Channel 10 will no longer observe January 26th as Australia Day

In an internal email sent to staff, Channel 10 has refused to recognise January 26th as ‘Australia Day’ given the date’s history.

Channel 10 has announced that it will no longer recognise January 26th as ‘Australia Day’ on account of the event not acknowledging the history of the First Nations people. The media house’s announcement comes amidst growing debate around the day and follows years of calls to change the date. 

As reported by The Australian, Beverley McGarvey and Jarrod Villani, co-leads of Paramount Australia and New Zealand, announced the move in an internal email addressed to all staff. It began: “At Paramount ANZ we aim to create a safe place to work where cultural differences are appreciated, understood and respected.” 

“For our First Nations people, we as an organisation acknowledge that January 26 is not a day of celebration. We recognise that there has been a turbulent history, particularly around that date and the recognition of that date being Australia Day.” they said. 

On that note, McGarvey and Villani announced that anyone who wanted to work as regular on January 26th would be free to do so. “We recognise that January 26 evokes different emotions for our employees across the business, and we are receptive to employees who do not feel comfortable taking this day as a public holiday.” they said. 

“Whether you choose to work on January 26 or take the public holiday, we ask that you reflect and respect the different perspectives and viewpoints of all Australians,” the email read.

For years, Australia Day has been marked by indigenous communities as a day of mourning to signify the invasion of the British. In 2021, the Australia Talks National Survey revealed that a majority of Australians were in favour of changing the date in acknowledgement of the date’s divisive history. 

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