Latest / The Slippery Slope / Welcome to Country, ANZAC Day & the Rise of Division — A Measured Response

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Welcome to Country, ANZAC Day & the Rise of Division — A Measured Response · The Slippery Slope

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  So today I want to talk about Anzac Day 2026, not just the
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  ceremonies, but what happened around the country and what it
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  reveals about where where we are as a nation.
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  And I want to speak from a place that's that's fairly personal
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  for me. Get my.
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  Street ahead. Get my head in the game with
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  the. Red light on, I'm just waiting.
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  For the change. So I am an Indigenous
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  Australian. I respect MyHeritage, I respect
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  my community, I respect the history of the people and the
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  sacrifices made by Indigenous men and women who served this
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  country long before they were even recognised as citizens.
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  But I'm not just in Indigenous, Australian MyHeritage is
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  actually South Sea Islander who got here because I brought over
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  as slaves, because sugar cane. So the Kanakas MyHeritage is
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  South Sea Islander, Indigenous and Irish.
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  My last name is Fallon O'Fallon from Ireland, I think bored
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  here, bored here as convicts. So my goodness, that's my
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  history. But that's that's MyHeritage.
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  But I am an Australian, OK, So I also believe in speaking
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  honestly. And honestly I I don't agree
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  with the way Indigenous culture is being used in Australia
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  today. Not by everyday people, not by
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  communities, but by governments and institutions.
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  Because what happened on Anzac Day didn't come out of nowhere.
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  So across several major cities, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth,
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  Indigenous speakers delivering welcome to country or
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  acknowledgement of country were booed by second by sections of
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  the crowd. So according to reporting,
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  including from the Guardian, some of the booing appears to
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  have been organised by a nationalist group encouraging
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  people to disrupt Indigenous speakers.
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  So in Sydney you've got this gentleman who they call Uncle
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  Ray Minikon. Funnily enough, I was talking to
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  a young lady just last week who I believe might be his either
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  granddaughter or great niece. And I know a few Minikons here
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  in Queensland, they're quite a large family.
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  So Ray Minikon was interrupted, a man was was arrested,
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  Indigenous leaders condemned the behaviour and veterans called it
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  disrespectful, which I agree with.
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  They're right, booing at a dawn service is disrespectful.
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  But he's the deeper issue. Why are we at a point where this
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  kind of division is even possible?
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  You've got a ceremony that once united, now divides.
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  I want to say something carefully because it comes from
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  my own experience. I don't believe Welcome to
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  Country ceremonies should be at every event.
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  I'll repeat that I don't believe Welcome to Country ceremonies
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  should be at every event. I do believe Anzac Day is an
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  event where Welcome to Countries would fit in.
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  I do believe it is perfectly acceptable and it is actually a
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  good event to have this kind of ceremony beforehand, but I don't
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  believe they should be at every event.
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  Not because I reject my culture, the culture, not because I
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  reject MyHeritage, but because these ceremonies which which
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  only became widespread in recent decades.
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  Let's be honest with ourselves have been pushed into every
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  corner of public life in a way that has created division and
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  not unity. What was once a gesture of
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  respect has become a political requirement.
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  It's a box to tick. It's a ritual to perform.
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  It's a symbol used by governments to signal virtue
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  rather than build community. And when something is forced,
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  it's repeated endlessly and tied to accusations of racism.
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  If you question it, it stops being cultural and it becomes
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  ideological. It becomes a tool, and tools can
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  be weaponized. So this is the part that
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  concerns me most. State and federal governments
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  have spent years pushing Indigenous, say, in quotation
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  marks, quote culture into every aspect of public life.
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  And not to honour it, but to create a narrative, you must
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  accept it. You must accept this, You must
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  celebrate this. If you don't, you're racist.
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  Doesn't that sound like other narratives that have been forced
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  into the public arena of late? If you don't, if you don't
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  accept certain cultures, certain beliefs, certain lifestyles, if
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  you don't celebrate it, well, then you suffer from a certain
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  phobia. You suffer from racism.
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  That kind of pressure doesn't unite people, it divides them.
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  It creates resentment, It creates suspicion.
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  It creates an Indigenous versus white Australia mentality that
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  never needed to exist. And Anzac Day exposed that
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  fracture. People weren't booing Indigenous
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  people. They were reacting wrongly to a
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  system that has used Indigenous identity as a political
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  instrument. But the tragedy is this.
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  The anger gets directed at the wrong people.
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  It lands on elders, on speakers, on communities, on individuals
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  who had nothing to do with the policies that created the
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  tension. And that's the cost of cultural
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  weaponization. So as a Christian, and before
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  any other identity that I might that I might adhere to, I am a
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  Christian above all. I'm a believer in Christ above
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  all. So as a Christian, my identity
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  is grounded in something deeper than culture or politics.
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  So the Bible says in in Galatians 328 that there is
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  neither Jew nor Greek, for you are all one in Christ.
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  Now I know there's a bigger picture that they're talking
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  about here and spiritual picture, but if you bring it
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  back to what we're talking about today, I think it also relates
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  this verse doesn't it doesn't erase culture, it doesn't erase
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  heritage, it doesn't erase history, but it does say this
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  and ultimate identity is not tribal, it's not racial, it's
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  not political, it's spiritual. And when governments elevate
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  cultural identity above shared identity, division is
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  inevitable. Jesus also said in Matthew 2012,
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  sorry, got it written down here, 12/25.
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  Every Kingdom divided against itself is brought to to
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  desolation again. There's a very spiritual picture
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  that's being painted here by Jesus.
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  But bringing it back to the natural, looking at what's
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  happening in Australia, division weakens nations, division blinds
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  people, division destroys trust and division is exactly what
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  we're seeing. We should be united under 1
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  flag. I believe in Indigenous
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  heritage, I believe in honouring the past, I believe in
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  acknowledging the truth in history.
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  But I also believe this. We are all Australians, OK?
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  If you come here and you don't want to unite under the
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  Australian flag, I do believe you should probably go back to
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  where you want to unite. We are all Australians, we live
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  under 1 flag, we share 1 nation, we stand together on Anzac Day
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  or we stand divided. And right now we are standing
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  divided, not because not because of indigenous people, not
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  because of non indigenous people, but because governments
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  and institutions have created a cultural environment where
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  disagreements equals racism and where unity is replaced with
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  ideological performance. And that's not reconciliation,
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  that's coercion. And coercion never produces
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  unity. So as I reflect on Anzac Day
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  2026, I'm not. I'm not angry, I'm concerned.
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  I'm concerned that we're losing the ability to come together.
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  I'm concerned that culture is being used as a political tool.
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  I'm concerned that identity is being weaponized.
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  And I'm concerned that division is becoming normal.
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  But I also believe this, that truth brings clarity, clarity
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  brings unity, and unity brings strength.
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  We need to step back, breathe and remember who we are.
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  Not as tribes, not as fractions, not as political categories, but
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  as Australians. As for me, as a Christian, as a
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  believer in Christ, unity begins with truth, humility and love.
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  As always, this is my opinion. I'm Jay Fallon, please go and
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  check out my music and the rest of my podcast.
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  And thanks for listening to the Slippery Slope Podcast.
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  And nothing 's going to stop me now.
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  And nothing's going to hold me down.
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  Got my eye on the eyes, got my sight over the years.
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  No sight. Nothing's going to, Nothing 's
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  going to stop me.