PROUD Australian and Federal MP Bob Katter has weighed in on the Australia Day debate and has proposed two days of celebration, respect and remembrance.  

Mr Katter who “celebrates Australia Day everyday” spent the day touring festivities around Far North Queensland while assessing the national debate and said the media coverage of the would suggest “it was not working”.  

“Yet it mostly certainly was at Cardwell where the Cassowary Coast Regional Council held its ceremonies, and at the Kurrimine Beach and Garradunga pubs,” Mr Katter said 

He said January 26 should continue to be celebrated as the nation’s annual day, and there should be a second day to celebrate First Australians.  

“There should be a day we respect the people who came here and turned this into a small but significant nation and created a standard of living as high as anywhere in the world. Australia as we know it today is an entirely different animal from when the second Australians arrived.  

“I think Australia Day should be a day in which we respect our forebears that came from overseas, but there should be another day in which we respect the people that were already here.” 

Mr Katter has put forward the suggestion of celebrating First Australians on the Queen’s Birthday  holiday, which is set to become the King’s Birthday this year. 

He said while he respected Queen Elizabeth he believed in famous United States president Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence and Archbishop Stephen Langton’s Magna Carta – ‘all men are born free and equal.’  

“I have respect for England, and I revere the constitution of our nation, but I believe infinitely more, that all men and women are equal.  I’m sorry but having kings and queens is not compatible with all people being equal. 

“So, let’s substitute the Queen’s birthday, for First Australian’s Day.”

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