By George Christensen
They told you it was ancient. Timeless. Sacred. Beyond question. But the facts tell a very different story.
The modern Welcome to Country industry, in the form that Australians now see at sporting matches, council meetings, corporate lunches and public ceremonies, is not some unchanged tradition stretching back thousands of years. Its current public-event format traces back to the 1970s and was later popularised through the arts scene in the 1980s. And yet, millions of Australians have been pressured into believing this is a permanent civic obligation rather than a recent custom.
And now you are paying for it.
Across 21 federal departments, taxpayers were slugged more than $452,000 for 300 ceremonies over two years. Individual listed fees for a Welcome to Country ceremony can run from a few hundred dollars to well over $2,000 once smoking ceremonies, travel and extras are added. Ask yourself a simple question: has any of this spending measurably improved housing, health, safety or education outcomes in struggling Indigenous communities?
Of course not.
This is the heart of the frustration ordinary Australians feel. Real disadvantage remains. Remote communities still need practical help. Families still need safety and opportunity. Yet the political class keeps funding symbolism while pretending symbolism is action.
And then comes Anzac Day.
The one day that should unite Australians in shared remembrance has become another battleground. Booing, heckling, arguments over protocols, public anger. Why? Because people know instinctively that remembrance of the fallen should not be turned into another ideological performance.
Respect is one thing. Compulsion is another.
No one opposes genuine respect for Indigenous Australians. But many are rejecting the endless ritualisation of public life, where every event must begin with scripted gestures to satisfy bureaucrats, consultants and activists.
Australians are a fair people. We believe in unity. We believe in practical help. We believe in honouring our past without manufacturing division in the present.
It is time to end the taxpayer-funded excess, stop welcoming Australians to their own country, and put the money into outcomes that actually change lives.
If you agree, speak up. Share the infographic above on Facebook, send it to your mates, and help spread the truth that the establishment does not want discussed. Demand unity over symbolism, substance over theatre, and country over bureaucracy.
Until next time, God bless you, your family and nation.
Ernie Dingo’s own words of why he made up the welcome to country.
ERNIE DINGO EXPLAINS WHY HE DEVISED WELCOME TO COUNTRY, he says it was due to South sea islanders visiting Perth for a festival and they wanted to be welcomed , LIKE A HANDSHAKE , it then progressed to the international KIWI RUGBY as a reply to the Harka
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DI-760ySfJ7/?igsh=MW0xb3h3NmRteGhxZw==
Seven minutes of aboriginal baloney and only one minutes silence to remember the souls of our fallen ANZAC heroes — We are insulted. Wake up and grow up RSL insulters.
Bess Price, former NT Minister for Community Services
Said, ‘All the “Welcome to Country”, all the “Smoking Ceremonies” and all the made-up bullshit rituals about “pay our respects to elders past and present” is just one big lie.
Price is an Indigenous Warlpiri woman who received a prestigious U.S. International Women’s Courage Award from former U.S. President Barack Obama in 2012 for her work tackling domestic violence.
Indigenous entertainers Ernie Dingo and Richard Whalley, of the Middar Aboriginal Theatre, invented the “welcome to country” in 1976 because two pairs of Maori visitors from NZ and the Cook Islands wanted an equivalent of their own traditional ceremony before they would dance at the Perth International Arts Festival. (An adaptation from the US Indians Public Relations campaign.) It is not and never was a tradition issue, over $145,000 has now been spent by the government on this comedy theatrical, which stupid organisations compulsory require staff to accept.
This was deliberately confused with a totally different greeting to give permission to cross another tribe’s land, such permission was often given as a form of entrapment if the entering tribe had many females, where they were ambushed in bloody battles, many killed and the women taken.
The original real cultural knowledge is now basically unknown today, compared to what we were taught 60 years ago. The NEW understanding of aboriginal history bunkum being spoken by the White Indigenous Invaders, reverses a lot of traditional culture, Aboriginals did not ever own land, they were the custodians of the land for future generations.
She has described Aboriginal ‘Welcome to country’ ceremonies as ‘bullshit’. (The ‘welcome to country’ was copied from Canadian and US Indians.)
DON’T YOU WELCOME ME TO MY COUNTRY
My ancestors fought for this country; if they had lost there would not be any aboriginals alive today — The enemy intended to annihilate them.
Get that fact through your brain, we saved your life and your existence, we have financed almost every facet of your existence — And you come out with this bullshit about ‘Welcome to country’, being traditional.
For your recorded information this phoney ‘Welcome to country’ was invented by Ernie dingo in 1976.
Write this bit of history on the wall of every building we paid for out of our taxes that you use.
Ernie Dingo and Richard Whalley, of the Middar Aboriginal Theatre, invented the “welcome to country” in 1976 because a group of visitors from NZ and Cook Islands wanted an equivalent of their own traditional ceremony before they would dance at the Perth International Arts Festival.
We do not accept your fantasy bullshit with governments ‘Gung Ho’ swallowing the bunkum and incorporating it into every facet of their organisation, local government suckers, compliant and ignorant businesses, industry, sporting bodies — with the most insulting and unforgiving of all —the RSL.
We Will Not Tolerate Anyone Welcoming The Memories And Souls Of Our Service Men And Women To Their Homeland on ANZAC Day — UNDERSTAND.
This rude insulting ignorance is now exposed and finished.
Every proud Aussie who respects the sacrifices of our service men and women, and whose family members fought for OUR country — Please ‘BOO’ loudly and thumbs down, every time you hear this BS welcome insult to OUR nation.
Understand your derogatory insults have gone too far.
We will not be welcomed to our own country and we will not tolerate anyone welcoming the memories and souls of our service men and women to their homeland. This is an insulting, ignorant, sacrilegious rude intrusion into the memories of our heroes and loved ones.
RSL executives must resign — How dare you insult the memories of the fallen reading this rubbish on ANZAC Day.
Australia has now woken up ‘BIG TIME’ to your fraudulent scamming insults now extended into the Voice Referendum.
We will no longer be insulted and finance your frauds, your dreamtime fantasies — or Australia’s biggest ever fraud — The Voice referendum.
Why wasn’t this researched before the babbling began.
I Have NO TIME and will not tolerate Or ACKNOWLEDGE Welcome to country. Most Australians Know that its a scam and the real reason behind it is Government LAND GRABS. The Government is after your house and land. YOU WILL OWN NOTHING BUT YOU WILL BE HAPPY. They Want us all to be RENTERS all our lives, you will rent and lease absolutely EVERYTHING you need. EVEN YOUR CLOTHES. ALL this in place by 2030 to 2050. This is backed by the UN, THE WEF , WORLD BANKS and BIG CORPORATIONS, Including BIG PHARMA. WE NEED A REVOLUTION AGAINST CORRUPT GOVERNMENT and GREEDY ELITES. TIME TO ARM OURSELVES.
I see regularly/irregularly on & off for years now, a man of colour living in my area who several times per year returns to his peoples groups close to the red centre & he says that just like the YES/NO vote that the Welcome to country nonsense is a load of crap.
Stop wasting the money on this and look after ALL people black and white properly.
I am sad and tired of seeing homeless white and aboriginal people asking for money at the local shopping centre – it should never have come to this.
The blame is on all politicians who did this and/or allowed our country to get in this deplorable state.
Won’t reply with my real emotions for fear of being slandered. What a sad country this has become. Have many Aboriginal friends. They know. You won’t hear their opinion in the inner city soy latte set.
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