When it comes to Australia Day, it’s fair to say that Mark Latham has some pretty strong arguments about the significance of the day for him and millions of other Aussies.
He launched an attack on critics who want to change the date last month. In his opinion piece for the Daily Telegraph, he labelled these people as the “PC-Brigade”.
The topic has been one that has divided people around the country for quite some time. Many believe that it isn’t a celebration of indigenous culture, while others believe that it was the day that Australia was invaded and changed forever.
In a new video launched on Mark Latham’s Outsiders Facebook page, the opinionated politician encouraged people to save Australia Day as we know it.
“Help save Australia Day!,” he wrote. “Mark Latham’s Outsiders has been gearing up to Save Australia Day. Three weeks out from our great national day, the Left-wing attempt to ‘Change The Date’ is getting stronger.
“It’s time to fight back with a public campaign to preserve Australia Day on 26 January.”
He encouraged people to share the campaign across social media to spread the word. In the video itself, he blamed the “lefties” for wanting to change the date, as well as large media outlets such as the ABC.
He blasted people who spoke out against Triple M’s decision to play an all-Aussie music countdown on Australia Day.
You may recall that Triple J had their own Hottest 100 which was always on January 26. It was the largest music poll in the world, with 60 per cent of listeners they surveyed supporting the station’s decision to change the date.
They moved the date to a day later, with Triple M launching their “Ozzest 100” countdown to air on Australia Day.
Latham warned that there was “so much to lose” if the date was changed and promised that his message would reach Australians everywhere with TV, radio and social media campaigns.
Alice Springs Indigenous Councillor Jacinta Price is also fronting the campaign, while he also issued a dramatic advertising video that showed what he thought would happen if Australia Day was cancelled.
The video showed a small child giving her mother a card that reads ‘Happy Australia Day’, before the mother throws it in the bin and questions if the child showed it to anyone else before her.
“So that’s the sort of thing,” Latham explained. “Political correctness gone crazy.”
He added that a large number of people within the Indigenous community wanted to keep the day the same and that by not changing the day, the country would be “saved”.
Latham’s fans were quick to share their views online. One person wrote: “The more they try to change it, the more we celebrate.”
Another person wrote: “I don’t care what about the politics of it. The 26th is the day to celebrate this country. Toad races at the local pub. Have a few drinks and a bbq with all my mates. My mates and I are a mixed bunch of race an colour it’s the 26th always has been, always will be our day.”
A third added: “United we stand, and we stand for the 26 January as Australia. We will never be divided on this matter and the Government will fall if they try to change it.”
Others didn’t agree and believed that the date should be changed. One person wrote: “You dopes don’t even seen to know what ‘left’ actually is. You seem to think it’s anyone who disagrees with you, why do you think Latham didn’t become PM……he was too LEFT WING.”
Another added: “Well Mark if you support settler colonialism, dispossession, displacement and genocide, the repercussions of which are still felt to this day then by all means celebrate it. The drive for change is not a left-wing agenda but it is by recognizing the historical fact that this country was founded on vicious crimes.”