How Conservative Politicians Are Fuelling the Invasion Day Culture War this Year

Australia's controversial national day is coming up and yet again conservative politicians are latching on, inflaming the debate with paid advertisements. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton even called for Australia to boycott Woolworths, after the supermarket giant announced it wouldn't be selling any specific “Australia Day" merchandise in 2024.

In the lead up to January 26 this year, Woolworths announced it would not stock “Australia Day” merchandise, due to decreased demand.

In response, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton called the move an “outrage” indicative of Woolworths’ “woke agenda” and demanded Australians boycott the business.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned Dutton for his “extraordinary overreach”.

“I find it bizarre that the so-called party of the free market is calling for a boycott,” he told 2HD radio.

“If everyone boycotted Woolworths, 200,000 people would lose their jobs.”

On Tuesday, police arrested and charged a man who allegedly vandalised a Woolworths store in Brisbane.

Police will allege he lit a flare under the door, triggering the fire alarm at around 5am. The graffiti left on the store reads “5 days 26 Jan Aussie Oi Oi Woolies Fuck U” and “Boycott Woolies”.

On Thursday, a new analysis by Guardian Australia found conservative politicians had overwhelmingly paid for social media ads that lobby against changing the date.

Liberal MP Andrew Hastie and shadow immigration and citizenship minister Dan Tehan were overwhelmingly the most frequent buyers of ads relating to Australia Day, 26 January, Woolworths, Invasion Day and “change the date”.

Hastie spent hundreds of dollars on eleven ads following Woolworths’ decision. The ads stated the prime minister is “waging war on Australia Day along with corporate elites like Woolworths and BIG-W”.

Tehan has run ten ads on social media claiming similarly that Prime Mister Anthony Albanese is “undermining Australia Day” and “getting councils to do his dirty work”.

Liberal MPs Jason Wood and Phillip Thompson also spent hundreds of taxpayer dollars respectively on ads decrying Woolworths.

The Australian Christian Lobby also posted an ad that asked “when did supermarkets get so political? Where does it end?”.

An early 2023 SMS poll from Roy Morgan found 64 per cent of Australians were in favour of January 26 remaining as “Australia Day”, as opposed to renaming it “Invasion Day”.

The result showed an increase of 5 per cent in two years, but the majority of respondents aged under 35 supported renaming the day “Invasion Day”.

Arielle Richards is the multimedia reporter at VICE Australia, follow her on Instagram and Twitter.