When it comes to whipping up a culture war to feed the media, Peter Dutton is the culinary master. Fresh off the back of eliminating the Aboriginal flag from his press conferences, a move no-one asked for, this week the opposition leader extolled the glories of “nationalism” while promising to ban councils from holiday citizenship ceremonies on any day other than January 26:
It will be a sign of pride and nationalism in our country … The prime minister sent a signal to those councils that Australia Day didn’t matter and that it was something to be ashamed of. The prime minister doesn’t talk publicly about that, but that’s exactly what he did.
It didn’t matter that by turning his attention to the date of Australia Day, Dutton was flogging a culture war horse not so much dead as already rendered into glue. It didn’t matter that the government has made no hint that it intends to change the date. By taking aim at Anthony Albanese over his government’s reforms, which allowed councils to hold citizenship ceremonies a few days either side of the 26th, Dutton was doing his annual act of charity for Australia’s news editors, kicking off potentially weeks of easy content.
But a paper can’t always rely on a single politician’s talking points to keep a story going, or heaven forbid it might seem biased or compromised. So here are a few other ingredients to spice up a story out of more or less nothing.
Polls
Is there any sweeter gig than putting together research for the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), knowing for a fact that an array of publications will run it uninterrogated (no matter how many times it becomes clear a little interrogation might be worthwhile)? So it was this year, with The Daily Telegraph reporting on the IPA’s annual poll on Australia Day, which saw a increase in people agreeing with the statement “Australia Day should be celebrated on January 26”, up to 69% from 63% (nice!):
A ‘vibe shift’ against corporate activism has led to a surge in support for celebrating Australia Day on January 26, a new analysis has found, with increasing numbers of younger Australians saying the nation should keep the date.
‘Woke’ businesses
Hot tip: the parties that in every other arena support deregulation of business and oppose secondary boycotts are weirdly activist when it comes to the merchandise supermarkets do or don’t stock. You don’t even have to wait for anyone to complain about, just put some questions in, try your luck!
After questions from Channel 7 in 2024, Woolworths Group confirmed its Woolworths and Big W stores would not sell extra Australia Day-themed merchandise citing both a “gradual decline in demand for Australia Day merchandise from our stores over recent years,” and the “broader discussion about January 26 and what it means to different parts of the community”. Note the stores still sold the Australian flags that were available all year round, and customers could still order Australia Day merchandise online. Cue weeks of headlines, statements from conservative politicians, and, inevitably, vandalism at Woolworth’s stores and abuse of their staff.
Vox pops
Obviously the people who actually act on the confected outrage aren’t the everyday salt-of-the-earth people you want to represent. But what if those everyday people don’t appear to give much of a shit about Australia Day? Just act as if they do!
In the aftermath of the Woolworths controversy, NCA, the News Corp Newswire, did a vox pop piece polling the public’s views on the decision and, seemingly, Australia Day didn’t really come up. The majority of the public’s complaints regarding Woolies concerned price gouging and the lack of support provided by Woolworths to Australian producers. Only one respondent, an “all Australian” family (who moved to Cronulla from South Africa in 2000) expressed any specific attachment to Australia Day being held on January 26. Regardless, the piece ran under the headline “Aussie family said they will ‘think twice’ before shopping at Woolies”.
Ads
Is it weird we have government-funded ads for a public holiday? Well we do, and since 2019, they’ve been funded quite generously.
The Morrison government more than tripled the amount of funding it allocates to the National Australia Day Council (NADC), mostly put toward creating an ad campaign called “Story of Australia”, which promoted January 26 as a “day for all Australians”.
The council received $14.6 million from the department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in 2019-20, an increase of more than $10 million from the previous year. Hilariously, even a move like this can generate a little tabloid outrage if you try hard enough — see Kevin Donnelly’s castigation of the ads as “wishy washy multiculturalism” that didn’t pay sufficient attention to Australia’s “European” heritage.
And conveniently, this kind of content doesn’t rely on a government of any particular stripe — the money NADC receives from government hasn’t returned to pre-COVID levels since Albanese took office.
What are your favourite subjects of confected media outrage? Write to us at letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication in Crikey’s Your Say. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
