Is Advance Australia Fair a White Supremacist Song?
Former rugby league player turned professional boxer Anthony Mundine has repeatedly expressed his disdain for modern Australian society. Mundine who is of Aboriginal ancestry and a convert to Islam is constantly in the media for claiming that he and Aboriginal Australians are the victims of constant racism and discrimination from “white Australia”.
Mundine has also gained controversy for misogynistic and homophobic comments. Last year on Mark Latham’s Outsiders Mundine stated that Muslim men could beat their wives with a “little stick as long as they don’t cause injury”. In 2010 he said that Cathy Freeman could not be an indigenous leader because she was a woman “As far as being a leader, that’s not her anyway, a man can only lead”.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph at the beginning of the year Mundine suggested that the death penalty would be a way to prevent homosexuality being acceptable in our society “If we were to live in a society, just like in Aboriginal culture, that homosexuality is forbidden and you do it and the consequences are capital punishment or death, you think you are going to do it? Or think twice about doing it? Hell no”.
Now chasing another headline Mundine has stated he will not stand for the Australian national anthem if it is played before his fight against Jeff Horn in Brisbane on November. Mundine said about Advance Australia Fair “I can’t stand for that, it’s a white supremacist song”.
He also claimed his opponent Jeff Horn is only considered a rising star and beloved by the Australian public because of white privilege “He’s got that white man privilege. He’s got that white privilege that allows him to have that privilege he does. He jagged one good fight.”
Advance Australia Fair is played before every major Australian sporting event, played at school assemblies and other public events. Those on the cultural left do not like any public display of Australian patriotism, whether it be Australia Day, ANZAC Day or the playing of the national anthem claiming we are not worthy of national pride because of our alleged oppression of Aboriginal Australians and system of offshore processing of asylum seekers.
There have been some commentators suggesting that indigenous AFL or NRL players should not stand for the national anthem on Grand Final Day because of indigenous injustices. This idea never caught on like it did in the United States when NFL player Colin Kaepernick began the trend of African-American players kneeling before the national anthem to protest police brutality.
Our national anthem Advance Australia Fair was first composed and its original lyrics created in 1879 in colonial Australia, the lyrics were modified in 1901 for Federation and again when it was voted in a referendum in 1977 to replace ‘God Save the Queen’ as Australia’s national anthem. The current version of the song as our national anthem was adopted in 1984.
The left’s main criticism of Advance Australia Fair is that it does not mention indigenous Australians. But is it really a white supremacist song as Mundine claims? The current lyrics would suggest otherwise with the second verse stating “For those who’ve come across the seas; We’ve boundless plains to share”. If one were a white supremacist they would actually hate the national anthem as it is inviting as endless open immigration to Australia.
But the left would also criticize these lyrics because they claim it is not an ideal we live up to because of our border protection policy. Aboriginal singer Deborah Cheetham refused to sing Advance Australia Fair at the 2015 AFL Grand Final because she could not omit the line “for we are young and free” because Aboriginal Australian culture is ancient and Aborignials do not enjoy freedom. She suggested replacing it with “peace and harmony” as did Victorian Supreme Court judge Peter Vickery in 2017.
No matter how inclusive Advance Australia Fair has been made during its evolution it is still never enough for people like Anthony Mundine and other leftist activists. JustBut of course Mundine is just after attention, but his assertion that our anthem is “white supremacist” needs to be called out for the the ludicrous and inflammatory statement it is.