Sam Armytage to proudly rejoice Australia Day amid nationwide debate

Samantha Armytage has weighed in on the controversial debate surrounding Australia Day celebrations, saying she’s going to proudly recognise January 26.

The Channel Seven star, 47, revealed on Wednesday she is adorning her house with Australian flags.

Taking to Instagram, the Farmer Desires a Spouse host shared a picture of ten flags positioned in a silver cup on a espresso desk in her house.

The previous Dawn host wrote alongside the image: ‘Finest nation on this planet.’

In recent times, the weeks earlier than Australia Day have been fraught with debate about whether or not its is fallacious to rejoice the date the First Fleet arrived to colonise Australia in 1788.

Indigenous activists say the date needs to be modified.

Armytage has been an avid supporter of Australia Day on January 26, in keeping with her social media posts and previous feedback from her days internet hosting Dawn.

In 2017, she went head-to-head with a Melbourne suburban mayor who stated those that oppose her council’s choice to ditch Australia Day celebrations had been ‘uneducated’.

Armytage confronted Mayor Kim Le Cerf in a heated interview, persistently urgent the group chief in regards to the tiny survey the council primarily based its choice on, and her declare that if ‘extra Australians had been educated, they’d be ashamed of Australia Day’.

‘Aren’t you elected to decide on behalf of the folks of your shire?’ Armytage stated, reducing Ms Le Cerf off mid-sentence.

‘In the perfect curiosity of our group sure, and what we’re listening to from our Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander folks is that January 26 marks the start of invasion and dispossession,’ Ms Le Cerf stated.

After a forwards and backwards debate, Armytage confronted Ms Le Cerf about her feedback on uneducated Australians.

‘Appropriate me if I am fallacious, however you’re quoted as saying that if “extra Australians had been educated, they’d be ashamed of Australia Day”. Do you stand by that? Do you stand by that now, on nationwide tv?’ Armytage requested.

Ms Le Cerf started to talk when she was lower off by Armytage, who requested her level clean if she stood by her remark.

‘Sure, I do,’ Ms Le Cerf stated.

In the meantime, Armytage’s Dawn successor Natalie Barr accused the CEO of Woolworths of making an attempt to make a political assertion about Australia Day on Wednesday – prompting the grocery store boss to insist he is not making an attempt to ‘cancel’ the nationwide day.

The grocery store big shocked clients earlier this month when it introduced it might not be stocking January 26 merchandise because of declining demand and sensitivities across the day.

In response to the general public backlash, the retailer has since taken out full web page newspaper adverts with a letter penned by the boss insisting the retailer isn’t anti-Australia Day.

‘We aren’t making an attempt to “cancel” Australia Day, reasonably Woolworths is deeply pleased with our place in offering the recent meals that brings Australians collectively daily,’ Woolworths chief government Brad Banducci wrote.

The South African born chief government copped a grilling from Barr when he appeared on Dawn on Wednesday morning.

‘On the finish of the day is it your function to inform Australians what they’ll and may’t purchase?,’ she requested.

In his response, Mr Banducci took a swipe at rival retailers who had slammed Woolworths transfer.

‘The beauty of retailers is that all of us make completely different selections about what to inventory – they’ve made their choice and we have made ours,’ he stated. 

‘We’re centered on offering nice worth round on a regular basis wants so you may mark the event and rejoice the Australia Day lengthy weekend with family and friends. That’s our focus.’

Hundreds of thousands of Aussies are gearing up for the lengthy weekend as Australia Day rapidly approaches. 

Whereas banks and all authorities shops similar to Centrelink shall be closed on Friday, most main companies shall be opened for not less than a part of the day.