AUSTRALIA Day provides us with an opportunity to celebrate everything that makes us all Australian.
We are all part of the story of Australia.
Australia Day is a day to listen to each other and respect each other’s stories and contributions and celebrate.
We are now entering the third year of the pandemic, and after everything we have sacrificed, we can now more than before, see the light at the end of the tunnel with a slow return to normalcy.
Australia Day is a day to celebrate the best of us and give thanks for all those who have contributed so much over the past year.
It is an opportunity to take a moment to reflect on the selfless and courageous sacrifice of thousands of frontline emergency and health workers.
Australia Day is an opportunity to reflect on the year that’s been, respect the contribution everyone has made and celebrate the journey we’ve taken from our nation’s past to where we find ourselves today.
It’s a day to acknowledge that – whatever our experience and backgrounds – we are Australians together.
By celebrating our shared values as a nation, we also honour those who embody them. This is the spirit that defines us as Australians.
Of course, Australia Day is not just about the past year – it is about more than 65,000 years of shared history. We reflect on our history, which began and continues today with the world’s oldest living culture – the First Australians. We respect their extensive knowledge of land and water, which allows ongoing care for country.
Australia Day is a day to respectfully learn about the history, traditions and cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
We reflect on our modern history – the waves of immigration that have shaped us into one of the world’s great multicultural success stories and I take joy every year seeing new Australians at citizenship ceremonies across Mallee.
We respect that, regardless of where we come from, the faith we follow or the language we grew up speaking, we are all Australian, and we all have a contribution to make.
And we celebrate our nation’s place in the world – that other nations aspire to, and our promotion of those values on the global stage.
