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Opposition Leader Angus Taylor says Welcome to Country ceremonies have been devalued through overuse after Indigenous figures were booed at Anzac Day dawn services when delivering speeches.
Taylor condemned the booing on Sunday, as rallies were held in Canberra and Melbourne to protest Australia’s migration policies. The Liberal leader said it was un-Australian to act in such a manner at a solemn event, though he made a broader point that he could “understand the frustration Australians feel about over-use”.
“I feel that at times – often, actually. I think it is overused and as a result they are devalued,” he said on ABC. “I would like to see them used less and therefore not devalued, as I think they have been over time.”
“It’s up to individual organising committees to decide whether they want to do it or not. But the general principle should be: let’s do this less and make it more special when it happens.”
Taylor’s remarks echo those of former Liberal leader Peter Dutton, who said before last year’s election that such ceremonies, which have become commonplace at public events, were overdone.
The question of symbolic recognition of Indigenous Australians dominated political debate during the Voice to Parliament referendum in 2023, when most Australians in each state voted against a proposed Indigenous representative body.
Cultural attitudes and migration are key issues in next month’s byelection in the regional NSW seat of Farrer previously held by Sussan Ley. Taylor has been trying to claw back support from One Nation, which is polling more strongly than the Coalition and campaigning on a platform of nationalism and lower migration.
On Anzac Day, heckles and boos were heard at dawn service ceremonies in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. At some events, attendees clapped in an attempt to drown out boos.
Days before the services, organisers of the anti-immigration group Fight for Australia posted on social media to ask supporters to attend services and make known their displeasure with Indigenous ceremonies.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said the scenes disrespected “everyone who fought and died for our freedoms”.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said he was disappointed by booing from “a small number of people”.
Indigenous academic Marcia Langton called on “morons” to be banned from future ceremonies, though it is unclear how such a move would be put into practice.
“The majority attending the services raised their voices and clapped to support the speakers and drown out the vandals,” she wrote in Guardian Australia.
“What Uncle Mark, Uncle Ray and Aunty Di know, and what the elders of the RSL know, is that more than 118 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men served in the Australian Light Horse during the first world war.
“The morons who tried to snatch the sacred moment away from them, and those of us who observe with them at dawn services, deserve more than contempt and a few words of rancour.”
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson joined Nationals leader Matt Canavan and Queensland MP Bob Katter to address a crowd of about 400 people on the lawns of Parliament House, Canberra, on Sunday, at an anti-mass migration rally staged by the Australian Lobby Group.
“We are already in a housing crisis with 4.8 million non-citizens in the country, yet the government continues to add more with mass migration,” Hanson said. “I am not against migration at all, but you have to do it in the right way and bring in the right people.”
Katter rallied the crowd about the treatment of SAS corporal and Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith, who has been charged with war crimes in Afghanistan, while Canavan said the nation was focusing too much on diversity and not enough on unity.
Australia Marches organiser Scott Challen said the timing of the rally was deliberate: “Australia currently holds one of the highest foreign-born populations in the world. This is not a question of culture or character, it is a question of capacity.”
In Melbourne, about 300 people attended a rally – organised by former boxer Matt Trihey and his ethno-nationalist and anti-migrant group, the National Workers Alliance – to protest against Roberts-Smith’s charging. Roberts-Smith attended a dawn service on Saturday after he was released on bail.
As Trihey led a minute’s silence on the steps of parliament on Sunday, a voice from a counterprotest yelled “Always was always will be Aboriginal land”. Boos followed from the crowd gathered for Roberts-Smith and several men tried to approach the counterprotesters, but others yelled: “No violence! You’ll ruin the whole movement” and restrained them.
Vietnam War veteran Newton Reynolds was among those who went along and said he didn’t support the National Workers Alliance views but believed Roberts-Smith was innocent.
“For people to judge Ben Roberts-Smith or other soldiers in that sort of situation, it’s very difficult,” he said.
Reynolds said he did not support those who booed at dawn services.
“I just think that it’s ignorant. You can have a protest about something but you have to do it in the right way,” he said.
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Paul Sakkal is Chief Political Correspondent. He previously covered Victorian politics and won a Walkley award and the 2025 Press Gallery Journalist of the Year. Contact him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14.Connect via X or email.
Rob Harris is the national correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age based in Canberra. He is a former Europe correspondent.Connect via email.
Jackson Graham is an education reporter at The Age. He was previously an explainer reporter.Connect via email.From our partners
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