Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the annual Meeting of Two Cultures ceremony at Kurnell is an example to the rest of the nation on overcoming divisions about the past.
Mr Morrison said the Sutherland Shire Council ceremony showed “you can talk about 60,000 years of civilization in this country and modern Australia in the one breath”.
“You don’t have to choose,” he said.
In his first interview with the Leader since becoming Prime Minister, the MP for Cook also discussed his family’s move over the weekend to Kiirribilli House, his national priorities and a difficult local issue that cannot be easily solved just because he is now the nation’s leader.
The interview took place on Monday, a day before Mr Morrison rejected calls to move the date of Australia Day and floated the idea of creating a new special day to celebrate indigenous people and their culture.
The Meeting of Two Cultures ceremony, which is held in Kamay Botany Bay National Park on April 29 each year, marks the meeting between the original indigenous owners and inhabitants of the land and Lieutenant James Cook and the crew of the Endeavour.
Mr Morrison told the Leader Australia Day would continue to be celebrated on January 26, the date the First Fleet arrived at Sydney Cove.
“We cannot change what happened on that day,” he said.
“You can either make it a day of division or choose to make it a day of coming together.
“Just as we have demonstrated with the Meeting of Two Cultures, I am optimistic we can achieve the same thing in how we mark our national day.
“It’s a day to reflect on what we’ve accomplished and what we have still to achieve.
“We we can do this sensitively, respectfully and proudly, together.”
Mr Morrison said this fitted into one of his main priorities, which was “keeping Australians together”
Others including the safety of Australians and combating terrorism, the drought, aged care, education and “combustion busting” infrastructure.
Mr Morrison said “our home will always be in the shire” despite he and his family moving over the weekend from Port Hacking to Kiirribilli House on the edge of Sydney Harbour.
“The shire is where all our family memories are where we will continue to have strong connections – schools, sport the beach and all those things,” he said.
However, they had also had to consider “the practicalities, such as having an official residence, the significant security requirements and the logistics, particularly as a young family”.
“We always knew it would be a necessary decision at some point,” he said.
“We haven’t rushed in because there were other priorities.
“There was no suggestion of moving to Canberra – we are trying to keep things as normal as possible.
“We are still going to be firmly focused around the local community because that’s where the girls’ friends are and that where Jenny’s friends are.”
Mr Morrison’s has also written a letter to Cook constituents, signed ScoMo, explaining the move.
Part of the letter reads: “Our house in the shire is a typical family home. It has a mortgage, it needs a bit of work and no front fence.
“Neighbours and friends have always been able to just walk up and say hello as we’ve sat on the front verandah. That’s how we like it.
“While our house in Port Hacking has been great for us as a family, sadly we can’t make it work in my new role as PM. For security and convenience, the sensible thing for us to do as a family is to relocate to Kirribilli House, which is set up for the job.”
Mr Morrison watched the Sharks-Storm NRL final with a group at the Highfield Caringbah hotel on Friday night.
“It wasn’t our night,” he said. ”I think some big injuries caught up with us and some things didn’t go our way.”
While tackling the big issues, Mr Morrison acknowledged that a local one – the lack of a full-time doctor at Kurnell – could not be solved easily.
“I can’t apply one set of rules in my own patch and another set of rules elsewhere in Australia,” he said.
“But, we are working on it.”
