Changing of the lyrics in Australia’s national anthem is a small but important step in bringing Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people together.
This change, and PM Morrison’s explanatory statement, indicates that the government is grappling with the issues that alienate Aboriginal people from the rest of Australia. They should be congratulated for doing so.
Importantly it recognises that Australia is not ‘young’ but home to the oldest continuing living culture in the world. Now when Australians sing the anthem, it is in the knowledge that the history of this country extends hundreds of generations before invasion and federation.
While it is an important step, it is only a symbolic one. You don’t bring this country together by changing one word in our national anthem. I urge PM Morrison not to stop here but take the nation on the far more important step of striking a treaty between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.
