Latest news with #ShineofRemembrance
Sky News AU
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Tony Abbott lashes Welcome to Country ceremonies, says they 'single out' Indigenous Australians for special treatment in wake of Anzac Day protests
Former prime minister Tony Abbott has taken aim at Welcome to Country ceremonies, saying they suggest Australia "belongs more to some people than others", following a high-profile protest against the practice on Anzac Day. The debate around Welcome to Country speeches reignited on Friday after a group of people booed a Welcome to Country performed by an Indigenous elder at Melbourne's Shine of Remembrance. While the act of protest has been widely condemned, some have voiced their opposition to the speeches being given on Anzac Day, with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton saying the majority of veterans believe it is inappropriate. Speaking to 2GB's Ben Fordham on Tuesday morning, Mr Abbott lashed the ceremonies, declaring the "fundamental" problem is that they prioritise certain members of society over others on Anzac Day. 'If they're outside of the context of a particular Indigenous community or a particular Indigenous facility, they suggest that the country belongs more to some people than to others,' he said. 'If we start acknowledging particular groups, why do we single out Indigenous elders as opposed to early settlers, post-war migrants, our war veterans, or maybe our teachers or our nurses?" The former prime minister argued everyone is 'making their own contribution to Australia', and one group's contribution should not be elevated 'on the basis of race or ancestry'. Weighing in on the Anzac Day Welcome to Country, Mr Abbott noted veterans were the 'people who have fought for our country'. 'They've worn our country's uniform. Why should one individual be welcoming them to their own country, as if they are less a part of it than the relevant elders or the relevant clan or the relevant tribe?' he said. 'Ever since Qantas and Virgin ad others started this practice, I found the notion of having country acknowledged when you land in Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane… absolutely grating.' 'It's become, if you like an exercise in virtue signalling, it's become a badge of political correctness.' Mr Abbot's remarks came after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton criticised the frequency of Welcome to Country ceremonies during a media conference on Monday. Mr Dutton, although he did not condone the level of booing on ANZAC Day, said there was a sense 'across the community' that the practice was 'overdone'. "I think it should be reserved for significant events of our country,' the Opposition Leader said. Mr Dutton said he believed the Anzac Day dawn ceremonies did not warrant a Welcome to Country. 'Listening to a lot of veterans in this space, and Anzac Day is about our veterans … I think their majority view... would be that they don't want it on that day.'
SBS Australia
25-04-2025
- SBS Australia
SBS News in Easy English 25 April 2025
Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with . Dawn services have taken place across the country to mark Anzac Day, 110 years after Australian and New Zealand troops landed at Gallipoli during World War I. In Canberra, Australian Defence Force Personnel have read excerpts from the letters and diaries of Australian who have experienced the realities of war firsthand. Mick Bainbridge offered the Ode of Remembrance at the service. "They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. We will remember them. Lest we forget." Heckling at this morning's Melbourne Dawn Service has been widely condemned. Boos had come from the crowd as Bunurong elder Mark Brown spoke during the service, held at the Victorian capital's Shine of Remembrance. "Welcome everybody to my father's country. Beautiful Bunurong country. But before we do that we pay our acknowledgments and our respects." RSL Victoria has said the heckling was completely out of keeping with the intention of the solemn event. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has said it was disrespectful and dishonoured the sacrifice of the men and women who fought for their country. "For a Neo-Nazi to come along and show that level of disrespect and dishonour to every man and woman who has served our nation with pride honour and dignity. I absolutely condemn this behaviour." Australian women who served as nurses in the Vietnam War have been honoured with a permanent memorial for the first time. The Morven Historical Precinct in central Queensland is a collection from the Australian War Memorial that captures the work and daily life of Australian nurses who tended soldiers in Vietnam. Curator of the Vietnam Nurses Memorial Annabelle Brayley says the role of women in wars is only recently starting to receive attention. "Most people don't know about them. I think most people are starting to learn about the World War I and World War II nurses in a way that they didn't before, and the Boer War and Crimea nurses. But the nurses who went to Vietnam have just flown completely under the radar." A woman has been charged with the alleged sexual abuse of residents at the Sydney aged care facility where she worked. New South Wales Police allege the 46 year old recorded the assaults against residents at the home in Grasmere in Sydney's Macarthur region. The alleged assaults of five men and two women happened over a few weeks in August 2024. The New South Wales government says it has full confidence police will find the person responsible for the fatal shooting of a teenager at a Newcastle beach. Police Minister Yasmin Catley has called the shooting on Wednesday of an 18 year-old man in the Bar Beach carpark a random incident. No-one has yet been arrested over the shooting. But Ms Catley says police are conducting a thorough investigation. "The police has stood up a strikeforce immediately, and we will throw every resource at that, including the state's crime squad and a homicide team. They will be participating with our local detectives here in making sure we find the perpetrator of this terrible incident that we experienced." New South Wales authorities say there is little chance of recovering millions of dollars acquired by corrupt former MP Eddie Obeid. $30 million was made from the corrupt licence tender process into a coal exploration licence at the Obeid family farm in the Hunter Valley. But Crime Commissioner Michael Barnes says a second investigation into the viability of recovering what remains of the money has concluded asset confiscation proceedings would be non-viable. An experimental aircraft made by an Australian-based company has crashed at a military base near the coast of Virginia. US Air Force Airman Donnell Ramsey says the incident occurred at the Joint Base Langley-Eustis in the city of Hampton. The National Transportation Safety Board has said on X it's investigating the accident, without providing more details.
