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Brooke Boney's heartfelt plea to change the date of Australia Day

Australia day is just around the corner and with that every year comes a heated debate as to whether the date should be changed from January 26.

Now 31-year-old Brooke Boney – who recently took over as entertainment reporter for the Today show – has weighed in with a powerful opinion during her first week on air.

As a proud indigenous woman, Brooke admitted that celebrating on this date – the day Britain officially colonised Australia in 1788 – is ‘difficult’ and went on to give a heartfelt plea as to why she supports the change.

In her first week as entertainment reporter for the Today Show Brooke Boney has given a heartfelt plea for why she wants the Australia Day date changed. Source: Channel Nine
In her first week as entertainment reporter for the Today Show Brooke Boney has given a heartfelt plea for why she wants the Australia Day date changed. Source: Channel Nine

“I’m a part of that community, so I’m a Gamilaroi woman, my family is from Northern New South Wales, [we’ve] been there for about 60,000 years or so,” she explained.

“But the date, I know it comes up every year and I’m not trying to tell anyone else what they should be doing or how they should be celebrating.”

Brooke – who is known for starting her bulletins by saying ‘Yaama’, translating to ‘Hello’ in Gamilaroi – explained that she feels like her history has given her “almost more reason than anyone” to love Australia.

“I’m the oldest of six kids, [with a] single mum, and I get to sit here on the Today show and talk to you guys about this, I got to travel around the world with the prime minister and ask him about our issues. This is the best country in the world, no doubt,” she said.

“But I can’t separate the 26th of January from the fact that my brothers are more likely to go to jail than they are to go to school or that my little sisters and my mum are more likely to be beaten and raped than anyone else’s sisters or mum.

“And that started from that day, so for me it’s a difficult day and I don’t want to celebrate it but any other day of the year I’ll tie an Australian flag around my neck and run through the streets with anyone else.”

She has proudly promoted her Indigenous culture throughout her career so far. Photo: Instagram/boneybrooke
She has proudly promoted her Indigenous culture throughout her career so far. Photo: Instagram/boneybrooke

Fellow panellist, Tony Jones, then questioned her on why any other day would be different to January 26th.

“Because that’s the first day, that’s the day that it changed for us,” Brooke responded.“That’s the sort of the beginning of what some people would say is the end. That’s the turning point.”

Pressed even further by fellow host Deb Knight, Brooke said that while she doesn’t want to tell people what they should be doing, her ideal solution would be to move it either to Federation Day or just celebrate it on any other day.

“I think a day that suits more people is probably going to be more uniting,” she summed up.

View this post on Instagram

YTG we found the selfie light 💕

A post shared by Brooke Boney (@boneybrooke) on Mar 12, 2018 at 9:44pm PDT

The conversation then shifted to the question, ‘Why is there this great divide of us vs them?’ to which Brooke said the answer is explained by statistics.

“Statistics tell us that our lives are harder, and that’s not me making it up or saying ‘woe is me’ or ‘feel sorry for me’, because I don’t want people to feel sorry for me,” Brooke explained.

“But what I’m talking to are statistics, and that’s what I said to you about my brothers being more likely to go to jail, our lives being harder and for it not to be an ‘us and them’ thing. I think that’s why we’re talking about it.”

Following the segment, Brooke took to Twiter writing, “My love for this country and for all of you is stronger than the hate in any comments section.”

“My experience is what it is. No one can take that away from me.”

She has kicked off her first week of hosting the Today show with her powerful message about Australia Day. Source: Instagram/Brooke Boney
She has kicked off her first week of hosting the Today show with her powerful message about Australia Day. Source: Instagram/Brooke Boney

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