Government workers expose a major problem with the constant ‘Acknowledgment oo Country’ ceremonies before meetings

A social media user has complained about constant Acknowledgment of Country ceremonies before meetings on a forum for government workers.

‘Anyone else sick of the acknowledgment of country before every single meeting?’ they shared on the AusPublic service Reddit.

‘I have several meetings a day and every single one of them someone does an acknowledgment of country.

‘It feels ridiculous  at this point and a waste of time. I have to look away so I don’t roll my eyes. How do you feel about hearing this 5-6 times a day?’

Most of those commenting said they’d had enough of the practice.

‘We have to open our team meetings with it. It feels perfunctory and fake,’ one person wrote.

‘Yes. It’s pointless and offensive,’ was another reply.

‘Everyone knows that it’s empty words at this point. I’m not sure who it’s supposed to be fooling,’ another stated.

A common objection was that it had little practical effect.

‘Indigenous Australians need actions not tokenistic words,’ was the most endorsed comment on the thread.

‘I know a dude who got exemption from the local Elders to not have to say it at official events,’ another reply recounted.

‘His reasoning was that it was tokenism and didn’t believe it helped local communities. 

‘The elders agreed with him and (have) given him written support.

‘The social justice warriors heads nearly exploded when he informed the organisation he wouldn’t be doing it anymore but there was nothing they could do given his exemption. Pretty funny stuff.’

However, the practice had some defenders.

‘I don’t have a problem with it but have sometimes felt it was trivialised,’ one Reddit user wrote. 

‘Then a few years back I did one before running a workshop type thing and during lunch one of the guys in the room, and older Aboriginal gent, came up and said he appreciated it. 

A Reddit User has complained that his workplace does an Acknowledgement for every meeting (stock image pictured.

‘I’ve felt good about doing it since then – maybe a bunch of people are bored but for some they might find meaning in it.’

Another Reddit user said a former workplace ‘had a culture of doing it well’.

‘Everyone who spoke it researched the country they were on, then coupled it with a fact, bit of history, culture they’d learned, or incorporated something Indigenous to the presentation we were doing,’ the user commented.

‘This filtered down to smaller meetings as well.

‘It’s very possible to make it a genuine and positive experience for all. And it’s important for our First Nations people that we keep it up.’

Others condemned the thread.

‘Like, get over it,’ one person replied.

‘Hard pill to swallow: this country is so racist. The cope in this thread is ridiculous. And these are people in the public service!’

Although the original poster insisted it was done before every meeting at his workplace this was not the experience of everyone.

‘Honestly it seems to have died off a lot in my agency since the Voice vote failed, a Reddit user wrote. 

One person took a more pragmatic approach.

‘If they keep paying me to sit through them I’ll sit there for as many as they can make,’ they wrote.

‘Especially when food is provided.’