Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Labor will not be supporting this motion, and we are disappointed that leave wasn't given for our amendment. The Senate has more important issues to debate than the machinations of local councils: issues like health, education, jobs or, indeed, national security. There is no doubt that Australia Day is an important national day. It is the source of great celebration for many Australians, but we cannot shy away from the fact that, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, 26 January can speak of dispossession and sorrow. Labor does not support changing the date of Australia Day. Reconciliation is more about changing hearts and minds than it is about moving public holidays. We do support working towards building a more reconciled nation, a nation where Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians are united. These are the things that are worth working towards.