February 15, 2017
South Burnett Citizen Of The Year Elaine Madill has spoken out against the negative focus capital city media have given to Australia Day.
On Wednesday, Mrs Madill said the South Burnett’s annual Australia Day celebrations typify the high regard most Australians hold for our national day.
She believes the capital city media might have a different view if they went bush.
Here is what she had to say:
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My name is Elaine Madill and I am the South Burnett’s Citizen of the Year for 2017.
Recently I watched news broadcasts for the Australia Day celebrations where the protesters were.
As I watched, I wondered why the media never come to the regional centres to see our Australia Day celebrations? Perhaps it’s because we have no protesters to make the news.
We just celebrate a day that signifies the beginnings of our wonderful country.
Australia Day in our community begins the night before (January 25) with an Australia Day Awards ceremony held in a different South Burnett town every year.
After all the Award categories have been completed, we finish the night with supper and cake.
Hundreds of people attend these ceremonies.
This is followed by Australia Day morning activities, which include a breakfast held in each Council division.
This year I attended the Wondai Town Hall at 7:30am and had a lovely breakfast while I listened to the Wondai Town Band play some wonderful Australian songs. As the region’s winner I cut the cake – one big enough for all.
Then our Mayor arrived, and after he’d greeted everyone I was taken to Kingaroy, where I spoke at their own Australia Day celebrations which featured a breakfast, lamington and pie eating competitions and cane toad races.
My point is that at all these celebrations, all Australian citizens were included.
This year, our region’s Australia Day celebrations also included an Australian Citizenship Ceremony for a family and a single lady, all from Asian countries.
And at all our various centres and celebrations there was a wide diversity of people representative of different religions, cultures and places of birth.
We had no protests at any of these functions – just a celebration of the freedom and joy that it is to be proudly Australian.
Last August I unexpectedly had a massive stoke and was in the Greenslopes Hospital for three months. I returned home in November with Transitional Care in place and now live in Wondai with the help of the community.
I am expected to have 12 months rehabilitation ahead of me, after which I will be back to normal and involving myself back in the community.
So I say to all the media: next Australia Day, think of showcasing our regional areas and see how we celebrate this wonderful country outside the big city centres.
Focussing on a few hundred protesters is focussing on the wrong thing.
