Change the date? No, say an increasing majority of Australians

“It’ll be done in the first 100 days and it will be a sign of pride and nationalism in our country. I want us as a population to be united.”

The Australian Citizenship Ceremonies Code, put in place by the current government, sets out rules for local councils to hold Australia Day citizenship events but allows them to conduct them over a period from three days before and after January 26. Dutton said the events should be on January 26.

While dozens of councils have chosen to move the ceremonies from January 26 because of concerns from Indigenous communities, some have since moved them back. In South Australia last September, the City of Unley council voted to restore the event to January 26 after polling the community.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has brushed off questions about the Coalition plan and challenged Dutton to respect January 26 by attending Australia Day events in Canberra this year, including the Australian of the Year announcement on Saturday night.

“Every year it is inspirational, and I look forward to celebrating Australia Day,” he said.

Critics of January 26 have pointed to the history of white settlement, including the racism suffered by First Australians, to argue for a change to the date. Protests on the issue date to the 1930s, when the date was called a “day of mourning” for Indigenous people.

Indigenous leader and Voice advocate Megan Davis said she was not a “change the date” person because the shift would only move rather than resolve a toxic argument.

“The roots of the discontent about Australia Day come from Aboriginal people, it comes from Aboriginal protest, it comes from the failure of the state to grapple with the original grievance, the unfinished business,” she said in an interview.

“So moving the date doesn’t change that. It just moves the same – in my view – concerns and disgruntlement to another day.”

Davis said the Uluru Statement from the Heart, the key document that set out the case for the Voice, was about bringing people together.

“It was a statement of peace issued by our people, particularly our old people to the Australian people about moving forward together,” she said.

Conservative advocate John Roskam, a senior fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs, said surveys had shown that Australians wanted practical action to help Indigenous people but did not want an approach that divided the community.

Roskam said this was a factor in the failure of the Voice even though most Australians support recognition for Indigenous people in the Constitution.

“People are over the argument. The referendum and the defeat of the Voice have given permission to people to be more honest,” he said.

“None of it takes away from the fact that Australians support recognition. Australians understand the very real challenges, but it’s not going to be achieved by symbolism. And the debate about Australia Day was seen to be a debate about symbolism.”

The Resolve Political Monitor surveyed 1616 eligible voters from Wednesday to Tuesday, generating results with a margin of error of 2.4 per cent. This means the support for January 26 had a clear majority within that error range.

Resolve director Jim Reed said the change in attitude was tied to the Voice referendum and its aftermath.

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“While Australians have consistently agreed with the concept of a national day as a time to come together to celebrate what makes life here special, the date and its meaning have been the subject of some debate,” he said.

“We started to see opinions shift to a stronger support for 26th January after the Voice referendum, which acted as a reset on many social issues.

“We now see Australians actively avoiding calls for change that risk division, clinging onto anything that adds to cohesion, and a greater focus on including Aboriginal perspectives and multicultural elements into the national day has done that.”

Macquarie University professor Bronwyn Carlson said there was an annual “circus” over Australia Day and this distracted from “truth-telling” about Indigenous history and white settlement.

“I think the media like to raise this issue every year to continue the circus,” said Carlson, who is a Dharawal woman from NSW.

“We have greater things to consider in this world like the rise of white supremacy – and this endless focus on how people want to celebrate a pointless date is tiring.”

The survey found that 51 per cent of Labor voters backed January 26, while 78 per cent of Coalition said the same.

Support for January 26 was sharply different across each age group, however, with only 35 per cent of younger voters – those aged 18 to 34 – in favour of the date. Support was 79 per cent among those aged 55 and older.

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