Dan Sultan Takes 'Q&A' Panel To Task On Australia Day: 'It Is Racist'

Dan Sultan made his debut appearance on Q&A last night and made his presence felt quickly, taking the panel to task on moving the date of Australia Day. 

The Indigenous singer-songwriter was asked to share his opinion on the topic and though he called Australia Day a "great idea", he said it should not be celebrated on 26 January. 

"… We should recognise 26 January for what it is, which is a day that started the ongoing genocide of our people," Sultan said.

"I think there are many days throughout our history that includes everybody and I think it’s important that a day called Australia Day includes all Australians."

He continued, "The fact of the matter is that it doesn’t include us, it excludes us and it excludes anyone who has any type of sympathy or empathy towards our story, which is a hell of a lot of Australians. To call it Australia Day is wrong. To recognise it, I think is important because it’s a big day in our history as a nation… there are plenty of great days in our country’s history that we can look to to call Australia Day other than that."

AB Original's politically-charged tune, January 26, which Sultan features on, was brought up by panel host Tony Jones who suggested the song's subtext implies Australia is racist. However, Sultan made it clear that there is no subtext to the track.

"Australia Day's always been racist," he said.

"[January 26 is] pretty straight up about it… it is racist."

Sultan added, "January 26 is a day of mourning for us and for people not to recognise that or say that it doesn’t matter that we feel that way… is disrespectful and I think it is racist."

Attorney-General of Australia, George Brandis, responded to Sultan's comments, saying Australia is both a time of celebration and reflection. 

"Australia Day is about celebrating the Australian achievement and we should… because this is a wonderful country," Brandis said.

"It's also become about a time of reflection, because obviously there are blemishes in Australia’s history…"

Sultan was quick to respond, saying, "… The blemishes you call them in the past, it was today and tomorrow.

"There’s still Aboriginal deaths in custody at an alarming rate. There’s still an alarming rate of suicide amongst teenagers in Aboriginal communities. It’s an ongoing genocide. So for people to say it was in the past, it’s not. It’s here now today. There’s such a thing called transgenerational trauma which is real and exists and it happens today and it will happen tomorrow and it will keep happening."

Sultan closed the show with a performance of his single, Kingdom. Check out the clip and snippets from last night's Q&A below.

Many Indigenous people do not recognise notion of "Australia". Should there be a national day at all? @dansultan & Brandis respond #QandA pic.twitter.com/kfL0jLLsoQ

— ABC Q&A (@QandA) August 28, 2017