Andrew Bolt offers a very controversial suggestion on when Australia Day should be celebrated

Political commentator Andrew Bolt has proposed Australia Day be moved to the anniversary of the failed Voice referendum.

Bolt suggested in his weekly column the date of the national holiday should be changed to October 14 if debate carries on about changing the January 26 date. 

‘That’s the anniversary of the day Australians voted against the Voice. The day we voted to go on together as one people, united and equal,’ he wrote.

‘Isn’t that worth celebrating? More than that: isn’t that something we badly need to?’

He additionally took aim at the Labor government for leading campaigns such as the Voice referendum and leaving Aussies ‘disparaged and divided’.

The referendum appeared to initially have strong support when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made the announcement in May 2022 it was going ahead. 

Support dropped as the polling date drew closer before the referendum was voted down with only 40 per cent of voters backing it in the end. 

Bolt’s suggestion to change the date of Australia Day came after Victorian premier Jacinta Allan revealed there are no plans to bring back the parade in Melbourne.

While the tradition, which was scrapped by former premier Dan Andrews four years ago during the Covid pandemic, remains off the table, the Allan Labor government will mark the national day in other ways. 

These include the annual 21-gun salute at the Shrine of Remembrance, a RAAF flyover and the Flag Raising Ceremony and Open Day at Government House.

Victorian public servants will also be given the option to work on January 26 and take a different day off.

‘January 26 means different things to different people,’ a department of premier and cabinet spokesman said.

‘On this day, we encourage conversation and reflection on the different meanings of the day for all Victorians.’ 

Bolt rubbished the Victorian government for bending to ‘activists’.

‘But so what if some activists claim to be distraught by the day?’ he wrote.

‘Why should this government trash our national day and our nation just for them?’

Bolt suggested in his weekly column the date of the national holiday should be changed to October 14 if debate carries on about changing the January 26 date

First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria Co-Chair Ngarra Murray told the Herald Sun it was right to permanently scrap the parade.

‘The Aboriginal community has a range of views on January 26, but whichever way you look at it, it’s a day of mourning for a lot of our people,’ he said.

‘So, it’s not a date to celebrate.’

The state government is also withdrawing most of its support from the long-running Victorian Australian Day Ambassadors Program.

The program, where outstanding community members are appointed as Australia Day Ambassadors, will no longer be primarily managed by the Department of Premier and Cabinet.

Ambassadors were sent emails in November informing them it would be up to local councils and communities to organise events featuring them.

A government spokesman said the change was to create local ambassadors that ‘reflect and resonate’ with their communities.

They said a trial of the decentralised program had received good feedback.

If councils or towns could not find a local ambassador they could still contact the Department of Premier and Cabinet for help.

The National Australia Day Council has approved Victorian government’s changes to the Ambassador Program.