An open letter for Senator Briggs and Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison,
CC: triple j

As representatives of both the Black Fellas and the White Fellas respectively, I ask you to resolve the issue of Invasion/Australia Day with the utmost urgency.

Thanks to Senator Briggs I feel as though I do have a small understanding of the issue, and hope that we can come to some reconciliation. While what it means to be Australian might be different, we have a common ground in the pride we share of our great land and those who came before us to make it great. If I am being honest I think there are a lot more important issues facing both the Black Fellas and the White Fellas than one day, and that focusing on a date is just a massive distraction from all of those significant issues that are a lot harder to solve and would require a lot more effort to address.

The reason why I have bothered to write this letter rather is because, as you may be aware, Triple J has moved the Hottest 100 to the January 27th. If I was under 25 and without child, I would be celebrating this move, because it would simply mean two days of back to back festivities.

However, I still remember sitting in the pool listening to my first Hottest 100 and “My Happiness” by Powderfinger coming in at number one. I was the not so ripe age of twelve. Many Hottest 100s have come and gone since that time, most I remember fondly. Some, like last years, I have no recollection of at all (probably had something to do with the news of my wife being pregnant and being in the process of changing jobs and moving back to Australia after three years overseas, this also explains why this letter is coming a year late).

Thus I am now 30 and am raising a little man that is currently three months old. While I am not sure my body could handle two days of Australian festivities without supplements, I am somewhat certain the Mrs wouldn’t let me even if the body would. Making a choice between commiserating Invasion Day/celebrating Australia Day and thoroughly enjoying the Hottest 100 is a dilemma that probably ranks as high as whether or not to go against the mother’s wishes when deciding if the little guy is beach ready (It is probably a bigger issue as the choice between the 26th and the 27th is one that will take a year until I can apply my lesson learnt and re-attempt the choice).

I understand that Triple J is talk back radio for the youth, and I rarely listen to it anymore (hate the format, love the music). But what it does for Australian Music is incomparable and Australia has so much musical talent to be proud of thanks to this station. For that reason, I am of the opinion that the Triple J Hottest 100 is for all Australians to enjoy, regardless of age.

Therefore with my position now known, I would like to provide a solution, not because I’m a expert or even because I feel super committed to the issue, but simply because I don’t like individuals or groups that expect other people to solve their problems without putting any prior thought into it themselves.

So my solution is: “Why not have both?” – we could call it Australia Invasion Day. Such a name does have its own issues though, we couldn’t say Happy Australia Invasion Day, as I feel that would be even more disrespectful than celebrating Invasion Day. However, I also feel that Commiserations for Australia Invasion Day, would also not be very palatable. We need a word that is uniquely versatile enough that it can evoke sufficiently positive emotions and/or negative emotions.

As Australia Invasion Day are all White Fella words, I think it would be quite fitting to use a Black Fella word. I understand that before the White Fella came, there were several languages within this great land, hopefully there is one with such versatility, and we could revive it and make it uniquely our own, similar to the way “Kia Ora” has been adopted as a greeting in New Zealand.

If there isn’t a Black Fella word that is sufficient, while I can’t think of any, hopefully there is a White Fella word we can use. It is my hope that this word will be so versatile that when a bunch of White Fellas get together they can say “Australia Invasion Day <insert word>!” in celebration, while a bunch of Black Fellas can get together and say “Australia Invasion Day, <insert word>!” in commiserations. And when the two great people get together or simply pass each other on the street they can say to each other solemnly with a nod of the head and a tip of the hat “Australia Invasion Day <insert word>”.

Hopefully overtime, the word could become synonymous with everything that is great and not so great about our country and we could proudly use the word as a post noun when stating where we are from.

That’s just my two cents. Of course there is another solution, Triple J could just move the Hottest 100 to the weekend before or after the 26th. I am sure we can all agree, consecutive weekend celebrations are a lot easier to get by the Mrs than consecutive days.

But please, Prime Minister Morrison, I would much rather have you remembered as the Prime Minister who facilitated the reconciliation of Invasion/Australia Day, than the Bradbury Prime Minister.

Originally published on Facebook.com on 11th December 2018