Jimmy Bartel:
A new survey, Marco, shows most young people oppose swapping their Australia Day public holiday for another date.
Mark Allen:
Why is that? It’s-
Jimmy Bartel:
I have an assumption, but I want to ask Daniel Wild, executive director of the Institute of Public Affairs. Good morning, Daniel.
Daniel Wild:
Good morning, nice to be with you.
Jimmy Bartel:
Is this a young Aussie saying, no, 26 is a nice patriotic day, or they just like the fact that it’s in summer and it’s a day off?
Daniel Wild:
Well, it could be a little bit of both, to be honest with you, we all love a day off in summer. But what we have seen, not just with this survey, but with others over the last couple of years is rising support among the youngest cohort for Australia Day and for keeping it on the 26th of January. The survey we commissioned last year on support for Australia Day showed that the 18-to-24-year-olds had increased by 10% in terms of those supporting keeping the date on the 26th of January.
So, look, I think there is a real surge in support for our national day and our shared values, we know that young Australians have largely been sold a little bit of a lie about our country’s history, particularly in the education system, that we’re a bad country, we’re a racist country, there’s nothing to celebrate, but their eyes really have been opened over the last few years, and they’re really pushing back against this narrative that we’re a bad country, and it’s great to see them getting around our national day.
Mark Allen:
Daniel, you just hit on something that was made clear to me with my two children, about what they are taught at school in regards to the 26th of January. Luckily, in my view anyway, my kids are very happy with Australia Day, and where it sits, but I was shocked with what they were bringing home and telling us.
Daniel Wild:
Yeah, it’s a huge problem, and this has been going on for a lot of years. I think, during COVID, a lot of parents probably had a more direct experience with what was being taught or not being taught at our schools due to the remote situation that was in place then. But, yeah, look, there’s been a very one-sided view put into our national curriculum, and it basically tells students that Australia was invaded rather than having been settled, it stipulates that our country is one of never ending violence and dispossession. And, of course, we all understand that there was a lot of violence and dispossession that took place, but overwhelmingly, the settlement of our country was a very, very good thing. It’s given us democracy, the rule of law, an economy which has widespread prosperity for everybody. So, yeah, I agree, I’m shocked, and a lot of parents are shocked at the way that our national day is presented in our national curriculum.
Jimmy Bartel:
Daniel, can you attribute any reason why nearly 30% of people are undecided on this issue? Is the public, as you mentioned, are they actually divided or are they just, well, what’s the solution, you just tell me?
Daniel Wild:
Yeah. Look, I think people are over it, we’ve been having this debate not only about Australia Day, but about corporates and other institutions that are trying to divide us now for a number of years, I reckon probably for at least 10 or 15 years it’s been something that’s been at the forefront. But what I would say is I haven’t heard the usual cavalcade of activists come out yet, usually, we’re on the 13th of January, so a couple of weeks ago, and usually, it’s something before Christmas usually starts up and then it sort of comes into the new year. But so far, the usual suspects have been relatively quiet. Now, I’ve got no doubt they’ll come out and say things, which of course they’re entitled to do in our free democratic nation, if they want to protest, they can protest. But I think people are over it.
I think they believe that the day is settled, that the 26th of January is Australia Day., And also Australians want to see our institutions support our day. That’s why there’s been this backlash against the corporates who… You’ll remember Woolworths back in 2024 said, “Oh, we’re not stocking Australia Day themed items because it’s a cultural sensitivity.” And they also said it’s not commercially viable for them, which was always just a fig leaf [inaudible 00:04:09] for political activism, and they of course backed down from that. So, I think the public’s just over it and they just want Australians to get on with it.
Mark Allen:
Daniel, I think that Woolworth story that you were just talking about was the straw that broke the back of this issue that comes up every single year. And I’m with you, I don’t think we’re nearly getting as much preamble to the Australia Day stuff with all that. Do you think we’re on the other side of the bell curve now, and that we are going to drift away and not worry about Australia Day as much as we have?
Daniel Wild:
Yeah, I do think that. We’ve been tracking this pretty closely now for about 10 years, attitudes to Australia Day and other related cultural matters. And really the last one or two years, we have seen a very, very big shift of the community, not just for Australia Day, but also for supporting our national flag opposition to the ubiquitous use of welcome to country ceremonies, at sporting events and everything else. So, Australians are pretty over the division. And I agree with you, Woolworths was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and that of course came on the back of the voice to parliament debate. This was a significant event where 60% of Australians voted no to racial division because they said that we’re all equal, and I think in that debate, Australians gained a lot of confidence that it was okay to speak out. It was okay to have these views, which the majority of Australians have.
But like you say before, when you’re talking about schools or other elite institutions, you don’t see those values reflected back to us, but we now know that it’s undeniable that a very substantial majority of Australians believe our country’s a great day, they want to celebrate it, and the other thing is they want to feel good while they celebrate it. We don’t want to feel guilty while while we celebrate our country, we just want to have a good day.
Jimmy Bartel:
Appreciate your time, Daniel. Daniel Wild, executive director of the Institute of Public Affairs.
Mark Allen:
I also think being called racist now, when you just stand up for Australia or you stand up for other things, just washes off like a water on a duck’s back these days. I think they’ve used the racist cards so often in the last 15 years that that card doesn’t work anymore.
This transcript of Daniel Wild talking on Breakfast – 3AW from 13 January 2026 has been edited for clarity.
