Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Labor won't be supporting this motion. We believe Australia Day is a celebration of our nation's achievements. It should also be a time of reflection for Australia and particularly for First Nations Australians. For First Nations people, 26 January is an anniversary and a reminder of dispossession, injustice and sorrow; it is a day of survival. It is a day on which we should all acknowledge the British assertion of possession that was made without the consent of First Nations people, who have lived here for over 40,000 years. It is significant that the first official event on the Australia Day program is the Wugulora morning ceremony at Barangaroo. Labor does not support this motion because Australia Day is not a denial of our history; it's an opportunity to tell the truth about it. Labor fully supports the Uluru statement, and continues to call on the government to pursue a constitutionally enshrined voice to parliament.

Question negatived.