Conservative politicians are dominating Facebook advertising about changing the date of Australia Day, analysis shows.
After Woolworths announced last week that it would no longer stock Australia Day merchandise due to declining demand, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, condemned the move as an “outrage” born from the retailer’s “woke agenda” and said most Australians likely thought the same.
Now several conservative politicians are paying for advertisements on social media platforms lobbying against changing the date.
According to a search for ads posted between December and January related to 26 January, Australia Day, Woolworths, Invasion Day and “change the date”, conservative politicians and lobby groups overwhelmingly appear as the most frequent ad buyers.
The Liberal MP Andrew Hastie has spent hundreds of dollars running 11 ads on the Woolworths decision in January, calling for people to “defend our day” and pointing to a petition on his website that had 2,590 signatures at the time of reporting.
“Australia Day is under siege by politicians, corporate elites and unelected bureaucrats!” Hastie says in each ad. “Prime Minister Albanese promised not to change Australia Day. But his Government is waging a war on Australia Day, along with corporate elites like Woolworths and BIG-W.”
The shadow immigration and citizenship minister, Dan Tehan, has run 10 ads claiming the prime minister is “undermining Australia Day”.
Tehan told Guardian Australia 26 January was “our national day” and the prime minister wants to change the date but “he lacks the courage to make the argument, so instead he is letting the day’s significance be eroded until it means nothing”.
Liberal MPs Jason Wood and Phillip Thompson have each spent hundreds of dollars on ads targeting Woolworths.
“PM Albanese and his Labor team’s all out assault on Australia Day continues as Woolworths and Big W walk away from Australia Day celebrations,” Wood says in one ad.
Rachel Busbridge, a sociology lecturer at Australian Catholic University, said Australians might not be on the same page as the politicians who are arguing against changing the date.
“We see a lot of polarisation from that top level of politics [and] it tends to come from the right side,” Busbridge said. “But when we look at people’s attitudes on the ground, it’s a lot less polarised.
“We can see a slow but steady drift towards recognising that the day is a bit problematic for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and, if we want to all celebrate together, then that may mean we have to find another day.”
The United Australia party senator Ralph Babet has advertised on the topic, along with conservative lobby groups Advance Australia and the Australian Christian Lobby.
The Australian Christian Lobby paid for an ad asking: “How did we get here? When did supermarkets get so political? Where does it end?”
But when approached for comment the ACL’s chief executive, Michelle Pearse, told Guardian Australia that a day celebrating Australia was more important than the date itself and the group was open to a new date.
“Jesus was born sometime between June and October, yet we celebrate it in December – setting a time to reflect and celebrate is more important than the date itself,” Pearse said.
“We don’t see the need to change the date, however if a date change is necessary to save the celebration itself, then so be it.”
On the other side of the debate, there are few, if any ads currently running. Amnesty International has paid for a set of ads promoting a quiz on why 26 January “is not a day for celebration for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People”.
Comment has been sought from the relevant politicians and lobby groups.
A Roy Morgan SMS poll in early 2023 found 64% of Australians were in favour of keeping 26 January as Australia Day rather than renaming it to Invasion Day, an increase of 5% in two years, however a majority under the age of 35 supported changing the date.
Busbridge told Guardian Australia that public polling on the date fluctuates but her research has showed a trend away from 26 January. Busbridge cited an ABC social survey in 2021 suggesting 55% of Australians support changing the date. She said there had been a decrease in those who did not want it moved from 40% in 2019 to 33% in 2021.
Busbridge said companies such as Woolworths, Aldi and Kmart drifting from the celebration was more likely a response to Australians spending elsewhere rather than corporate leadership.
“If there’s really no demand for these types of items, then I don’t know the extent to which the politicisation and outrage that comes along is really reflective of public sentiment.”
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, on Tuesday condemned Dutton for his “extraordinary overreach”.
“I find it bizarre that the so-called party of the free market is calling for a boycott,” he told 2HD radio on Tuesday. “If everyone boycotted Woolworths, 200,000 people would lose their jobs.”
The deputy Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, told Guardian Australia that survey after survey showed a majority of Australians support Australia Day.
“The chattering class got it wrong on the voice and they are wrong on Australia Day too,” Ley said. “It is time for us to end this self-destructive debate the activists put us through every year and just get on with celebrating Australia, the greatest country in the world.”
A spokesperson from Warriors of Aboriginal Resistance, an organiser of the Melbourne Invasion Day rally, welcomed the changing public opinion.
“This date isn’t a day of celebration, it marks the beginning of Aboriginal people losing our land, families and lives and it’s a stain on Australia that we celebrate this,” the spokesperson said. “It’s great to see the shift and we hope that more places can listen to the calls for justice.”
Queensland police on Tuesday said a 40-year-old man had been charged with wilful damage after a Woolworths store in the Brisbane suburb of Teneriffe was tagged with pro-Australia Day graffiti.
