An anti-immigration group has claimed it did not organise booing at welcome to country ceremonies during Anzac Day dawn services, despite a social media post asking followers 'how loud will you be this year'. The booing, which marred ceremonies for a second consecutive year, has sparked renewed debate about the role of Indigenous acknowledgments at public events.
Uncle Ray Minniecon, an Indigenous elder and former serviceman who was booed while giving an acknowledgment of country at Sydney's dawn service, described the reaction as 'unexpected and unnecessary'. Speaking on Sky News, he said: 'Why do people hate us so much? What crime did we commit that brings this out from people?'
The group Fight for Australia, described by its leader as a 'sister group' of March for Australia, had encouraged supporters to contact local RSL branches to request that welcomes to country be excluded from Anzac Day ceremonies. A video posted by the group showed Melbourne's 2025 ceremony where Bunurong elder Uncle Mark Brown was booed by members of the National Socialist Network, with superimposed text reading 'how loud will you be this year?'.
The organiser, who goes by the moniker 'Bec Freedom', refuted claims of organising the booing but stood by the content. 'We simply put a few posts up asking people if they would be booing this year due to the amount of grassroots public interest on this topic,' she said, adding that the booing was a protest against 'woke rituals' on a solemn day.
In Perth, police removed 15 people identified as members of 'issue motivated groups' from a dawn service, with no arrests made. Opposition leader Angus Taylor called the booing 'inappropriate and un-Australian', but suggested Indigenous acknowledgments were 'overused' and should be used less to avoid being 'devalued'.
