Aldi has announced it is following Woolworths and will not be stocking Australia Day products on shelves this year, as support for the controversial holiday continues to plummet.
The supermarket chain will not sell products such as themed sunglasses, thongs or clothing in the lead-up to January 26.
In past years the store had offered a large number of products in its Australia Day Special Buys catalogue, most controversially in 2014 when it sold a t-shirt with the slogan “Australia est. 1788”.
Earlier this week, Woolworths said it would be dropping its line of Australia Day merch citing declining interest.
“There has been a gradual decline in demand for Australia Day merchandise from our stores over recent years. At the same time there’s been broader discussion about 26 January and what it means to different parts of the community,” they said.
“We know many people like to use this day as a time to get together and we offer a huge variety of products to help customers mark the day as they choose.
Although Aldi has confirmed it will not be selling merchandise, it refused to comment further.
It came as opposition leader Peter Dutton yesterday suggested shoppers should “boycott Woolworths” after the retailer announced it would no longer sell items to help mark he national day.
“If [customers] don’t want to celebrate Australia Day, well that’s a decision for them, but I think people should boycott Woolworths. I would advise very strongly to take your business elsewhere and go to IGA or Coles or Aldi,” he said.
“I think until we get common sense out of a company like Woolworths, I don’t think they should be supported by the public.”
In response, agriculture minister Murray Watt accused Dutton of being “always focused on a culture war.”
“Our government is focused on the prices that supermarkets charge, Peter Dutton is focused on the kind of thongs that supermarkets sell,” he said at a press conference.
“I don’t think that’s the kind of priority that most Australians have right now.”
He said what people really wanted from supermarkets were reasonable prices at the checkouts.
Watt said he had no plans to change the date of the controversial holiday, despite growing calls to change or or cancel the holiday continued to grow, with the date marking the beginning of British colonialism in Australia.
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