. "They have more cattle than people," said David Anderson, an agricultural economist at Texas A&M University. "That's why they export so much." U.S. and Australian beef also taste different. Many Australians like the grass-fed beef raised there, not marbled beef from U.S.-raised cattle that are generally fed with grain, said Jerry Klassen, chief analyst for Resilient Capital in Winnipeg. He predicted the United States will not export substantial amounts of beef to Australia in the next five years. "We just aren't in a position to export much beef to anyone, and the reality is Australia doesn't really have much need for U.S. beef," said Karl Setzer, partner at Consus Ag. The barriers that remain to exporting significant volumes of U.S. beef to Australia appeared to be lost on Trump this week. "We are going to sell so much to Australia because this is undeniable and irrefutable Proof that U.S. Beef is the Safest and Best in the entire World," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. "The other Countries that refuse our magnificent Beef are ON NOTICE." Trump has attempted to renegotiate trade deals with numerous countries he says have taken advantage of the United States – a characterisation many economists dispute. "For decades, Australia imposed unjustified barriers on U.S. beef," U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement, calling Australia's decision a "major milestone in lowering trade barriers and securing market access for U.S. farmers and ranchers." Australian officials say the relaxation of restrictions was not part of any trade negotiations but the result of a years-long assessment of U.S. biosecurity practices. Canberra has restricted U.S. beef imports since 2003 due to concerns about bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease. Since 2019, it has allowed in meat from animals born, raised and slaughtered in the U.S. but few suppliers were able to prove that their cattle had not been in Canada and Mexico. The U.S. sources some of its feeder cattle from the two neighboring countries. On Wednesday, Australia's agriculture ministry said U.S. cattle traceability and control systems had improved enough that Australia could accept beef from cattle born in Canada or Mexico and slaughtered in the United States. The decision has caused some concern in Australia, where biosecurity is seen as essential to prevent diseases and pests from ravaging the farm sector. "We need to know if (the government) is sacrificing our high biosecurity standards just so Prime Minister Anthony Albanese can obtain a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump," shadow agriculture minister David Littleproud said in a statement. Australia faces a 10% across-the-board U.S. tariff, as well 50% tariffs on steel and aluminium. Trump has also threatened to impose a 200% tariff on pharmaceuticals. Asked whether the change would help achieve a trade deal, Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell said: "I'm not too sure." "We haven't done this in order to entice the Americans into a trade agreement," he said. "We think that they should do that anyway."


The Guardian
8 hours ago
- The Guardian
Australia's parliament opens with tradition and pageantry – plus a sideshow of protest and reactionary zeal
Just as the governor general, Sam Mostyn, was preparing to address the ceremonial opening of federal parliament this week, word got around the press gallery that One Nation was preparing to mount a stunt. Along with veterans Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts, One Nation's two new senators, Warwick Stacey from New South Wales and Tyron Whitten from Western Australia, had quietly let it be known they would turn their back on the Indigenous acknowledgment of country. Tuesday's opening was dominated by tradition and pageantry, including a welcome to country event in the Great Hall and a smoking ceremony on the forecourt earlier in the afternoon. Usually sparsely occupied, the Senate press gallery was packed with reporters but, initially at least, One Nation's statement failed to eventuate. During the speech – a laundry list of the government's policy commitments for the upcoming term, read by the king's representative in Canberra – Greens deputy leader, Mehreen Faruqi, held up a sign protesting against the starvation and suffering caused by Israel's denial of aid for Palestinians in Gaza. That move saw Faruqi sanctioned by the Senate a day later. Labor and the Coalition voted to bar her from taking part in any overseas parliamentary delegations for the next three years, and the Senate president, Sue Lines, called her 'utterly disrespectful' to Mostyn. The debate was at times bitter. Later, as the normal business of parliament got under way at about 5pm, the One Nation foursome turned their backs as Lines made the routine acknowledgment of Canberra's traditional custodians, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, and Indigenous elders around the country. The statement took barely 10 seconds, before Hanson, Roberts, Stacey and Whitten were forced into an awkward pivot to avoid snubbing the Lord's Prayer. Sign up: AU Breaking News email For decades, Hanson has weaponised the politics of grievance, including punching down on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. She was on Sky on Tuesday evening to say she was fed up with the practice of acknowledging Indigenous communities, erroneously calling the brief statement a welcome to country, before claiming the longstanding practice somehow 'disenfranchised' her. In reality, the stunt wasn't for the press gallery or other members, but rather it was orchestrated to be quickly packaged up for One Nation's social media followers. Ironically, Hanson then criticised Victorian independent senator Lidia Thorpe for making protests that disrupt parliamentary traditions in Canberra, before claiming it was Labor that was driving division in the community. Sky host Chris Kenny pointed out that some people consider the acknowledgment overdone elsewhere but it was surely appropriate at the start of a sitting of the country's parliament. He suggested participation by Hanson's crew would be the polite approach. The firebrand senator was unmoved. Not to be outdone, Coalition MPs did their best to overshadow Sussan Ley's first question time as opposition leader in the lower house, with Nationals backbenchers Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack making a splash on their new partnership to officially oppose net zero some time this year. Joyce has a private member's bill on the issue, and despite reviews being under way in both the Liberal and Nationals party rooms, he and McCormack came out to call plans to wind back damaging carbon emissions 'insane'. Farmers, they claimed, are fed up with infrastructure for renewable energy taking up prime agricultural land – the MPs failed to acknowledge that drought, floods and less predictable rain patterns caused by climate change are making life for farmers worse. Some Coalition figures consider net zero one of the most politically complex issues facing the Liberals and Nationals in decades, with both parties facing a likely impossible task of trying to reconcile disparate policies in time for the next election. One Nationals figure compared the two former leaders to old bulls bored after being put out to pasture. The rightwing MPs determined to keep fighting the climate wars look out of touch, long after voters have made up their minds on the subject. It shouldn't be lost on anyone that both Joyce and McCormack have previously argued for net zero and Labor's ascendancy could render the Coalition's policy position pretty meaningless for at least three – possibly six – years to come. By Friday, the Liberal Senate leader, Michaelia Cash, was arguing against acknowledgment of country and the Aboriginal flag being displayed at official events. Cash endorsed motions to be debated at the weekend's WA Liberal state council, also set to include a push to abandon net zero endorsed by frontbencher Andrew Hastie. For her part, Ley, who says she wants the Coalition to better reflect the modern Australia it seeks to represent, was gracious in acknowledging symbolic and practical recognition of Indigenous Australians this week. She called for the ceremonial welcome by Indigenous leaders to 'set the tone' for MPs as they seek practical action to improve lives and expand opportunity for Indigenous people around the country. Liberal figures were downcast about the atmospherics of renewed culture war fights on the flag, Indigenous recognition and net zero, asking why MPs would waste valuable political capital to speak outside their portfolios. One called the antics 'a sideshow' and suggested more discipline was necessary to bring the fight to Labor. It might be only a few months on from the 3 May election, but Hanson and the outspoken members of the Coalition have failed to appreciate that Anthony Albanese won the centre by focusing on the issues that voters see as critical to making their lives better. Ley's predecessor, Peter Dutton, lost in part because voters were turned off by his attacks on Indigenous recognition and Trump-style division and obstruction. Even many who find statements of acknowledgment overdone at public events or in meetings at work don't want parliament turned into a sideshow of reactionary zeal. Both the Coalition and Labor's election reviews will show Dutton's campaign aggression and intolerance unsettled voters, including those who might otherwise have been open to voting for the Coalition. Mostyn said it best in her speech to the Senate. While acknowledging the challenges of the past and urging renewed action to close the Indigenous disadvantage gap, she called for all Australians to 'approach the path forward together with determination, humility and optimism'. It might be a long three years.