The threats — real or imagined — to Australia Day

With help from his friends in the media, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is no stranger to decrying attacks on Australia Day, with it now becoming an annual ritual. This year, for example, he criticised laws that allow local councils to hold their citizenship ceremonies on dates other than January 26, and called for consumer responses against businesses that weren’t sufficiently amped about the day.

“I sometimes think Peter Dutton every year has a fight with an imaginary friend over something that most Australians are just getting on with, Australia Day,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said during his speech last week at the National Press Club.

So just how deeply rooted is Australia Day as our national day, and just how many threats does it really face? We break it down in our latest edition of Paint by Numbers.

Number of dates other than January 26 that have been nationally recognised as “Australia Day” since federation: Two

Number of years since Australian states and territories uniformly marked January 26 as “Australia Day”: 90

Number of years since the first time Indigenous campaigners marked January 26 as an “Indigenous Day of mourning”: 87

Number of years since the establishment of the Indigenous Tent Embassy on January 26: 53

Number of years January 26 has been a national public holiday: 31 (1994)

Number of Australian prime ministers since 1994: Eight

Number of Australian prime ministers since 1994 to actively oppose moving Australia Day: Six*

Number of Australian prime ministers since 1994 to suggest moving the date of Australia Day: Zero

Number of bills introduced into Parliament by any party that would move the date of Australia Day: Zero

Number of bills introduced “protecting” Australia Day on its current date: One

Number of local councils in Australia: 537

Number of local councils that hold their citizenship ceremonies on a date other than January 26: 81

Number of front-page stories in major newspapers concerning “controversy” over Australia Day since January 1, 2025: 17**

(*John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison, Anthony Albanese)

(**12 News Corp papers, four Nine papers, one The West Australian)

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