Liberal leader Angus Taylor has spoken out against hecklers who booed Welcome to Country addresses across the country on Anzac Day, while offering his sympathy to their cause.
Multiple hecklers at Anzac commemorations cross Melbourne, Sydney and Perth interrupted Welcome to Country addresses with loud boos and cries from the crowd.
Indigenous serviceman Uncle Ray Minniecon was booed during the Martin Place service in Sydney.
His grandfather served in the Light Horse Brigade.
Uncle Mark Brown’s Welcome to Country address at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance was also interrupted by loud hecklers.
In Perth, Whadjuk Noongar elder and veteran Di Ryder was disturbed by booing from the crowd while giving her Welcome to Country address at the Dawn service.
Mr Taylor condemned the acts as “un-Australian” on ABC Insiders on Sunday morning.
“Booing, whatever the cause, on Anzac Day ceremonies, is absolutely inappropriate and un-Australian,” Mr Taylor said.
“It simply shouldn’t happen.”
Despite this, Mr Taylor claimed to appreciate certain Australians were concerned with the use of Welcome to Country.
“I can understand the frustration Australians feel about overuse (of) Welcomes to Country,” he said.
“I feel that at times, often actually, I think it is overused and as a result they are devalued.
“I would like to see them used less and therefore not devalued as I think they have been over time.”
Mr Taylor said it was up to individual organisations to choose whether to include Welcome to Country at their events, but reiterated his stance on their use.
“The general principle should be let’s do this less and make it more special when it happens,” he said.
RSL Victoria president Mark Schroffel voiced support for Welcome to Country addresses at ANZAC ceremonies, to acknowledge First Nations traditions and service to the country.
“We understand the disrupters left before the end of the service, showing complete disrespect to veterans.
“They were overwhelmed by the vast majority of the attendees who applauded and supported proceedings.”
On Saturday, acting chief of army Major General Richard Vagg said the behaviour would upset serving members of the Australian military.
“Just about every service person, serving and past, would be upset with that type of behaviour. It misses the point,” he told ABC News Breakfast.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles called the acts “deeply disgraceful”.
“Acknowledgments to country are just an act of respect, and what characterises today is that it is a day of respect and to boo in that way goes completely against that,” he told the ABC on Saturday.
The contemporary Welcome to Country address was originated in 1976 by Yamatji man and TV presenter Ernie Dingo and Noongar Yamatji musician Richard Walley; however the tradition has existed in Indigenous Australian culture for millennia.
The ceremony implores both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians to pay respect to ancestors and cultural spirits while invoking safe passage for visitors; it’s origins are tied to and abstract spiritual and cultural idea of ’country’ which includes concepts of sharing resources, sharing your environment and being protected.
More than 1000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people served in the World War I, and more than 4000 in the World War II.
Once returned home, many Indigenous soldiers and military people were not recognised for their service and denied access to veteran services.
Indigenous Australians were first recorded serving in the nation’s military in the late 1800s, around the time of the Boer War.
Originally published as Angus Taylor slams ‘un-Australian’ Anzac Day booing but claims Indigenous address ‘overused’
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