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4w ago

RSL Orders Review After Booing Disrupts Anzac Day Welcome to Country

The review signals tighter protocols after coordinated heckling drew police.

NSW Premier Chris Minns (L) arrives for the Anzac Day Dawn Service at Martin Place, in Sydney, Tuesday, April 25, 2023. Anzac Day is a national holiday in Australia, traditionally marked by a dawn service held during the time of the original Gallipoli landing and commemorated with ceremonies and parades throughout the day. Anzac Day commemorates the day the Australian and New Zealand Army Corp (ANZAC) landed on the shores of Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, during World War I. (Photo by Bianca De March - Pool/Getty Images)
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Angus Taylor has partly blamed “over-use” of Welcome to Country ceremonies, but condemned “un-Australian” heckling of Indigenous presenters who were booed at Anzac Day dawn services, including in Perth. 
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Overview

  • Boing of Welcome to Country, an Indigenous protocol that acknowledges Traditional Owners, disrupted Saturday’s dawn services in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
  • WA Police removed five people at Perth’s Kings Park over links to March for Australia and fears of disruption, issuing move‑on notices.
  • NSW Police charged a man over a disturbance at Sydney’s Martin Place service, and he is on conditional bail ahead of a June 3 court date.
  • RSL Australia opened a review of its Anzac Day guidance on Welcome to Country, with president Peter Tinley condemning the heckling and seeking federal advice on prevention.
  • Opposition Leader Angus Taylor called the jeering unacceptable but said the protocol is overused, as the Townsville RSL defended dropping it from its dawn service and Indigenous leaders urged a stronger police presence at future events.