Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

For a moment, I thought we were at the Yarra City Council, until I looked at who was speaking. But going to the important issue, there is no doubt, even before the Prime Minister spoke, that Australia Day is a most important national day. It does commemorate the first British penal colony established in Australia, and it also, I believe, is a source of great celebration for Australians right up to the current day. But it does also acknowledge, as the Prime Minister said, that for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples 26 January can speak of dispossession and sorrow. It also, I believe, needs to recognise that before the British settlement there were 65,000 years of continuous occupation by the world's oldest continuing culture in our country. Now, I do not support changing the date of Australia Day.

Mr Taylor interjecting—

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