To most Australians, Australia Day is dusting off your old BBQ, extreme patriotism and listening to Triple J’s Hottest 100 poolside with your mates. So, why does someone have to ruin the party and start a petition to change the date of Triple J’s Hottest 100?
Source:Brendan Busch/Faceboook
Triple J’s Hottest 100 countdown has become something of an institution every year on January 26, and the public is invited to vote for their favourite song of the year via an online poll.
Brendan Busch, a young man from Melbourne, has created a Facebook event competition to change the date of the Hottest 100.
On the Facebook event, Busch says that it’s offensive for an organisation like the ABC to encourage celebration on Australia Day, while saying it “acknowledges and respects” First Nation peoples. The day is to commemorate the invasion of the countries and the colonisation of their way of life, not to celebrate what it now means “to be Australian.”
He is asking for people to complain to triple j and get them to change the date of the countdown. The prize for the one who can do the unlikely? A Falls Festival camping ticket, valued at around $400. He states that the competition is not simply about changing Triple J’s mind-the purpose of the ‘giveaway’ is to reach the young target demographic who listen to the countdown and often use the day as an excuse to drink and party.
Source: stickytickets.com.au
A post on the Facebook event reads:
“The ticket giveaway is for a festival celebrated on stolen lands, whose theft every non-Indigenous person benefits from. Having a prize based on dispossession is problematic in itself, and so I am entirely open to reconsidering what becomes of this ticket. However, I also recognise that a key target audience which needs reaching may only be enticed by this. Open to discussion if anyone has a better plan of attack, and I welcome all feedback and criticism regarding this post through messaging.”
Let’s be honest, Busch does make a valid point about the ABC needing to acknowledge and respect ‘First Nation’ people particularly on Australia Day. However, will he get a large support behind this campaign, considering triple j having no power to change the date of Australia Day?
Why has this campaign come forward now, considering the Hottest 100 has been an iconic event on January 26 for quite a number of years now?
Some Australian artists have voiced their opinions on the situation, with The Presets posting an open letter suggesting that we should choose a better day to celebrate the inclusiveness and entirety of Australia, “And anything would be better than the 26th of January.”
A number of organisations and public members have tried to contact triple j, Matt Okine and Alex Dyson for comment.
Will a public petition cause triple j to boycott the Hottest 100 next year? Will anyone win the Falls Festival ticket?