Australians need to listen, reflect and engage in mature conversation about the country's national day, Indigenous leaders say.
January 26, which marks the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, would always be a hard time for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, Reconciliation Australia chief executive Karen Mundine said.
Ms Mundine, a Bundjalung woman, said it was important to have conversations about the day but debate had grown "uglier and louder".
"So often the debate has become about entrenched voices or positions yelling at one another and it's actually not a respectful discussion," she told AAP.
"It's not a constructive debate - it's name-calling and it's become quite ugly in some respects."
Wiradjuri and Fijian woman Bridget Cama shares this frustration.
"At the end of the day it's a divisive debate and we really need to take it out of that space," the Uluru Youth Dialogue co-chair said.
"The 26th of January presents a really awesome opportunity for Australians to actually come together and have a mature conversation around why this particular date is traumatic or hurtful to First Nations people.
"Unfortunately, it gets taken out of context - made into headlines and one-liners."
Polling published by Nine Newspapers on Friday showed a majority of Australians backed keeping January 26 as the national day, representing a shift from previous years.
Support for January 26 has risen from 47 per cent to 61 per cent in the past two years.
This could be because people were becoming tired of the tone of debate, Ms Mundine said.
Ms Cama did not believe January 26 was a day to celebrate but said changing the date - or abolishing the national day - would not fix the root cause of issues and risked shifting them to another day.
"Australia is an amazing country and it's a country I'm really proud of but I'm still disappointed that we haven't moved as a country to formally recognise the First Nations people," she said.
"Changing the date isn't going to fix that.
"It's not going to address the unfinished business or that original grievance.
"It just moves it to a different day."
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the polling showed "national pride" could be celebrated.
"We live in the 21st century, and in 2025 we should be proud of who we are, proud of the country that we've created, and we should be proud to celebrate it," he told reporters in Adelaide.
Mr Dutton has called for people to boycott companies that "avoid Australia Day" and pledged not to stand in front of the Aboriginal flag if he becomes prime minister.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said celebrating Australia Day was a "'wonderful thing".
"It's an opportunity ... we have to think and not take for granted what we are as a nation, what we've built here," he told the National Press Club.
"I firmly believe it's a celebration of why we are the best country on earth.
"The other thing that happens at Australia Day is there is a focus on the fullness and richness of our history, including the fact that we all share this continent with the oldest continuous culture on earth, and what a privilege it is."
Politicians have accused each other of engaging in culture wars over the issue.
Ms Mundine said it was up to individuals and leaders to set the tone of conversations about January 26 and if the date of Australia Day ever changed, it would require much more reflection and discussion.
"We have to be prepared to listen to each other, listen to different points of view because that's the only way we can engage in what the tensions and what the issues actually are," she said.
