by CRYSTAL-ROSE JONES – A PUB and hotel chain has quickly backtracked just hours after announcing Australia Day parties would be banned at its 200 venues across the nation.
Australian Venue Co said it was not allowing the celebrations because of the supposed “sadness” and “hurt” caused by the national celebration.
- The pub chain said it would be overturning its decision not to allow Australia Day parties.
- “It certainly wasn’t our intention to offend anyone.”
- The fault lies with an education system and its relentless message that Australia represents genocide.
Australia Day is a public holiday held annually on January 26 to commemorate the arrival of the First Fleet from Great Britain in 1788, which marked the beginning of European settlement of the continent.
While most see the day is an important celebration of Australia’s values, there have been calls from Labor and The Greens – particularly amid the global cancel culture push – to change the date.
BLOWBACK
They argue “it could be deemed offensive” to Indigenous people. Protest groups call it “Invasion Day” instead.
Following revelations of their decision on December 2—and the community blowback — Australian Venue Co issued a follow-up statement to overturn the move.
“We can see that our comments on the weekend have caused both concern and confusion,” the statement read.
“We sincerely regret that – our purpose is to reinforce community in our venues, not divide it.”
Australian Venue Co, a Hong Kong-based consortium, said it did not intend to offend Australians.
“It is not for us to tell anyone whether or how to celebrate Australia Day,” the statement said.
“We acknowledge that and we apologise for our comments.
“It certainly wasn’t our intention to offend anyone.”
The company acknowledged it served a wide section of communities.
“We employ 9600 people across the country. And we welcome 15m patrons each year to our venues,” the statement said.
“Across our community of team members and patrons, many different views are held and we acknowledge that.”
The group said it would be overturning its decision not to allow Australia Day parties.
“Whether you choose to celebrate Australia Day or not, everyone is welcome in our pubs, always,” the statement said.
“We have been, and are always, open over Australia Day and we continue to book events for patrons.”
UNBOTHERED
A University of South Australia survey of 559 Australians conducted in May showed 67 per cent of participants said they were unbothered about when Australia Day was celebrated, saying young Australians had a “different version of Australian history”.
However, a 2019 poll by the Australian National University showed 70 percent of people supported keeping the current date, while a 2022 Institute of Public Affairs survey showed 65 per cent in favour.
IPA researcher Brianna McKee said much of the reluctance to stand by tradition stemmed from the education system.
“The fault then lies with the education system, and its relentless message that the birth and development of modern Australia involved nothing other than invasion and genocide,” she wrote in The Epoch Times earlier this year.
“One need only look around to see the fallacy of such a message; we live in a society that upholds freedom and fairness, and one in which all of the cultures from which we stem are celebrated – not least the Indigenous.” PC
How dare they !!!! – Come on all Australians stand up united for all we Australians >
Tell these tyrannical B*$tard$ to get stuffed and don’t go to any of their PUBS EVER AGAIN !!! Break the B*$tard$. The only thing they care about $$$$$$.
AVC said that Australia Day was off the books.
Nobody’s confused over that.
Another weak retreat of the woke. Maybe one day they’ll try something like ‘Well, we thought we’d make a few friends with that idea, but it turns out we’ve PO’d a lot of potential customers with money to spend. We know a headslap when we get one!’