Australia’s national broadcaster has come under fire for referring to the country’s national day as ‘Invasion Day’ in a headline.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), roughly equivalent to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), referred to Australia Day, which marks the arrival of the First Fleet to found a British settlement in the Antipodean country in 1788, as “Australia Day/Invasion Day” in the headline of a report listing several events marking the anniversary — including an illegal protest.
“I just cannot believe that the national broadcaster… have decided to take it upon themselves to tell people to go to an event that’s actually going to put their lives in danger,” commented David Elliott, policing minister for New South Wales, branding the ABC “breathtakingly irresponsible”.
He added that “For the ABC to take it upon themselves to change the name to ‘Invasion Day’ just goes to show how out of touch they are with Australians.”
‘Invasion Day’ is popular terminology among anti-patriotic far leftists and some Aboriginal Australian activists, it enjoys little public support among the public at large.
the ABC has changed its Invasion Day article
Left: a screenshot I took at 8.51am
Right: how it looks now (with “updated 1h ago”)headline + intro changed
ABC confirms to me their policy “is to use the term Australia Day… We have changed a headline to reflect this” pic.twitter.com/XkW2OhbJ7v
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) January 25, 2021
“In light of some misreporting on this issue, to be abundantly clear: The ABC’s policy is to use the term Australia Day, as it always has,” said a spokesman for the chastened broadcaster, which changed its headline after initially defending its reporting.
“As the editorial advice states, other terms can be used when they are appropriate in certain contexts. This does not mean they are used interchangeably,” the spokesman admitted.
They also removed the references to the planned illegal protest against ‘Invasion Day’ in Sydney — banned under the country’s strict anti-coronavirus restrictions — which government communications minister Paul Fletcher described as a “sensible outcome”.
There is pushback against the celebration of Australia’s settlement by the British from leftists every year, with one particularly outspoken socialist politician who sits on a local council which refuses to recognise Australia even going to far as to compare it to celebrating the Holocaust in 2017.
Australia Day Cancelled: Socialist Politician Says Marking National Day ‘Like Celebrating the Nazi Holocaust’ https://t.co/K7uHTpCx3Q
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) September 14, 2017
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