Aboriginal activist says ‘Welcome To Country’ ceremonies are becoming so frequent they’re losing their meaning – and calls for them to be scrapped at footy games and corporate events
- Kiescha Haines-Jamieson is an outspoken No advocate
- She says there are too many Welcome to Country rituals
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Welcome to Country ceremonies are becoming so frequent that they’re losing the full power of their meaning and making the general public ‘apathetic’ toward Indigenous Australians, according to a popular Voice to Parliament critic.
Kiescha Haines-Jamieson is an outspoken No advocate from Western Australia, who has amassed more than a million views on TikTok discussing her opposition to the referendum.
She is also concerned the once sacred Welcome To Country ritual is ‘losing its cultural meaning’ because it is so ‘mainstreamed now’.
‘It was never intended for opening football games or corporate and social events,’ she said.
‘It was actually a practice used for ensuring permission and safe passage to and through tribal boundaries and now it’s being so mainstreamed it has made people be apathetic.’
Kiescha Haines-Jamieson is an outspoken No advocate from Western Australia, who has amassed more than a million views on TikTok discussing her opposition to the referendum
Ms Haines-Jamieson said it was devastating to see something with ‘such a special purpose’ lose significance for something as simple as oversaturation in everyday life.
There has been a significant uptick in Welcome to Country practices over the past decade, everywhere from the workplace and seminars to national sporting events.
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has made similar arguments about the overuse of Welcome to Country ceremonies.
She has previously said she’d had enough of being ‘symbolically recognised’ and explained First Nations people wanted to be recognised and respected by their character rather than their race.
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‘I personally have had more than my fill of being symbolically recognised,’ she said.
Ms Haines-Jamieson said it was devastating to see something with ‘such a special purpose’ lose significance for something as simple as oversaturation in everyday life
After watching the Welcome to Country ceremony ahead of the second State of Origin match, Ms Nampijinpa Price told 2GB’s Ben Fordham she found such ceremonies ‘a little bit narcissistic
After watching the Welcome to Country ceremony ahead of the second State of Origin match, Ms Nampijinpa Price told 2GB’s Ben Fordham she found such ceremonies ‘a little bit narcissistic’.
She said: ‘I’m sick and tired of these acknowledgements because of nothing more than my racial heritage.
‘It’s every single day I acknowledge and pay my respects and recognise Indigenous First Nations people in the room what for?
‘What for you don’t even know everyone in the room and why are we being singled out purely, only because of our race it’s divisive.’
A Welcome to Country can only be conducted by traditional owners or custodians of the land on which an event is taking place
A smoking ceremony is performed outside old Parliament House in Canberra
A Welcome to Country can only be conducted by traditional owners or custodians of the land on which an event is taking place. In circumstances where a traditional owner is unavailable, an Acknowledgement of Country can instead be performed.
According to Reconciliation Australia, an Acknowledgement of Country ‘should be delivered at significant/large internal meetings or meetings with external participants’.
It is intended to highlight the significance of the area for First Nations people.
A Welcome to Country ceremony is performed on Adelaide Oval before the Australia versus West Indies cricket Test match on December 8
