Why some Australians want their national anthem changed?

Team Udayavani, Nov 13, 2020, 2:12 PM IST

The premier of New South Wales, Gladys Berejiklian has urged the country to change its national anthem.

She claims that the anthem, ‘Advance Australia Fair’, includes the line “we are young and free”, dismisses centuries of indigenous history.

Gladys said that the line “we are young and free” should be changed to “we are one and free” in order to recognise Australia’s 60,000 years of Indigenous history.

The change would reflect that Australia has the longest-living culture on its continent through the Indigenous Australians.

According to Indian Express, ‘Advance Australia Fair’ was written in 1878 but became the official national anthem only in 1984. Most of the criticism regarding the national has been directed towards the second line that reads “for we are young and free”.

For years, several prominent Australians have tried to bring attention to the lyrics and the need to change them for the sake of inclusion, diversity and representation.