Michaelia Cash doesn’t do subtle. By backing a push to scrap Welcome to Country ceremonies and Aboriginal flags from official events, she’s reignited a culture war that puts her squarely at odds with her party leader, making life much harder for Sussan Ley.
There’s no denying Cash is tapping into a sentiment that exists in the Australian community. Welcome to Country acknowledgements have become so routine they often feel more ridiculous than respectful these days. For many, they’ve gone from meaningful to mechanical virtue signalling. That doesn’t mean most people oppose reconciliation. It means some of us have grown tired of too many empty gestures, particularly when they appear disconnected from real outcomes for Indigenous Australians.
So while Labor has been quick to paint Cash’s position as out of step with mainstream values, they’d be wise not to overplay that hand. If the Voice referendum taught us anything, it’s that public opinion on Indigenous recognition is more complex than elite consensus suggests. In fact, it’s entirely plausible that more voters agree with Cash than with Labor (and Ley) on this one, especially if the issue is framed around overuse.
But politics is about timing and discipline, and that’s where this spat becomes a problem for the Coalition. Ley has been trying to present a more moderate image in the post-Peter Dutton era: supporting acknowledgements and engaging respectfully with Indigenous voices. Now her own Senate leader, no less, has taken a sledgehammer to that, backing a WA Liberal Party motion to strip Welcome to Country of its official status and fly only state and national flags.
It’s a contradiction that will be hard for Ley to smooth over. She congratulated Indigenous participants during the opening of parliament this week. Cash now seemingly wants the whole thing rolled back. That kind of disunity reinforces Labor’s preferred narrative that the Coalition is riven by factional divisions and dominated by culture warriors.
Ley looks like a leader being undercut by her own Senate leader, right at a time when two former Nationals leaders still in parliament (Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack) are doing the same on the net zero emissions target. At least they aren’t in shadow cabinet or part of the Opposition’s leadership team.
These sorts of fights quite obviously threaten unity, even if having them immediately after a big election defeat is the right timing. However, that doesn’t make life any easier for Ley, and Cash must know that but not care.
To be sure, I suspect most Australians want practical progress on Indigenous disadvantage, not more ceremony. When every school assembly, conference and council meeting begins with the same words, fatigue can set in. Especially when multiple speakers all do the same, which isn’t how the acknowledgment is supposed to work. The irony of that ignorance is never lost on me when I have to sit through it.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley attends a smoking ceremony ahead of the opening of Federal Parliament on Tuesday
So yes, Cash has made Ley’s job harder: A Senate leader contradicting their opposition leader is always a bad look, reinforcing the impression of a party divided on both message and tone.
But Labor would be foolish to assume this is a free kick.
Cash’s position, while politically provocative and destabilising, is not fringe, which is what makes her dissent so much harder for Ley to navigate. Labor shouldn’t dismiss Cash outright either, which is exactly what they have done. That’s just hubris.
Michaelia Cash is backing a push to scrap Welcome to Country ceremonies and Aboriginal flags from official events, putting her in direct conflict with Sussan Ley
