Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce calls Welcome to Country ceremonies ‘overdone’: ‘Veterans don’t need to be welcomed’

Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce says Welcome to Country ceremonies are “overdone” and make people feel “awkward”, adding he understood the concern of veterans being “welcomed” to an Anzac Day ceremony.

Welcome to Country ceremonies hit the spotlight once again on Anzac Day, when a number of men jeered and heckled Bunurong elder Uncle Mark Brown at the dawn service at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance.

A Welcome to Country is about “welcoming visitors” and “respect for country”, which has always been part Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, according to Reconciliation Australia.

On Monday, Joyce joined Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek on Sunrise, where he was questioned about the controversial ceremonies.

“I was at a ceremony in the ACT, at the Australian War Memorial, and someone screamed out ‘Free Palestine’ in the middle of the silence. You haven’t got a right to scream out anything for any political reason during Anzac Day,” Joyce said.

“You just shut up and respect the day. There’s other days for the political debate.”

However, Joyce explained he believed Welcome to Country ceremonies are “overdone” and people feel “awkward” at them.

“I do think they’re overdone,” Joyce said.

“I think people are starting to feel awkward at them and awkward goes to anger at times, that is something we don’t want.

“We don’t want to go to an event where there’s people showing disrespect or start voicing their disrespect.

“I certainly don’t want to be welcomed back to my own hometown.

“I think veterans have a real and genuine concern. If they’ve signed on the dotted line to die for this nation, they don’t believe they need to be welcomed to it.

“They’ve absolutely proven their loyalty to this nation.

“I think there’s a time and place for everything, but we’ve got to be a lot more discerning about how we do this, because there is an aggravation that’s building up in the community, and the best thing to do to avoid that is to be a lot more discerning about when you do Welcome to Country (ceremonies).”

On Sunday, during 7NEWS election debate between Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese, both leaders took aim at the hecklers at Melbourne’s dawn service.

Albanese said Welcome to Country ceremonies should be at the discretion of individual event organisers. Dutton was more blunt, saying he believes they’re overdone.

Plibersek took aim at hecklers at Melbourne’s Anzac Day ceremony.

“The first thing I would say is that anybody who boos anyone on Anzac Day, as that guy in Melbourne, is just a scumbag,” Plibersek said.

“What the prime minister said is right. It’s up to individual organisations. But as someone who attends a lot of events, I really like learning about the history and culture of the area that I’m visiting. So, I’d say I enjoy it.

“I don’t see it’s any skin off anybody’s nose to show that respect.”