Daily Advertiser letters to the editor, January 30

Mr Williams is a worthy recipient of the medal for the excellent work that he has done for this community.

The Australia I live in is a free country and if Mr Williams chooses not to stand for the national anthem, that is his choice.

I call on Mr Funnell to make a public apology to Mr Williams for his outrageous comments

THE main reason Indigenous people should celebrate Australia day is because it was from January 26, 1788 that their average life span started to increase.

It was from that day that they started to get better housing and health care.

It might have been a rocky road along the way but the same can be said about how the Greeks, Romans, Indonesians, Vikings, Spaniards, Portuguese, etc treated the indigenous people of the countries they invaded.

Although the English might have complained too about how little the Romans did for their country, the fact of the matter is that they did a lot in the 400 years of their occupation.

The Europeans just didn’t turn up and demolish the colosseums, castles, etc that had been built over the years and it has certainly made it better for the ones who are here now.

The same should be said about what the English have done in the 200-plus years of their occupation of Australia.

The local indigenous people are still fighting among themselves and I’m not sure who is to be blamed for that but the fact is they have been mistreating, abusing and fighting each other for years, many years before Europeans turned up in Australia.

They have never had the chance before to have it so good.

I WRITE because I don't think there has been any other incident in our city that has me so riled up and I refer to the Australia Day committee's Citizen of the Year award.

Let me congratulate the Australia Day committee on making a complete mess of Australia Day in Wagga. They have really excelled this year.

Firstly, they hold the awards ceremony inside, on the day before (not on Australia Day), the only town to do this in the Riverina.

They then give the top award to a person who denounced the celebration of the birth of this great nation, who then insulted me and every other proud Australian by not standing for the national anthem. If he does not believe in celebrating Australia Day, then why take part in its celebration at all?

I totally agree with Councillor Paul Funnell's comments in The Daily Advertiser on January 28.

During this whole fiasco, has anyone spared a thought for the other nominees and their nominators, whose testimonials were of outstanding quality.

How must they feel with the award going to a person that doesn't believe in the award?

I lay the whole blame on the Australia Day committee, who should all be sacked for making a decision that has caused this whole fiasco. 

I wouldn't be surprised if no nominations are received next year. Why would you bother unless you were going to use the ceremony as a political platform to gain publicity.

The recipient unfortunately, I believe due to his actions, has driven a wedge between the citizens of Wagga and put his cause back another 50 years.