On 1 May 2021 The Saturday Paper reported that Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has ordered an urgent review of the board of the National Australia Day Council, established as the Australia Day Committee in 1979.
National Australia Day Council Limited (NADC) is a not-for-profit Commonwealth owned corporation, within the Prime Minister's portfolio responsibilities, as well as being a tax exempt charity which is the “coordinating body for Australia Day celebrations across the nation and for the Australian of the Year Awards. The NADC heads a network of eight state and territory Australia Day affiliate organisations and 780 local Australia Day committees….reports to the Commonwealth Parliament under the provisions of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013. The operations of the company are overseen by a board of Directors appointed by the Prime Minister”.
The NADC board of directors in 2019-20 were:
Ms Danielle Roche OAM Chair
Ms Robbie Sefton Deputy Chair
Ms Stephanie Foster PSM
Dr Robert Isaacs AM
Dr Stepan Kerkyasharian AO
Ms Jane McNamara
Major General (Ret’d) Maurie McNarn AO
Mr Richard Rolfe AM
Mr Norman Schueler OAM
Ms Naseema Sparks AM appointment ended 25 June 2020.
As of 1 May 2021 the position of Chair, Deputy Chair, and two Director/Non Executive Director positions are vacant. Danielle Roche and Maurie McNarn are no longer on the board. Robbie Sefton is no longer Deputy Chair but remains a Director/Non Executive Director and Alison Page became a board member in September 2020.
NADC employs around 12 people full-time and is located in Canberra, ACT.
In its last published annual report NADC stated that:
During the period ended 30 June 2020, the NADC and Network continued to deliver both national and state programs. The Australian Government, through the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, provided a total of $14,665,913 funding for the company. Sponsors provided a total of $2,109,860 for national programs, and part of this funding was allocated to state and territory Australia Day affiliates for local projects.
NADC does not appear to have any significant debt. There appears to have been no ministerial directions received, no government policy orders received and no judicial decisions or decisions of administrative tribunals were made concerning NADC during the 2019-20 reporting period.
So what has made the Prime Minister hot under the collar? After all, he makes those NADC board appointments.
Could it be that Morrison is uncomfortable with the fact that from January 2020 NADC through its “The Story of Australia” advertising placed a much greater emphasis on the histories and stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people? That he didn't like the NADC commitment for 2020-21 to "work to expand the reach of our Respect, Reflect, Celebrate: We’re all part of the story message into Australia Day events in every State and Territory, every town and city"?
Or was he incensed to the core of his narrow, historically inaccurate world view by this event?
"At dawn on Australia Day 2020, Port Phillip City Council in Melbourne and the Boonwurrung Land and Sea Council, with the support of the NADC, held a We-Akon Dilinja (Mourning-Reflection) ceremony."
Chronologically it seems that Morrison's unusually short extension of Danielle Roche's contact as a NADOC director, which saw her ending her association with the National Australia Day Council on 31 March 2021, possibly may have followed on from his personal dissatisfaction with the 2020 Respect, Reflect, Celebrate Australia Day message which acknowledged Aboriginal dispossession commencing in 1788. Within four weeks of becoming prime minister Scott Morrison in 2018 was on record as viewing any such acknowledgement as "indulgent self loathing".
Or is it that in 2021 NADC made Grace Tame @TamePunk Australian of the Year and she refused be cowed by his ‘eminent’ position or pull her punches when it came to publicly speaking of institutional sexual abuse, sexual assault and sexual harassment?
Or is Morrison upset that on 25 January 2021 the NADC Board made a referral to the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) of the leak of some Australia Day award recipients' names, given strong suspicions that there was an attempt by a person or persons to manipulate the betting market? For operational reasons about 180 individuals were informed of the winners names in December 2020 and that possibly would have included one or more staff in the Office of Prime Minster and Cabinet. No award finalists are ever informed before the official announcement on 26 January.
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