Dodson, a lawyer and indigenous leader, told Sky News that it is time the community talked about changing Australia Day from Jan. 26 because many indigenous Australians view it as “invasion day.”
Rudd acted quickly to dismiss Dodson’s suggestions, with his spokesman saying that the PM had ruled out shifting the date.
But Dodson said Rudd should not rule out the possibility.
“I think it’s a bit premature just to shut the book straight away ..it’s another act of exclusion,” he told Sky News.
“We want an inclusive society, we want a day that everybody feels comfortable with and if we come back and say we’ve had a yarn about this…and Aboriginal and Islander people say we’re now comfortable with the 26th, so be it,” Dodson said.
He again suggested a switch to Feb. 13, to commemorate the date when the Rudd government formally apologized last year to “the stolen generations” — the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by Australian and government agencies and church missions between 1869 and 1969, although, in some places, children were still being taken in the 1970s.
